Gerry Brady takes over as PRO, Ruth Lynam as Fixtures Secretary, Ted Lucey as Mapping Officer, Aonghus OCléirigh as Technical Officer, Toni O Donovan as Junior Affairs (until September), Brendan Cryan as Development Officer.

The posts of Environmental Officer and International Officer remain vacant.

The FIOA representatives are the Chairman, Frank Ryan, and two elected reps.: Aonghus OCléirigh and Ted Lucey.

The biggest event to hit Northern Ireland orienteering is next year's British Championships on the Mayday Bank Holiday weekend. The Individual event will be at Benone sand dunes near Limavady in Co. Derry and the Relays at Baronscourt Forest near Newtownhamilton in Co. Tyrone.

The surveys have been commissioned and the two areas promise very interesting orienteering on the Sunday and Monday of the holiday weekend.

Since the Irish Championships are due to be staged in Leinster, wouldn t it make sense to tie them in with BOC to make a trip to Ireland even more worthwhile for people travelling from Britain or further afield? The suggestion has been made to stage the Irish Champs the weekend after the British, somewhere within striking distance of Ulster. Any ideas, Leinster? Who has been given the privilege of organising IOC 2001? Are there any new quality areas out there ore are we looking at Carlingford or Mullaghmeen or somewhere in Wicklow? Don't keep us in suspense

At the recent AGM, Justin May was awarded the Silva Trophy, Martin Flynn the Silva Award, ted Lucey the Mactire Trophy.

The mapping awards went to CorkO for Gug·n Barra and Bishopstown Orienteers for Coolydoody Wood andStreamhill.ODDS  n ENDS  n ODDS

Richard and Anne Wilson, editors of the Welsh orienteering newsletter, Y Ddraig, are stepping down from the job after nine years at the helm (that is, if Dragons have helms). Y Ddraig is consistently readable and informative and, yes, does pilfer bits and pieces from TIO occasionally, to show what good taste they have. Enjoy your retirement.

LVO are organising the Northern Ireland Trail Orienteering Championships on Saturday 24th June at Slieve Croob, near Ballynahinch, Co. Down. Starts 11.20-12.30. There is an open class available and there will be a " supersprint" course afterwards. Assembly on the west side of the mountain, Grid Ref J 300 448.

No Shamrock? Want to repeat the Bere Island experience? How about Lagan Valley's Copeland Island event on Saturday, June 17th? The map was done for a scout camp but never used for regular orienteering. The location is a 2 square km island off the Co. Down coast near Donaghadee. However, you'll have to book your place on the boat by contacting Ann Savage (0044-28-9188-3904).

New Connemara Map Harvey Map Services have produced a new 1:40 000 scale map of Connemara. The map has been available since around Easter and covers the main Connemara mountains: the Twelve Bens and the Maam Turks and as far north as Killary.

Money for JWOC The Irish team for the Junior World Championships in the Czech Republic this summer raised £255 in a table quiz run at the Irish Championships. The winning team (with 48 points out of a possible 60) was Justin May, Una May, Rosarie Kiernan and John McCullough.

Orienteering abroad this summer? Why not tell us ablout it if you come back? TIO knows of Irish orienteers going to multi-day events in Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Poland so far.

This year's IOA junior orienteering training camp will be held in Muckross Venture centre, Killarney, Co Kerry from Saturday 19th August to Saturday 26th August. The course is open to all juniors from ages 12 - 20. Course fee £130 per person fully residential.

Applications with course deposit of £40 to Deirdre Ryan, IOA Coaching Officer, 129 Wainsfort Manor Drive, Wainsfort Road, Terenure, Dublin 6. 01 4927250 (h) 01 6073573 (w).

Here are some details of the Junior World Championships in the Czech Republic in July.

Sunday 9th Arrival of teams

Monday 10th Model events, Opening ceremony

Tuesday 11th Classic distance

Wednesday 12th afternoon - Short distance - qualification

Thursday 13th morning - Short distance - final

Friday 14th Relay, Closing ceremony, Banquet

Saturday 15th Departure of teams.

"The Event Centre will be situated in the holiday resort of Milovy — there is a number of accommodation places close to the pond Milovy. The 9 Rocks Hotel (Hotel 9 skal) will serve as the main accommodation place as well as the event office and the press centre.

