Ajax Orienteering & Hill Running Club

Belfast club Lagan Valley Orienteers hosted this year’s championships over the May holiday week-end.

The Sprint race on Friday evening was fast and furious with relatively straightforward courses.  But speed can easily lead to mistakes, and even small time losses became significant where winning margins could be as little as a few seconds.

The weather turned cold and wintry for the Classic distance race on Saturday.  Many competitors were badly caught-out by the conditions on Slieve Croob.  Continuous heavy rain, low temperatures, and gale-force winds on the exposed mountain made it as much a challenge of survival as of navigation!

Summer returned for the Relay race on Sunday.  The event was held in a compact forest with lots of paths, ditches, depressions and vegetation changes. This allowed for plenty of route choice, but low visibility in places demanded full concentration.

Ajax prize winners:

Sprint (Day 1) – Drumard, Lisburn

First: M16 Ruairi Long, M55 Aonghus O'Cleirigh

Third: M12 Emmet O'Cleirigh

Classic Distance (Day 2) – Slievenisky, Slieve Croob

Second: W20E Roisin Long, M45s Donal Wickham, W50s Catherine King

Third: M12 Emmet O'Cleirigh

Relay (Day 3) – Hillsborough Forest

First: H12 category - Roisin Long, Denis Reidy, Aonghus O'Cleirigh

Third: H12 category – Mike Long, Donal Wickham, Catherine King