MOSQUE-O? MOSQUIT-O? SOWET-O?

Take your pick of the plum holiday destinations for your orienteering travels in 2000. Here are some ideas to set your compasses spinning ... Space and time did not permit the inclusion of contact details for most of these events. Unusually this year, hardly any enter forms have arrived with details, so most of this information is from the internet or culled from other printed sources, notably CompassSport which always has an excellent compilation of worthwhile summer events.

March 17-19 sees the Ballyhoura Three Day based at Kilfinnane, Co. Limerick. Bishopstown OC continue their run of this 3-day, incorporating optional mountain bike orienteering on Saturday. Venues are Darragh Hills, Slievereagh and Ruppulagh. Since there seems to be no Shamrock O-Ringen this year, this is your only chance of an Irish multi-day event. Details from Ted Lucey 022-47300. Entry forms in the last TIO. Or you might like the Spanish 2-day Martin Kronlund Trophy near Madrid (18-19/3).

April: I reckon the one that got away in 2000 is the French 5-Day at Easter: not many people in these parts seem to know about it: three days in the beautiful forested sand dunes of Aquitaine, west of Bordeaux, with training possiblities too. Entry closes 15th March Ligue d'Aquitaine de Course d'Orientation, 3 Jours du Sud Ouest, Maison des Sports d'Aquitaine, 119 Bvd. du President Wilson, 33200 Bordeaux, France.

If forested sand dunes are your thing, you might prefer the three day near Cadiz in Spain (21-23/4). The only real alternative is the JK in Scotland (entry forms were in the last TIO). The event centre is Aberfeldy, in Perthshire and the individual events are around Dunkeld (the infamous Craig a'Barns - near Birnam Wood for students of the Scottish play). At least it used to be near Birnam Wood ... Also at Easter is a 3-day and a night event in Holland. Globetrotters might like to note the Australian Easter O-Carnival in the Canberra area (at Easter, of course), and there are Easter events in Denmark (20-22/4) and Prague (21-23/4) too. 

May: After from the Irish Relay Championships on the 1st, May has the start of the Scandinavian summer season and the first 3-day of note is at Vilnius in Lithuania (May 12-14). Maybe you should wait for the 2001 World Masters on forested sand dunes at Nida, in Lithuania, though ... if you're over 35, anyway. Mountain marathoners will no doubt be doing the 8th Lowe Alpine MM, this year in Wicklow on May 20-21. Later in the month, watch out for the Adrenalin Rush 2000, a multi-day, multi-discipline team cross country event starting in Northern Ireland and covering 300 miles (27/5-2/6). As usual, the Scottish Champs are at the end of May (27-28) around Stirling.

June has a few multi-day events in Sweden (13-15 in Dalarna and the OK Tyr 5-days 14-18 in Varmland). How does a weekend'in the Lake Diustrict grab you, though? The Twin Peak 2-day at Windermere on June 3-4th for a double Badge event at the excellent High Dam, used for the 1998 World Cup race. Arlon in Belgium, west of Luxembourg, has glorious undulating deciduous forests which you can sample for 3 days (June 10-12) If you can't bear the thought of summer, you can continue your winter orienteering in Australia with the 11th Asia-Pacific O-Carnival in Queensland (30/6-9/7).

Norway gets a look in in June and July with the two day Pinselop at Kongsberg (scene of the 1978 World Championships) on June 11-12; the Norwegian O-Festival at Bergen (23-25), the Nordvestgaloppen at Sogndal (27-29/6) and the famous Sorlandsgaloppen at Kristiansand in the extreme south (9-15/7).

July hits the big time, with the 4-day Ilvesteade in Estonia (6-9/7), the BOTAS Cup at Svratka in the Czech Republic (8-13/7) followed by the Junior World Championships at Nove Mesto (16-20/7), 3-days on the Swedish island of Gotland (12-14/7), in Sodermanland (14-16/7) and long distance orienteering in Jamtland (12-14/7), and 3 days in Ostergotland including World Cup races (17-19). The biggie, of course, is the Swedish 5-Day, this year at Narke from 23-28/7 with a 3-Day at Halland, 100 km S of Gothenburg, before it (14-16/7). For francophiles there's a 5-Day at Metz in NE France (11-15/7). The organisers have moved one of the competition areas as a result of the Christmas storms but otherwise the competition will go ahead as planned. Those of you thinking of the World Championships in Finland in 2001 are probably going to the Fin-5 week at Lahti (17-22/7), including a World Cup race, with the Tampere Games before it (15-16/7).

August has the Swedish multi-day events continuing, with a 3-day in Skane (3-5/8). Closer to home is Croeso 2000, the Welsh 6-Day at Trawsfynydd (5-11/8). All areas are within 15 km of the event centre, so bring your bike! The amazing limestone terrain of Jicin will attract runners to the Czech Republicfor the 5-Day (2-6/8), some of whom might like to take in the Hungaria Cup 60 km W of Budapest (16-20/8). Later in August, how about a 2-day in Romania (18-19/8) incorporating World Cup races? Further afield, though unfortunately clashing with the Burren Walk, are the Canadian Championships and associated events running from 19th to 27th August in New Brunswick.

Back to earth in September with the Surf Mountain Mournes Mountain Marathon (16-17/9).

If you didn't get to Gotland, there's always the geologically interesting Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic, where there's a 2-day in October (28-29) to finish up the season, unless you're doing the Karrimor Mountain Marathon in Britain on the same dates.

And so another year comes to a close. Time to start thinking of 2001: Estonia, Finland, France ...

(If you want contact details for any of these, contact TIO - preferably by e-mail - and I'll pass on whatever information I have.)