THE O-ZONE: Orienteering news from Ireland and the World

NIOC 2000

By the time you read this it may well be too late to enter, but the 2000 Northern Ireland Championships are on October 14-15. This year it also includes the Veteran Home Internationals and the Inter-Provincial Championships.

The Individual event is on the open mountainside of Mullaghmore, between Banagher and Moydamlaght in the Sperrin Mountains of Co. Derry, run by NWOC. The relays next day are at Drum Manor, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone (famous for its sausages), run by FermO.

Entry forms have been sent to clubs but here are the details: Individual - all classes from M/W10-70 with short courses for M/W21. Approx. lengths M21L 8 km/ W21L 6 km. Start times 11.30 to 13.30 hrs. Fees: Senior STG£8, over 65 and unwaged STG£6, juniors STG£4, family STG£16. Please indicate which province you are running for (either your province of birth or the province in which your club is based - Ed.). Closing date 15 September.

Relays: Courses: Open, women's open, Ad-Hoc, Junior Ad-Hoc (sum of ages 48 or less). Ad Hoc can be mixed clubs. Start time 12.30. Fee: Seniors STG£5 per person, Juniors STG£2.50 per person.

Entries to Ruth Blair, 42 The Gables, Randalstown, Co. Antrim BT 41 3JY.

Phone: 028 944 3737; e-mail ruth.blair@dnet.co.uk.

ROTHERY TAKES DOUBLE GOLD

Irish men's orienteering champion Colm Rothery added to his tally of medals at the European Veteran Athletics Championships in Helsinki in July. He took Gold in the 1500 metres and 800 metres and bronze in the 3000 metres steeplechase. This comes at the end of a most successful season, kicking off with silver in the M40 class at the World Masters Orienteering Championships in New Zealand in January, only seconds behind Jorgen Martensson.

Colm's times were 4:00:02 (1500) and 1: 52:51 (800). Not bad for an auld fella!
STOP PRESS: Colm has since captured the World Veteran Record for 800m -Martin

TIMMY MORRISSEY

Many of you will know Timmy Morrissey, the slight, fair-haired, occasionally inspired but erratic orienteer from Cork. Timmy ran with the Army club in Cork, Southern Orienteers and was good enough to be selected on Irish Home International orienteering teams. We haven't seen anything of him lately. Here's why.

Last autumn Timmy was crossing the road on his way home from work when he was struck by a car. He sustained severe injuries and has been in hospital ever since. He later fell in hospital, injuring his neck. At present he is in the Rehabilitation Institute in Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire. He has recently shown signs of improvement but has no real movement in his legs and arms and may not walk again. His wife, Breda, says he would benefit from visitors and that evenings (5 pm+) especially Wednesday or Fridays from lunchtimes seem to be good times.

and hurt his neck. His daughter, Niamh, still orienteers but not so much of late.

Timmy's former comrades in the army are running a special event at Kilworth, Co. Cork, on Sunday 19th November, as a fundraiser for Timmy. The organisers are working hard on it: good courses, refreshments etc. Why not make the effort to go to the event?

TVEITE WINS CISM

Norway's Havard Tveite won the World Military Orienteering Championships in Norway at the end of August. The best Irish finisher was Padraig Higgins, 34th in the B final. Russia won the relays, with the Irish teams placing 42nd and 46th.

Finland's Maria Rantala won the women's race and Finland also took the women's relay.

The Irish men's team was (in starting order) Gareth Evans, Mark Prendergast, Sean McSweeney, Denis Reidy, Trevor Slattery, Brendan Delaney and Padraig Higgins. The ladies team was Danielle Buckley, Deborah Hurley and Bridget Lawlor. (Bridget was the best placed of the women, in 47th place).

millennium munster champs

"An old iron ore mining area consisting of mixed semi-deciduous woodlands with lots of small depressions and knolls and an adjacent oak wood." Sounds interesting. Is it the JK? Norway? In fact it's much closer to home: Tallow, on the Waterford/Cork border.

Bishopstown OC are running the Munster Championships there on November 12th. There's an entry form in this issue. Entries to Nick Young, 12 Fremont Drive, Bishopstown, Cork. Cheap entries up to October 15th.