Other lodging houses are located within the walking distance from the Event Centre. Peaceful and wonderful surroundings are sure to create a cheerful atmosphere for the competition."

At its meeting held in Helsinki on 28-30 April, the IOF Council provisionally approved the applications for associate membership from Democratic People's Republic of Korea and from Pakistan. The IOF family now counts 58 members.

Council also decided to admit the Hellenic Orienteering Club based in Thessaloniki, Greece, to provisional associate membership. The Hellenic O- Club based in Athens is already a provisional IOF associate member. The IOF Statutes allow for more than one associate member from one country, and in the light of the current status of orienteering development in Greece, Council looked favourably upon the application.

The decisions are to be ratified by the General Assembly on 4 August, 2000.

New Medical Advisory Group Chairman

The chairman of the IOF Medical Advisory Group (MAG), Bengt Saltin, recently informed Council about his desire to resign since he can no longer spare the time to chair the group because of work commitments.

Council has decided to appoint Olli Heinonen MD, PhD, acting chairman of the MAG, until the end of the current Congress period. Olli Heinonen is the Chief Physician and Head of Paavo Nurmi Centre/Department of Physiology at the University of Turku, Finland. He is also an orienteer.

Bengt Saltin will continue on the group as an ordinary member. One of the main tasks of the group is to finalise the revision of the IOF Anti-Doping Rules with the aim of having them ready for Council approval in August. The revised should take effect from the beginning of 2001.

IOF Mission Statement: Trail Orienteering is a recreational and competitive sport challenge for all age groups without respect to physical limitations. It is based on the skill of basic navigation and very precise map reading in an unfamiliar area using a detailed map and compass, or when necessary, mobility assisted devices.

The mission of the IOF is to:

1.Provide Trail Orienteering as a viable and attractive outdoor recreation choice for all.

2.Promote Trail Orienteering for education, personal growth and development and environmental and social awareness.

3.Improve the competitive performance of Trail Orienteers to world-class levels.

Trail Orienteering Controllers: The Event Standards Committee had appointed Peter Gehrmann (GER) controller for the Trail Orienteering World Cup events in Ukraine (7-8 July 2000), Taro Koyama (JPN) controller for the event in Sweden (27th July 2000) and Brian Parker (GBR) for the event in Finland (August 2001).

Trail Orienteering web site: The web site www.trailo.org has been updated to include a lot of new information. The intention is to add links to national sites as well as details on international competitions.

Experimental variations of the competition format: It was noted that the O-Ringen and other multi day events were an ideal place to test experimental variations of the competition format, however, these could not be given World Cup status unless the details had been circulated 12 months previously so as to avoid any possible advantage by those familiar with the format.

The main theme of Orienteering World No. 2000/1 is "Orienteering and the Environment".

In her column the IOF President Sue Harvey states: "We, as orienteers, have a special interest in environmental responsibility, and we ourselves can act directly, in supporting the work being done by others to pull back the speed at which global warming increases. We can also do our bit both within orienteering and in our lives in general to Reduce, Re-use, and Re-cycle. These are key actions urged upon all sports federations by the IOC Global Conference on Environment and Sport which I attended in Rio de Janeiro in November 1999."

Do you already subscribe to Orienteering World? If not, order your copy from the IOF Secretariat, e-mail info@iof.worldsport.org or via The Irish Orienteer. The subscription rate is (2 issues yearly): Europe and all surface mail - EUR 13.50 (FIM 80).

The booklet "2000 Guide to elite orienteering" was published in late March, just prior to the first World Cup events. The media guide aims to provide essential information about the 2000 IOF events programme. The main target group of the booklet is the media. Copies have been sent to the national federations and to organisers of major IOF events for further distribution to the media representatives.

Conor Creedon has put together a super web site for the Irish Senior Orienteering Squad. It's at http://homepage.eircom.net/~isos/

The site has international fixtures, a bulletin board, information on training, orienteering techniques, e-mail addresses for the squad and lots more. Well done!

Park Orienteering League - Sponsored by Foster Motor Company, Asics and enovation

Events are on Thursday evenings and you can start anytime between 6:00 and 7:30. They will be sign-posted at the main entrances to these parks. Do the course with friends or by yourself. Advice will be available for newcomers.

