Orienteering News 11th March 2020

Following the recommendation of the IOA and as a result of the current coronavirus situation, we have decided to postpone Sunday’s Griffeen Park orienteering event.

The junior training on Saturday is unlikely to go ahead. The Leinster Champs will be postponed to the autumn.

If you’d like to go for a run in Griffeen Park you can still download one of the old permanent course maps here.

The IOA position is as follows:

Dear Orienteer,

In light of the Taoiseach’s announcement earlier today and the request that as a nation we reduce social interactions, we are cancelling orienteering events and organised training activities for the next two weeks up to and including the 29th March.

We will monitor developments over this period and review the situation during the week commencing 23rd March 2020 to determine how best to proceed.

We acknowledge that orienteering events would be considered low risk events being out of doors and usually involving less than 150 personnel. It is with regret that we take this step but in the best interests of the health and safety of all and in solidarity with the common good we are cancelling all orienteering and organised training events up to and including 29th March.

Many thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Other events coming up include two Leinster League events, at Oughaval, Co Laois on March 22nd and at Bull Island, Dublin, on March 29th. These events will also be affected by the restriction on sporting activity until the end of March. Keep an eye on www.orienteering.ie to see the latest situation.

Some of the areas for Junior training sessions

Junior training David Healy is running a number of training sessions for younger juniors (age 10-13 approx) on Saturdays, starting this Saturday (Saturday 14th March) at Massy’s Wood, across from the Hellfire Woods. The sessions are free, run from 11 to 1 pm and are open to all interested juniors. The areas are forests where there are permanent courses so you’ll need to download the course maps (e.g. from the Coillte Outdoors, Dublin Mountain Partnership or O-club websites) first. Check in with David first: davidjosephhealy@gmail.com.

14/03 – Massy’s estate – download here.

21/03 – Three Rock Mountain (Ticknock) – download the map from the 3ROC home page here.

28/03 – Donadea- download map here.

04/04 – Carrickgollogan – download map here.

18/04 – Barnaslingan – download map here.

25/04 – Hellfire wood + BBQ – download map here.

David writes “The sport of Orienteering has a right to be in contention against football training, hockey training, swimming training etc. We are allowed to be here. And we have alot to offer as a sport. But it takes a while to win people over to orienteering. This training schedule is an experiment. I just don’t think we need to think tribal about all things orienteering here since our club numbers are low. It’s in our best interest to pool our resources; club numbers would rise indirectly. Right now our people need a fixture to have a map in their hand. And they need that opportunity to be a “training environment” to learn, fail and ask questions. So with respect to the current level of O fixtures in our great Irish sport I say that anything to get us started and moving is a good first step.

Putting on training opportunities should be seen as a way of maintaining our community if not developing it. That in and of itself is a form of promotion for the sport too, especially since there is a lack of regular training (this in fairness always has been the case) and we shoot ourselves in the foot because of it. I’d be more interested in seeing six years of this training opportunity than to see what happens after six instances of the trainings. But as I said, it’s an experiment and we’ll see what it feels like afterwards.

This Saturday at Massy’s will begin with a 30 minute set of games lead by a friend of mine that does improv and stand up comedy. Then we will do some Orienteering once our machines are warmed up and excited.”

Reminder: Club clothing – 3ROC O-suits, jackets, hats, buffs etc are all available from the club. Make sure you run in style and get yours today! Special offers for Juniors, and our junior members can trade in O-tops and get upgrades very cheaply.

Reminder (2) The 3ROC AGM is on Tuesday 7th April at the Dropping Well in Milltown, with refreshments afterwards.

Reminder (3) Remember to enter the Leinster Championships (5th April) and the Munster Championships (26th April). The LOC closing date is 22nd March – see details here.

See you in the forest!