(Hey, but what effect will all this iron ore have on my compass?)

JK 2001

Thinking of travelling at Easter? The Jan Kjellstrom O-Festival is in the Forest of Dean, not far from Bristol. It's reasonably convenient for Holyhead and Fishguard/Pembroke so should be fairly accessible. As usual it consists of two individual days on Easter Saturday and Sunday and a Relay on Easter Monday.

The dates are April 14-16 2001. There's normally a training event on Good Friday too.

The venues are Lydney Park, Moseley Green and Lydney Park again.

Accommodation details from Coleford Tourist Information Centre, High St., Coleford, Gloucestershire GL16 8HG. (fax 0044-1594-812330, e-mail tourism@fdean.gov.uk; website www.fweb.org.uk/fddc/tourist. Event website users.globalnet.co.uk/~greyeyet/jk/).

IOF COUNCIL

The composition of IOF Council during the next two years 2000-2002 is as follows:

President: Sue Harvey, Great Britain

Senior Vice-President: Ake Jacobson, Sweden

Vice Presidents: Hugh Cameron, Australia and Edmond Szechenyi, France

Members: Thomas Brogli, Switzerland; Higino Esteves, Portugal; Jan-Erik Krusberg, Finland; Iordanka Melnikliyska, Bulgaria, and Shin Murakoshi , Japan.

ODDS and ENDS and ODDS

Simon Beck is surveying the map for the 2001 British Championships Relays at Baronscourt, near Newtownstewart in Co. Tyrone. Stirling Surveys and Deeside Orienteering and Leisure Maps are producing the map for the individual event on the sand dunes at Benone. Stirling recently won the BOF Professional Map Trophy for 1999 for their map of Glen Affric used for the 1999 World Championships in Scotland.

NIOA, meanwhile, have been granted STG£2000 by BOF which will be used for purchasing the SPORTident electronic timing equipment similar to that bought by IOA in the past year or so.

LVO celebrated their 21st year with a club trip to the Swedish 5-Day. The continuous rain in Sweden turned the event into a mudbath, by all accounts: LVO should have felt at home! Happy birthday, LVO. Maybe we'll have an account of the trip in the next TIO?

Setanta's Fachtna Healy writes "Congratulations to everyone who completed the rogaine (on July 15/16). The results can be seen at

http://www.setantaorienteers.org/rogaine_top.html .

Hugh McLindon and Roisin McDonnell were the overall winners. Setanta OC wishes to thank everyone who helped with putting out and taking in controls (all 52 were in the correct place except for no.3 which was lifted), Scoil Chaoimhín Naofa in Glendalough for the use of their facilities and everyone else who helped out."

Qantas Video

Orienteering in Australia has achieved a major promotional and publicity coup through getting Qantas (which sponsors the National Orienteering League) to screen the OzE2000 orienteering video on its inflight services. The 31 minute video will be screened on the Qantas Business Class sport channel for the whole month of October, a time when many sports people will be travelling from Australia after the Olympic Games. While Ansett is the official Olympic airline, there is no doubt that there will be many athletes and officials travelling Qantas Business Class.

Scotland 2001: Only a year to go to Lochaber 2001, the 13th Scottish 6-Day based at Fort William. Events will be near Fort William, Arisaig and Oban from 5th-11th August.

For accommodation details, contact the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board, Dept. SOA/FW, PO Box 9, Dunoon, Argyll, PA23 8QQ (www.host.co.uk). Event information from Lochaber 2001, PO Box 2001, Hamilton, ML3 7WE, Scotland (www.scottish-orienteering.org/lochaber2001/)

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

The IOF has supported the idea of a European orienteering championships. The 2002 foot-O Champs will be in Hungary and in 2003 there will be a Mountain -bike Orienteering Championships . The event will take place every second year.

WEB search for Clubs

This is a facilility to register your club on the Web for free.It will allow your members and visitors the freedom to view your club`s information on:

Future events, Fixtures/Results, Team sheets, Club History, Directions to your club location,etc

Its indexing will enable your club to be more visible all over the World.

