Irish Mountain
Running Association

Corvus Corax Direct Navigation Challenge

Forum Messages

AuthorDateMessage
Richard NunanApr 9 2011, 6:39pmThe dates we are proposing for this years Nav Challenge races are the following :

23rd July, 6th of August and the 14th August -

The idea is to have them earlier in the year and give people practice ahead of the
This takes us up to the 20th August, Stone Cross to Lug Relay.

As with other calendar events, these dates are as a result of feedback from IMRA members at last years Nav Challange events.

The dates again were discussed and agreed with the League director and the committee. Thanks again to Philip Brennan for taking this on.
Kevin O'RiordanApr 11 2011, 9:50pmThis means the IMRA navigation series calendar ends just in time for the Mourne mountain marathon this year. Excellent stuff :)
Brían O'MearaApr 12 2011, 3:16pmGreat stuff!! Always enjoyable events.
Torben DahlJul 18 2011, 12:16pmIs this race planned to go on? Are there any details about the route? Thanks.

Torben
Mick HanneyJul 18 2011, 7:55pmTorben, the routes are closely guarded secrets. Typically, in the week leading up to the event a grid reference is given out. This is the start point. Maps and grid references for controls are given out at the start. The race is to complete the course, hit all the controls, in the fastest time.
Philip BrennanJul 18 2011, 8:05pmHi, apologies for the late posting on this one but yes the race will take place this Saturday at 12 noon sharp. The location of the start is GR193143 - Crone Car Park in Glencree, well known to most hill runners.

In an effort to encourage as many people as possible to give the nav challenge a go the navigation will be relatively straight forward with pre-marked maps supplied. There will be a small number of checkpoints to visit with pretty straightforward navigation between them although route choice will be important. I will expect everyone to have the necessary kit in the event of poor weather - compass, spare clothing, mobile phone, some food & drink etc. The distance will be in the region of 10 -12km.

In order to gauge the number of maps needed could you please email me at philip@pmbrennan dot ie and let me know if you intend running.

thanks
Philip BrennanJul 21 2011, 8:25pmThanks to everyone so far who has advised me they will be running. We have in the region of 25 entrants and I will have the necessary maps for this number. If anyone else is considering the race please let me know as soon as possible to ensure I have sufficient maps. In the event you want to bring your own map we will be using East West Mapping's Dublin & North Wicklow Mountains.

Crone is a particularly busy car park on weekends so if possible I would ask people to car pool if at all possible. The race will commence at 12 sharp so try & arrive in good time for kick off.

Bear in mind that this is one of three races totalling 50km and the winner of the series will be the fastest cumulative time over the three races. Last year 3 Roc's Gerard Butler balsted his way around the courses, it will be interesting to see if anyone can emulate his performance in 2011.

If anyone has any queries before the race they can call me on 08seven 2541eightfive seven.
Philip BrennanJul 21 2011, 8:30pmThanks to everyone so far who has advised me they will be running. We have in the region of 25 entrants and I will have the necessary maps for this number. If anyone else is considering the race please let me know as soon as possible to ensure I have sufficient maps. In the event you want to bring your own map we will be using East West Mapping's Dublin & North Wicklow Mountains.

Crone is a particularly busy car park on weekends so if possible I would ask people to car pool if at all possible. The race will commence at 12 sharp so try & arrive in good time for kick off.

Bear in mind that this is one of three races totalling 50km and the winner of the series will be the fastest cumulative time over the three races. Last year 3 Roc's Gerard Butler balsted his way around the courses, it will be interesting to see if anyone can emulate his performance in 2011.

If anyone has any queries before the race they can call me on 08seven 2541eightfive seven.
karl walshJul 22 2011, 10:44amhi

i am interested in doing this race but my navigation skills are not the best, is the navigation part difficult and if so i might brush up on my navigation skills and try a later one. sorry if this sounds stupid but be better to know this than be lost during the race


Stuart ScottJul 22 2011, 10:59amHi Karl,

These races are actually the best way to brush up on your nav skills! I don't know what Phillip has in store for us this year, but there are usually 4-5 points that must be visited and most are reasonably easy to find. The main challenge is choosing the route between them - this is where time is often lost or gained.

Provided you are comfortable with the distance and can at least find your way home if you get badly lost, then I'd definitely recommend these races. Ideal preparation for the Stone Cross to Lug Relay later in the summer!

Don't forget the compulsory kit and make sure you put the RD's number in your phone before the race (just in case!)

