TOP INTERNATIONAL ORIENTEERS FOR
CARLINGFORD
Date:16 March 2006
Note to Sports Editor: Please
include this date in your diary.
IRISH ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS,
Carlingford, Co Louth, April 28-May 1, 2006.
Orienteers from all over Europe
will battle it out for world ranking points at the Irish Orienteering
Championship, which take place in Carlingford, Co Louth for three days from
April 29.
The competition, only the second
in this country to be granted world ranking status, will give home-based
orienteers a chance to take on some of the world’s best.
Key event is the Irish Long
Distance Championships which takes place on Sunday April 30 and incorporates
the world ranking competition.
Orienteers aged from 10 to 75 will compete against their peers over one of the
20 courses on offer, which vary in distance and difficulty.
A day earlier, the middle
distance championship will act as a warm-up for the big day, with eight
different courses on offer.
The championships conclude on
Monday May 1 when a new-look Irish Relay Orienteering Championships take place.
Fierce competition is expected between
the country’s top clubs.
For further information please
contact Aine Joyce at ioc06queries@eircom.net
or visit our website at
NOTE
ON THE SPORT OF ORIENTEEERING
Orienteering, sometimes called
“cunning running” is a combination of running and navigation. Competitors know the approximate distance
of their courses and, with the aid of a
map and compass, must find the fastest
route from start to finish, checking in at a number of “control” points along
the way. These, marked by a red and white “kite” are placed on distinct features, such as a
rock or the edge of a thicket.
Orienteering events
are time trials, with competitors starting at one or two minute intervals.