For more information visit : http://www.clubsworld.com/ or for queries contact : debbie@clubsworld.com

The Irish Sports Council has developed a new web-site to be used as a resource for National Governing Bodies of Sports. Their web address is: www.irishsportscouncil.ie

Scottish Junior Money

Scotland's junior squad have benefitted from a grant of STG£21,835 for this year from sportscotland, the Scottish Sports Council. The grant will help pay for a two week training trip to Norway plus competing in the Sorlandsgaloppen, six weekends training in Britain and the inter-regional and home international competitions.

O'CLEIRIGH WINS WICKLOW MM

Aonghus O'Cléirigh won the Solo Elite class in the 8th Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon in Wicklow on May 20/21. His time was 7 hours 16 minutes for the 40 km course. Notable orienteers' results were- Hugh McLindon and Roisin McDonnell won the Mixed A class, Philip Brennan and Mick Mangan won the Standard A class, Paul Mahon and Paul Cullen won the Standard B (30 km) class and Adrian Tucker and Derek Charles won the Walkers Class (24 km).

There is speculation that next year's event may head west, to the new Harveys map of Connemara ...

BHAA RACES

If you are interested in running some fairly competitive races where you're guaranteed not to disgrace yourself (and you get tea and sandwiches afterwards), why not try the Business Houses Athletic Association series? Lots of orienteers run them: you'll see some familiar faces (or maybe familiar backs ...)

Sept 2 CitySwift 10 mile road race, Rathcoole.

Sept 16 BHAA Dublin Half Marathon, Phoenix Park.

Oct 30 98FM Dublin City Marathon

Nov 18 ESB Beach Race, Sandymount.

Nov 25 BHAA 5K road race, Phoenix Park.

The cross-country series usually runs from January to about April with road races from March to December. People run as team members for their place of work and have to register with the BHAA.

Details from BHAA, PO Box 1287, Dublin 2. Phone 01-6707918.

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS

Congratulations to former Irish Champions Justin and Una May: Una had a baby boy, Cian, on August 30th. All are doing well. Did Cian make it to his first event at Donadea on September 3rd?

Congratulations also to Tom Callery and Nuala Higgins, who got married over the summer, and to Ciaran Young and Eileen Jones who followed suit a few days later. Tom's and Nuala's wedding reception in a building site (formerly the Eccles Hotel in Glengarrif) was evidently memorable and some of the guests managed a spot of orienrteering on Shrone Hill next day.

Our sympathy to NWOC's Steven Linton on the death of his mother and to 3ROC's Harold White on the death of his father during the summer.

WORLD CUP RESULTS

Gerry Brady writes "John Feehan finished 43rd overall (short, medium and classic combined) and gained World Cup points. A clear message from the two weeks was that on-site training is necessary for next year's World championships and that we have people who can qualify for the finals if their training and navigation goes well. Around 20 Irish orienteers made the journey with non-World Cup people in the Fin 5-Days. Many are now in Sweden at the O-Ringen 5-Days. Others are getting ready for the Czech and Austria events. Toni O'Donovan is going to the World Students championships at the end of August."

World Cup, Finland (Event 8, short race). Men: 1 V. Novikov (Russia) 23:15; 2 T. Karpinnen (Finland) 24:23; 3 F Lowegren (Sweden) 24:29. Irish placings: 51 J. Feehan 29:55; 63 M Pinker 30:49; 79 B. Edwards 32:59; 80 C. O'Halloran 33:04; 119 C. Rothery 45:28; 128 B. O'Brien 62:10.

Women: 1 S. Luder (Switzerland) 27:04; 2 M. Sandstrom (Sweden) 27:27; 3 H. Staff (Norway) 27:56. Irish placings: 76 T. O'Donovan 43:22; 92 A. Creedon 67:17.

World Cup (Finland, medium race). Men, 6.9k: 1 V. Novikov (Russia) 45.08; 2 M Mamlejv (Russia) 45.33; 3 M Bostrom (Sweden) 46.14. Irish placings: 55 J. Feehan 53.55; 59 M. Pinker 54.15; 92 C. Rothery 59.26; 101 B. Edwards 61.41; 102 C. O'Halloran 61.49; 119 B. O'Brien 72.48.

Women, 4.5k: 1 H Monro (Britain) 33.36; 2 M Mikkola (Finland) 33.58; 3 S. Luder (Switzerland) 33.59. Irish placings: 90 T. O'Donovan 74.29; 92 A. Creedon 100.55.

