The Leinster Championships provided another opportunity to visit to one of Ireland's most challenging and most rewarding orienteering areas - Carlingford. Clear, bright weather meant good visibility and perfect running conditions on the Foxes Rock area to the north west of the main mountain. Nigel Campbell-Crawford's courses were testing and used the area well.

Steven Linton and Toni O'Donovan were clear winners in the Elite classes. But with only five W21E's and nine M21E's running it makes one wonder what people need to get them to run: a Mercedes each to the winners, perhaps?

The day was not completely without incident, however: different versions of the control descriptions had different codes on two adjacent controls near the finish, so an official was sent to reassure the few confused competitors that they were right. Full marks to the planner, however, as he did have the grace to own up in the event report published with the results. As in the Irish Championships case, there was an information deficit before the event: while it's nice to know the course lengths beforehand, it's more useful if you know which course you are on. Equally, to know which scale map you are to run on before you get to the start would be a nice touch. (Criticism of 3ROC, OK?)

Incidentally, how many of you noticed that the map was a photocopy, complete with course and control descriptions? It worked very well, though a problem with photocopied maps is that the ink can flake off the paper with repeated folding so a good, strong, sealed bag is essential.

Leinster Championships, 9th April 2000

M10 Conor Short CNOC

M12A Ruairi Short CNOC

M12B Gavin Carney CNOC

M14A Ted McCormack GEN

M16A Ben Fulton NWOC

M18A Stewart Caithness NWOC

M18B Shane Enright

M20L Niall Bourke UCCO

M21L Conor Barry UCCO

M21S Gavan Doherty GEN

M21E Steven Linton NWOC

M35L Dave Weston SET

M35S Tim Field LOC

M40L Douglas Corrie FIN

M40S John Rowe FIN

M45L Brian Bell GEN

M45S Anthony McGonigle NWOC

M50L Colin Henderson LVO

M55L Alan Gartside LVO

M60L Paget McCormack GEN

M65 Andrew Bonar Lay GEN

M70 Sean Rothery 3ROC

W10 Erika Jones FIN

W12A Erinna Foley-Fisher MNAV

W14A Deirdre Carbery CNOC

W16A Niamh O'Boyle CNOC

W16B Rachel Knowles NWOC

W18A Colette Geary BVOC

W18B Judith Stevenson NWOC

W20L Susan Bell UCDO

W20S Clare Fitzpatrick UCDO

W21L Violet Cordner LVO

W21S Fiona O'Brien AJAX

W21E Toni O'Donovan CorkO

W45L Heather Majury LVO

W45S Nora Lalor GEN

W50L Teresa Finlay FermO

W50S Frances O'Neill SET

W55 Clare Nuttall LeeO

W60 Diana Large GEN

W65 Faith White SET