Stuart.
Kevin O'RiordanJul 22 2011, 11:20amQuick question, is the Glencormack Inn the nominated pub for drinks afterwards?
Gavan DohertyJul 22 2011, 11:59amkarl,

philip (Race Director) has said it'll be pretty straightforward navigation, using peaks rather than more difficult features as has been the case in previous years. ideal if you haven't done much.

forecast is also looking great for tomorrow - sun cream strongly recommended:
http://www.yr.no/place/Ireland/Leinster/Enniskerry/

go for it!
Gerry BradyJul 23 2011, 6:33pmThanks Philip, great course. Leg 1 was a a gem, gave lots of scope for the headless to enjoy themselves (weep, weep!). Big turnout.
Mick HanneyJul 23 2011, 7:08pmThanks Philip, I think :-)
I'd hate to think what you have in store on the harder navs :-)

Note to self.. do not try a direct line between Djouce and Maulin ever again.
Torben DahlJul 23 2011, 7:56pmThat was definitely value for money today, thanks for that Philip!! A bit more than announced but I really enjoyed running in this extreme terrain! Great to get more than you expect!
Kevin O'RiordanJul 23 2011, 9:07pmWell that was one 10k that you could legimitately call a mini marathon... I promise to go easy on people for the next one!
Philip BrennanJul 23 2011, 11:45pmFinal results for Corvus Corax Direct listed below. The race name proved to be the key here and taking the route along the side of Ravens Glen proved to be the nemises of many runners. I agree I may have overcooked the distance a little but the key to this race was route choice. The navigation in itself was relatively straightforward and most runners found it was the physical nature of the route chosen rather than difficult navigation that slowed them down. The crux route choice legs were the route taken to the first checkpoint and from checkpoint three (Coffin Stone) to Maulin Summit. In each case utilising the path network for as long as possible seemed to be the faster option and certainly made for easier and quicker running.I take some consolation from the fact that many newcomers managed to successfully complete the course and this was testimony to their tenacity and endurance. I think this was the highest turnout ever for a navigational challenge race which is fantastic and I would hope that most of these will return to complete the next two races of the series. Kevin O'Riordan will be planning the next race and it will definitely be substantially shorter with easier runnability.

Today's course proved to be realtively straightforward to the more experienced orienteers/navigators and finishing times were very impressive. There was some talk after of publishing split times for each leg so if anyone is in a position to do this perhaps you would post them on the forum if you can. Some runners may also be able to "routegadget" their race and again if this can be put up others will be able to study the different routes taken.


1) Ruarí Short 133 mins
2) Declan McGrellis 137 mins
3) Dan Morrow 146 mins
4) Conor Short 152 mins
5) Ger Cunningham 167 mins
6) Paul Smith 168 mins
7) Kevin O'Riordan 170 mins
8) Gerry Brady 172 mins
9) Zoran Skrba 172 mins 38 secs
10) Gareth Little 184 mins
11) Pat McCavena 185 mins
12) Finbar McGurren 186 mins
13) Mick Hanney 189 mins
14) Caroline Reid 190 mins
15) Brendan Delaney 202 mins
16) Diarmuid O'Colmain 203 mins
17) Maeve O'Grady 203 mins 05 secs
18) Dermot McNamara 204 mins
19) Gavan Doherty 205 mins
20) Mike Jordan 206 mins
21) Barry Moore 210 mins
22) Pat Farrelly 218 mins
23) Ruth Lynam 220 mins
24) Torben Dahl 222 mins
25) Stuart Scott 228 mins
26) Joe Lawlor 237 mins
27) Richard Noonan 241 mins
27) Karen Duggen 241 mins
28) Ian Murphy 243 mins 11 secs
29) Harry McGee 243 mins 45 secs
30) David Duffy 246 mins
31) Paul O'Grady 261 mins
32) Pól O Murchu 272 mins
33) Don Short 274 mins
34) Greg Byrne 276 mins
34) Eavan Casey 276 mins
35) James Flanagan 294 mins
36) Kathleen Bent 297 mins
37) Barry Tennyson 308 mins
38) Brendan Lawlor DNF
39) Angus Tyner DNF
40) Dermot Murphy DNF
41) Mick Kellett DNF
42) Stephen Collier DNF


Finally, thanks to everyone who helped out with the race, Denis Deasy for controls out, Brendan Doherty for controls in and a big thank you to Tom O'Sullivan for manning the summit of Maulin. A special thank you to everyone who ran today, I hope it gave you a taste of what a navigational challenge is all about and that you are encouraged to go on and complete the series.

Last word, part of a Nokia E51 phone was found out on the course, let me know if it is yours and a thumb compass was lost near the first checkpoint, please let me know if anyone picked it up.
Caitlín BentJul 24 2011, 12:12pmHi Philip,
I lost my Nokia phone somewhere along the way (possibly at Donduff Sth.) Boy, will I take the path options in future! One part of the brain said 'take the paths" but I choose the deer paths forgetting I am not a deer:) Thanks to all concerned:)
Diarmuid O'ColmainJul 24 2011, 1:03pmThis was a very well designed course with route choices of all kinds to be made. As Philip says the navigation was easy especially in the benign weather conditions. The underfoot conditions were tough, even going from 1 to 2, where there was no avoiding rough ground, unless you were just lucky enough to hit a track (which I didn't!). I reckon the distance as the bird flies was a little over 13k, but the distance while maximising use of tracks was a little over 17k, I think; total climb was about 860m. All in all, bearing in mind the terrain (even just the terrain from 1 to 2, and in and around control 1), this made for a pretty challenging physical course.