World Cup (Finland), Classic race. Men (13.2k): 1. J Lakanen (Finland) 73:55; 2. T Asp (Sweden) 73:58; 3. N Jonasson (Sweden) 74:22. Irish placings: 43. J Feehan 86:04; 78. B Edwards 97:45; 85. M Pinker 103:24; 89. C Rothery 106:22; 93. C O'Halloran 107:43; 101. B O'Brien 116.:20.

Women (8.7k): 1. K Bostrom (Sweden) 59:44; 2. M Sandstrom (Sweden) 59:57; 3.

J Johansson (Sweden) 60:04. Irish placings: 85. T O'Donovan 104:21; 87. A Creedon 112:25.

NEW SET SEC

Jocelyn Cathalin has resigned from the position of Setanta Secretary. Dave Weston has temporarily stepped into the position, any correspondence should be send to him at the address below.

Dave Weston, 49 Ashlawn, Ballinteer, Dublin 16, Phone (01)2960854; e-mail dave.weston.dublincorp@luas.ie or else e-mail our website www.setantaorienteers.org

IOF CONGRESS IN AUSTRIA

The XX IOF Congress and General Assembly were held at Leibnitz, Austria, on 31 July - 5 August 2000.

41 member countries from five continents participated in the Congress week activities and attended the 20th IOF General Assembly. Sue Harvey (GBR) was re-elected President of the IOF.

The General Assembly approved Council's strategy paper 'IOF Elite Events - a concept for development', decided to introduce a World Championship in sprint orienteering and agreed on the criteria for introduction of a World Championship in Trail Orienteering.

The General Assembly also endorsed the proposed amendments to the IOF Statutes, one of the most important being the clause referring unresolved sports-related disputes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Japan was appointed organiser of the World Orienteering Championships in 2005, and Australia will be the host country of the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in 2004. The General Assembly delegated to Council to appoint the organiser of the World Ski Orienteering Championships in 2004.

The next IOF Congress and General Assembly will be held in France in 2002.

SQUAD SEMINAR

Aonghus OCléirigh tells us that there will be a squad seminar again this year along the lines of last year's one in Dublin. The date will be Saturday 25th November, all day, in Dublin. More details later.

AGHAVANNAGH TO WOODSTOCK

Gerry Brady's plans for a register of orienteering maps have moved a few steps further. He has a comprehensive list which he hopes will be put on the IOA website soon. The list include details of the map name, date, location, scale, contour interval, mappers' names, club whose map it is, grid reference, source of photogrammetry etc. An interesting browse through the highways and byways of Irish orienteering, back to the early days.

IOA NEWS

The IOA has introduced a scheme for mapping parks and school grounds. Unfortunately by the time you find out about it, it may be too late to avail of it. Anyhow, the details are: You must apply before September 25th and mapping must be finished by October 25th. A grant of up to £100 is available to cover expenses, plus free printing. Maps will be printed during the first week of November. Maps should be A4 size, approximately.

Details from IOA mapping officer, Ted Lucey, Kilpadder, Dromahane, Mallow, Co. Cork. (Phone 022-47300).

JHI TEAM

The team for the Junior Home International in the Lake District on September 9/10 is - W14: Deirdre Carbery (CNOC), Megan Crowch (NWOC), Erinna Foley-Fisher (MNav), Shanagh Leadbetter (NWOC); W16: Sarah Browne (Lakeland OC), Niamh Lalor (GEN), Niamh O'Boyle (CNOC), Zara Stevenson (NWOC); W18: Aislinn Austin (CorkO), Caroline Dennehy (BOC), Kelly Gibson (FermO), Sharon Lucey (FermO); M14: Ted McCormack (GEN), Eric Murphy (BOC), Donal O'Donoghue (BOC), Aran Savage (LVO); M16: Diarmuid Collins (BOC), Christian Foley-Fisher (MNav), Ben Fulton (NWOC), Matthew McCloskey (NWOC); M18: Stewart Caithness (FermO), Nathan Foley-Fisher (MNav), David Healy (GEN), Jonathan Lucey (FermO).