Ajax Orienteering & Hill Running Club

Niall Ewen (AJAX) David Healy (GEN) Colm Hill (CNOC) Ruairi Short (CNOC)
  Four Irish orienteers in search of Swedish technical training arrived in Stockholm's Svalsta airport (NOT in Stockholm) on the morning of Friday the 14th and drove north to the home map and  extensive club house of a south Stockholm club "Jarla IF" http://www.jarla.com/jarla_ny/index.asp who kindly gave us maps,,. just short of two hours later I came back tired but grinning from cheek to cheek.,,

Continued north to Uppsala home of Patrick Higgins who had kindly given us his apartments living room. Woke the next day to -10 degree temperatures but none the less we were soon running in enchanted forests once again courtesy of Patrick’s club.

Sunday we drove south to northern Stockholm and visited the elite Swedish athlete village, where we got another map, Ruairi completed a 104 control course....a true hero, we retired to Stockholm's Zinkensdamm hostel to eat and sleep before making our way back to Svalsta airport to catch our flight home,.

Report, photos by Niall Ewen.

Ajax first leg runners not showing the tension as they line-up for the start of the 2007 Irish Relay Championships in the JFK Arbouretum, Wexford, on October 27th. Pictured from left are Martin Flynn, Thomas Callery, Niall Ewen and Aonghus O'Cleirigh.

The full Ajax line-up was:

AJAX Amazons - Women's Open (3rd)
Fiona O'Brien, Nuala Callery, Brid Higgins

AJAX Warriors - Open Premier (2nd)
Aongus O'Cleirigh, John Casey, Brendan O'Brien

AJAX Attackers - Open Premier (5th)
Niall Ewen, Andrew McCarthy, Marcus Geoghegan

AJAX Invaders - Open Premier (9th)
Tom Callery, Ed Niland, Brendan O Connor

AJAX Apatorsaurus - Open Premier (11th)
Martin Flynn, Mike Long, Rory Wallace

Full results at wato.orienteering.ie

It's WWR 'time of year' again and as usual Ajax have entered a team for this challenging event on Sat. June 9th. We fielded two teams last year but this involved people running two legs and drafting in a few orienteers from outside the club. Our teams finished a creditable 10th and 16th.

This year we've only one team but as everyone will only be running one leg we should be well placed to improve last year's results.

The team and running order are:

Leg 1: Andrew McCarthy
Leg 2: Paul
Leg 3: Catherine King
Leg 4: Fiona O'Brien
Leg 5: John Casey
Leg 6: Marcus Geoghegan
Leg 7: Brendan O'Brien
Leg 8: Mike Long

Hats off to Mike Long for organising our entry and acting as 'unofficial' team manager. Logistically the WWW is a bit of a nightmare and Mike has done a great job of coordinating everything.

Niall Ewan, whom you've no doubt seen blazing around events wearing our very snazzy new O-gear has been selected to run for Ireland at the forthcoming European Youth Orienteering Championships in Hungary at the end of June. We wish Niall the very best for the competition and we're delighted to announce that Ajax will be providing a grant to Niall to assist with the cost of attending this prestigious event.

In fact this is just the start of a new effort by Ajax to support it's juniors. More details to follow in a few weeks...

(Photo: courtesy of Martin Flynn)

Only a small band from Ajax made it to the Irish Champs. in Fermanagh last month, which is a pity since it was an great event and the fine weather and excellent organisation only added to the enjoyment. Despite such small numbers we still bagged quite a few prizes over the two days.

Top of the list of achievements must be Cathal O'Cleirigh's first place on both days in M10A. Well done Cathal! Aonghus, (Cathals proud dad) was first in M45L on day one followed by 2nd. in the medium distance the next day. Marcus Geoghegan took 2nd. place in the M40L classic distance event while Ed. Niland took 3rd. and 2nd. place respectively in M21 over the two days. Well done everyone!

The prizes were quite unusual and very attractive (shown above), a nice addition to the winners shelves.

More congratulations are in order with Cathal O'Cleirigh winning M10, Niall Ewan winning M18, Marcus Geoghegan 2nd. Overall and 1st. from Leinster on M40 and Aonghus first on M45, at yesterdays Leinster Orienteering Championships in Scarr. Well done guys. Many thanks to CNOC and planner Ruth Lynam for a most enjoyable days orienteering.

Ajax are lying second in this years Leinster Inter-club competition! Correct me if I'm wrong but that's a first for the club. We don't have a chance of catching leaders Setanta but with only one event to go we can definitely hold on to overall second place. CNOC, Fingal and 3ROC are all close behind however so we can't rest on our laurals yet. The final event is at Clarabeg on April 22nd. and we need every single member to take part so even if you haven't been orienteering this year, don your Ajax O-gear and come out and run for the club.

Several club members have been doing especially well in the league this year. Congratulations to Aonghus lying third on the Brown, Andrew McCarthy third on Blue and Cathal O'Cleirigh first on the Orange. Well done!