Ajax Orienteering & Hill Running Club

The Ajax team of Mike Long, Christian Foley-Fischer and Aonghus O'Cleirigh took second place behind a strong CNOC team.   Following solid legs by Mike and Christian, Aonghus pulled back a place on the run down to the finish at Fenton's pub in the Glen of Imaal.

Peter Kernan

Irish O Championships 2010

In addition to the quality of the orienteering on offer being very good and the social aspects of the weekend the recent Irish Championships held near Limavaddy in Northern Ireland were a success for AJAX OC.

In the individual races there were a number of successes e.g.

Classic M50 was won by Colm Rothery (on a break from training for his assault on the M50 800 m track world record) closely followed by Aonghus O’Cleirigh also of AJAX.

M14 Sprint won by Cathal O'Cleirigh.

There were also a good smattering of second and thirds both in the classic and the sprint events, particularly from the AJAX juniors.

From my point of view the highlight of the weekend was the victories in both the Veterans (AJAX Attackers) and Junior (J36) relay events indicating the club is strong at both ends of the age spectrum.

All three Juniors comprising Dara and Cathal O’Cleirigh and Ruairí Long were consistent and error free and finished a comfortable 4 minutes ahead of Cork O. They had recently finished an excellent 5^th in the J40 event at JK2010 in Devon (with Róisín Long replacing Dara due to the difference in age class).

The Vets team (Aonghus O’Cleirigh, Denis Reidy and Colm Rothery) victory was equally clear cut. I ran the first leg myself on another team was able to observe that even after one control Aonghus’ experience had put him some 100 m ahead of the field. Dennis followed with a strong run. We were able to observe the finish from a sand dune and with two or more controls to go Colm was able to do an “Eamonn Coughlan” to the crowd.

3 May 2010

Event Location:  The first Spring Cup competition of the season, organized by Ajax , will be held on 07-Mar-2010 on Bull Island , Dublin .  (Grid Reference: O 233 370).

Event Directions and Parking:  The event is signposted from the coast road ( James Larkin Road ).  Use the Causeway to reach Bull Island , and not the wooden bridge.  Parking is on the causeway or on the beach. Both start and finish are near the Interpretive Center .

Map:  The previously mapped area has been further extended.  Maps are pre-marked and printed at a scale of 1:5,000 on water resistant material.  Contour interval is 2.5 meters.  Power lines are not displayed and the magnetic grid lines run 45 degrees to the edge of the map.  For longer courses the map shows the island in two sections laid out side-by-side on an A3 sheet.  Shorter courses are planned on an A4 extract.  The Brown course uses a modified map with only contour, marsh and building detail shown. (No paths, vegetation or man-made features other than buildings are displayed). Control descriptions for all courses will be available at registration and are not printed on the map. 

Terrain: For anyone unfamiliar with Bull Island , the terrain consists of grass-covered sand dunes with many small paths, isolated trees and man-made features. Marshes are currently flooded but are crossable.

Start-times:  11:00   – 13:00.
Courses close:  15:00.

Timing:  SportIdent (SI) timing will be used.  SI cards are available for hire or purchase at event registration.  All participants must download their SI cards after orienteering, whether they complete the course or not.

Event officials:         
Controller:  Andrew McCarthy.
Organiser:  Donal Wickham
Planner:  Aonghus O’Cleirigh

Course and Map Details:
Brown (A3), 9.6 k, 50 m, 30 controls, (contours/marsh/buildings only)
Blue (A3), 8.9 k, 45 m, 30 controls,
Green (A3), 5.7 k, 30 m, 24 controls,
Light Green (A3), 4.0 k, 20 m, 20 controls,
Orange (A4), 2.9 k, 15 m, 18 controls,
Yellow (A4), 1.7 k, 10 m, 14 controls,

Entry Fees:
Adult: 8 Euros.
Junior / Full-time Student: 5 Euros.
Family: 20 Euros.

Crossing Points:  Use the crossing points marked on the map.  For safety reasons please do not cross public roads or race on them.

Important:  Bull Island is an EU designated Special Area of Conservation.  Please do not cause damage or litter.

Aonghus O'Cleirigh

This article about the Irish 10-Day 2011 appeared in the most recent CompassSport magazine in the UK

Irish10day.pdf

MG

Next Night O will be in Bushy Park this Sat
Start Templeogue Rd / Terenure Rd West Jnc i.e. just opposite main gate to Terenure College
Start times 18:30 - 19:30
And afterward pints in Templeogue Inn (The Morgue?)

There will be 2 courses, long circa 3.5 km and short circa 2 km
Given the nature of the park, this is the ideal event if you have never tried Night O but wanted to give it a go. It is also suitable for younger runners. There will be a good few of the AJAX crew around to keep an eye on things.

See you there
Mike Long

Last week's snow and ice drew out the ice axe crew.  Deftly piloted in Peter Gargan's BMW to an icy Glen of Imaal, the initial slog up snowy Camarahill switched quickly to plunging into a cloudy coomb behind Paddy O'Brien. 

Distracted by a fox and hare scuttling around, picking up the gullies in the gloomy white, proved tricky.

The call to go straight up turned good, the slope pulling up sharply into a clean route.   A short pause allowed Marcus off the leash to rip into some ice (photo), and a quick traverse let us climb quickly onto a cold top.
Didn't spend much time on the lunch before slipping back down to stools in Fenton's.

Setanta's Dave Weston proved steel capped wellies can mix it with the best, passenger Peter Kernan did what he was told.

photos by  Marcus Geoghegan

Peter Kernan

For the second year in a row Setanta's Phillip Brennan put together an original point to point walk starting on the new

Tibradden trail, taking in Fairy Castle, lunching at an impressive Ballyedmonduff tomb, and crossing by lanes, woods and a bankrupt Kilternan Hotel to Barnaslingan above the Scalp.

View from Carrickgolligan was of a Dublin carpeted with mist, and the last leg to Brady's of Shankill took in a little known Rathmichael ring fort.

 This year, despite the walk invitation bringing in a troop drawn from GEN, Setanta, Fingal and Ajax there was surprisingly little crowd trouble.  The slick, icy tracks were the biggest danger.
Many thanks to Phillip and crew.

photos  by  Brendan O'Connor    Paddy O'Brien

Peter Kernan