Ajax Orienteering & Hill Running Club

......latest update from Martin Flynn...

Denis, John & I travelled to Curracloe twice to design courses & control sites.  There are to be 3 permanent courses - Short is about White standard and I think worked out at about 2k.  The Medium is "off the paths" standard and about 3k.  The Long is as technical as we could make it and is about 4.5k.

We are using the Northmost section of the forest - all that will fit on the length of an A4 sheet.  Anyone familiar with Curracloe will know that it is very narrow, especially at the north end.  Unfortunately, much of the forest is completely overgrown and unusable.  The Western half is impenetrable, the middle section is unpleasant and the Eastern side is beautiful.  This impacted greatly on the courses and kept the Long about 1k shorter than we had hoped.

The stakes have been ordered and a contractor had been lined up for the start of December.  I was in contact with the coordinator from Coillte to try to arrange for one of us to be present when the stakes were installed - to make sure they are in the correct locations.  Unfortunately, there were some delays on their side and she was to get back to me but I haven't heard anything since so I am not sure of the current status.

Martin