Philip advised taking water, which at the time I thought probably would not be necessary; I took 500ml, could probably have used 1500ml, and ended up with bad cramping towards the end.

So thank you Philip and other volunteers for a good (if tough!) course. I'll be better prepared next time! Thanks be to God the weather was good.
Mick HanneyJul 24 2011, 8:41pmI'm navigationally challenged (I more than admit that). The last 2 years nav 1 events were won with 90 min and less than 2 hr times. I actually think that given the terrain we had to traverse that this challenge was too much for an introductory challenge. I'm glad for having done it and thank all involved, but I feel it didn't live up to its billing, hence the many DNFs. If I had of known the difficulty I would have come better prepared in terms of water etc. Expecting < 12k in the hills I under-estimated the challenge (I admit that). Never underestimate a nav challenge RD :-) Roll on Nav 2.
Angus TynerJul 25 2011, 11:39amI had budgeted for 2 hours, one reason is that I needed to get back home but also with the warm weather it wasn't a day for me to spend longer. I pulled out en route to #2 once I realised it was going to take significantly longer. I found some nice trails just to stretch the legs a bit and went back to finish.
Brendan LawlorJul 25 2011, 1:04pmI found a compass , so text me on oh87 too432798 if you lost it - otherwise I'll give it to Philip next time I see him
Paul O'GradyJul 25 2011, 1:36pmJust a short note to thank Philip for the race/adventure on Saturday afternoon.

Yes the distance was overcooked (along with my shoulders!!) but it was great to get a different view of a well raced area of Wicklow. We've all run Djouce and Maulin - but nobody, until now, had run directly from Djouce to Maulin - and now nobody will ever do it again!!!

I'm really looking forward to the Djouce Trail League race just to see the route that Philip had actually intended us to use!

That's the one thing I love about these Navigation races - you get to see the "normal" IMRA races from a totally different point of view.

Thanks again Philip and the marshalls and volunteers - it was an Epic adventure.

Roll on Nav 2 (and the Djouce trail race!!)
Mick HanneyJul 25 2011, 1:44pm+1 to the thanks for the organiser and volunteers (summit marshall, marker and demarker). Kevin is a really nice man so he'll go easier on us next time ;-)

Paul, I looked the the Djouce trail route map and its the Earls Drive route (renamed). You are probably thinking about the Ballymoss trail route, the start of which many of us diverted from on Saturday. And Ballymoss doesn't feature in this year's trail league.
Stuart ScottJul 25 2011, 5:34pmThanks Philip. It was a really enjoyable event...well now that I've just recovered! Expertly planned - the controls were easy to find but there was plenty of route choice, which is exactly how a nav challenge should be. Maybe the punishment for poor route choice was slightly harsher than usual, but in fairness you had warned us all about the first control at the start (albeit indirectly). I was kicking myself for not bothering to listen! It would be interesting to see everyone's routes - I'd say the quickest route from Djouce to Maulin is direct, but only for those who hadn't wasted all their energy on Leg 1. Instead I chickened out and took the easy option. In any case, I presume the published distance was as the crow flies? In which case, it was always going to be tougher than advertised.

Anyway, it was amazing to see such a great turnout. I count at least 12 Lug Relay teams there. Hope it continues!
Ian MurphyJul 25 2011, 9:28pmAs a first timer at an IMRA event, this was a baptism of fire. Delighted to finish.

My good route choice to 1 was blown away by going for the direct option from 3 to 4. I thought I wasn't going to make it to the top a few times ;-)

Due to a lack of on-board water I gave myself renewed energy by running to each stream as a water break (I'm sure that brown tinge was just peat!)

Thanks for organising, Philip.
Gavan DohertyJul 27 2011, 4:29pmgreat day. leg 3-4 was an interesting choice; if you had the leg (lifting) strength left, the direct route was (apparently) a bit quicker. i didn't have that strength left but opted for it anyway - i'll know better next time!

if you weren't there you can see the map on a link that ruairi put up in his report:
<a href="http://www.cnocmaps.totalh.com/show_map.php?user=Roar&map=91">http://www.cnocmaps.totalh.com/show_map.php?user=Roar&map=91</a>
and work out what route you'd take...

the sadistic RD may have been influenced by his recent russian adventures - Philip just came back from climbing Mount Belukha (4,506m, 2 day hike from the nearest village.... what's a bit of heather compared to that!?).

bring on Nav Challenge 2!