1 May 18 Marlay Park

2 May 25 Three Rock Wood

3 June 1 Phoenix Park

4 June 8 Malahide Castle

5 June 15 Killiney Hill

6 June 22 Belfield

7 June 29 Trooperstown Wood, Laragh

The Summer league events will cover a 5km course. There will be around ten controls on the course. The events will be held close to Dublin on Thursday nights. The controls will be on or near paths and large features (walls, streams, fences). The events are low-key and you can walk, run or go in groups. Runners can test their speed against orienteers map skills. Scouts and guides can prepare themselves for more adventurous outings! Ladies can prepare for the 10k in June. Executives can test their decision-making in a pressure situation. Hill-walkers can improve their navigational skills. Teachers can have that class day out!

Entries and Prizes

Everyone is welcome. Entry is on the night and the fee is £3 for adults and £2 for juniors. Spot prizes will be awarded each night. Overall Prizes will be awarded to the top 3 men and women – the top 10 finishers each night will get points (equal to their finish place) with their best four races counting.

More information

Ring the orienteering Inf-O-line at 1890 925023 or check out the orienteering web sites at http://homepage.eircom.net/~orienteeringireland/ and the Squad site at http://homepage.eircom.net/~isos

Setanta Orienteers' third Rogaine (14 or 24 hour score event for teams of two or more) takes place in Wicklow on 15/16 July. based at Glendalough, the event will use Pat Healy's 1:25,000 scale Wicklow map. There are 6 classes (Open, Mixed, Female, Veteran, Vet Mixed and Vet Female) in both the Championship 24 hour and non-competitive 14-hour course. Veteran teams must have an average age of at least 40 years per member.

Controls can be visited in any order and there will be a central camp with shelter and hot food throughout the race. Entry fee is IR£12 per person. Entries to Philip Brennan, 69 Moyville, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16. There's an entry form in this issue of TIO and you can read about previous events in back issues of TIO.

More details on www.setantaorienteers.org

Following the Setanta AGM the new committee is as follows

Chair Fachtna Healy

Secretary Jocelyn Cathalin

Treasurer Frances O'Neill

Members Philip Brennan

Michael Mangan

Dave Weston

Just as it's a good idea to work backwards from the next control to where you are now to identify (first) an attack point, (then) a route to the attack point; why not look at the orienteering calendar from the same standpoint?

I reckon that May is the best month for orienteering: better weather, longer days, less undergrowth, warmer, not too many flies etc. OK, it's exam time, but you can't have everything. Why not aim to have the orienteering season ending at the end of May rather than the beginning and to work backwards from there towards September? That way we won't find ourselves (as we did again this year) with several great weekends with nothing to do after the Irish Championships.

leg 1 - Stone cross (Ballinascorney) to Sally Gap

leg 2 - Sally Gap to Wicklow Gap

leg 3 - Wicklow Gap to Lugnaquilla/bottom of Camara Hill track

All the above legs are across open mountain, so if you're interested, make sure you bring adequate gear and mountain experience!

Start at 9.30am, not likely to be any formal timing, certainly no prizes . . .survivors can swap war stories in Fenton's afterwards.

Spread the word - hope to see you there.

Gavan Doherty; tel: 086 262 1445; e-mail: gdoherty@esatclear.ie.

Easter, as usual, saw a goodly crew of Irish orienteers travelling to the Jan Kjellstrom orienteering festival, this time based at Aberfeldy in Scotland. Excellent orienteering, generally good weather, good organisation and a bit of rallycross in the car parking fields - what more could you want?

Craig a Barns (this time masquerading as Drunbuie Wood) at Dunkeld, near Perth, was the opener. It's hard to imagine an area more typical of Scottish orienteering: crags, contours, mixed forest, few paths: very challenging. And sunshine.

easter Sunday brought us to Rannoch Forest: more subtle (vaguer) land forms and very little rock. And more sunshine.

Monday's relays at Tullochroisk saw torrential rain for the early runners in the mass starts but conditions improved as the morning progressed. Runnable, moderately detailed deciduous forest and rough open: ideal relay country.

each day had a string course in addition, and entry on the day for the first two days. Sport-Ident timing meant instant results with split times and worked very well.

