Ajax Orienteering & Hill Running Club

Despite dropping to seventh at control 4, Ger Butler pulled the pack back and raced ahead through the trees to win the Brown by 6 mins from Christian Foley-Fisher of DUO.

His clubmate Colm Moran needed only two controls on the Blue to take the lead and hold it over 21 controls winning from Setanta's Dave Weston.

A strong run by 3ROC's Eoin McCullough saw him take 3rd, seconds behind Dave.

Conditions on Sunday were considerably better than Saturday when Marcus Geoghegan, standing in water streaming out of the car park onto the road, reflected on the chances of cancellation.
Months of preparation prevailed and Sunday saw him deliver map, planning and Grade A orienteering to a forest starved audience.
Complementing his efforts finishers also got to watch results on screen and drink coffee in the finish tent courtesy of Martin Flynn and Donal Wickham.

When the weather turned raw for the last finishers, offers of coffee, met initially with disbelief, hit the right button.

It wasn't all plain sailing, Denis Reidys' tale of a tree dropping as he placed control 21, reports of the Yellow course "blowing away", the tent window splitting in the wind, added an edge of uncertainty that was only dispelled when finishers began to flow in well.

The Orange course also saw a group of Bootcampers take to the forest as well as CNOC first timer Fergal Foley.

Cleared up by 4 pm, the organising club Ajax deemed the event a big success.

http://orienteering.ie/results/FullSIResults.php?1361

Photo by David Healy - Hazel Thompson, Setanta.