The best Irish results were 2nd place for Mary Healy (GEN) W40S; Jean O'Neill (FIN) W50S; 4th place for Vince Joyce M45, Noel Bogle (NWOC) M60S, Niamh O'Boyle (CNOC) W16A, Aislinn Austin (CorkO) W18A, Ruth Blair (NWOC) W35S; 5th place for Allan Bogle (NWOC) M20E, Julie Cleary (3ROC) W35L and 6th for Teresa Finlay (FermO) W50L. Allan Bogle (NWOC) led the open relay after leg 1 with 46.39 for 6.9 km and his NWOC team (with James Logue, Andrew Mein and Steven Linton finished 9th overall.

Next year's JK is in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. Events are at Lydney Park and at Moseley Green. Dates: 14-16 April 2001. Web site: users.globalnet.co.uk/~greyeyet/jk/

This information comes from Gerry Brady and Aonghus OCléirigh:

ELITE

- Seniors carded with the Irish Sports Council (ISC)

- Seniors who meet the ISC standards but are not carded

- Current Irish elite champions

Women Men

Toni O'Donovan John Feehan

Marcus Pinker

Colm Rothery

A POOL

- Current squad members who competed for Ireland at major events* in the last 2 years

- Carded Juniors under the ISC scheme

- Juniors who meet the ISC standards but are not carded

- Current squad members who were Irish elite Champions in the last 5 years

Women Men

Aislinn Austin Brian Corbett

Julie Cleary Bill Edwards

Ailbhe Creedon Steve Linton

Darina Cunnane James Logue

Nuala Higgins Colm O'Halloran

Eileen Loughman

Una May

Eadaoin Morrish

* World Championships, World Cups and European championships

DEVELOPMENTAL

- Squad members who aspire to compete for Ireland at Senior level

Women Men

Violet Cordner Conor Barry

Emma Glanville Tom Callery

Brid Higgins John Casey

Joanne Mein Patrick Casey

Fiona O'Brien Conor Creedon

Nina Phillips Brendan Delaney

Jane Wilson Gavin Doherty

Patrick Feehan

Padraig Higgins

Brian Jones

Ian Lockington

Shane Lynch

Declan McGrellis

Hugh McLindon

Andrew Mein

Paul Nolan

Brendan O'Brien

Andrew Quin

Alasdair Thin

JUNIOR

- Potential Junior World Championship competitors not listed previously

Women Men

Fionne Austin Alan Barry

Susan Bell Niall Bourke

Laura Cotter Darren Burke

Caroline Dennehy Stewart Caithness

Denise Healy Neil Dobbs

Susan Healy Rory Finlay

Sharon Lucey Nathan Foley-Fisher

Niamh Morrissey Zoltan Foley-Fisher

Niamh O'Boyle Ben Fulton

David Healy

Jonathon Lucey

MANAGEMENT

Gerry Brady

Ted Lucey

Justin May

Aonghus O'Cleirigh

The Sports Council carding classes are World Class, International, Developmental and Junior. NIOA and other athletes who meet the performance standards required for Sports Council Carding would also be classified accordingly.

Paul Dunne reports: The Reserve Defence Forces All Army Orienteering Championships were held on the Curragh, Co Kildare on Sunday, 21st May. Conditions at the early start were cold and windy with a warm sunny day causing discomfort to later competitors.

300 competed after regional qualifying competitions in April. A fast initial downhill 2km on all courses ensured fast times overall. Pte J Muckian ran 50.12 to win the men's senior event with Cpl D Conerney second in 55.02 and Pte K O' Brien third in 56.00 for the 9km course. 23rd Bn won the team event, 19th Bn were second.

The senior womens team title was retained by the 25th Bn, the fastest time on the 7.2km course was run by Cpl Martin in 57.02. 24th Bn were second team.

Intermediate men's event was won by Cpl Deavin on the 7.2km course in 51.15.

Lt T O'Neill ran 32 min for the 6km course to win the O/45 individual title in half the time of the next competitor! A titanic struggle ensued between Comdt Ryan and Comdt Ring for the O/50 individual title with the latter winning by 36 seconds.This writer ran 47.14 on the 7.2 km course, solo, thereby running the fastest time on the senior women's and intermediate men's course, to secure the coveted O/40 individual title.

For daily update, pic's etc here is the link http://users.tibus.com/brian.elliott/start1.htm