Nead an Iolair Nav Challenge
Forum Messages
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Philip Brennan | Aug 10 2011, 7:08pm | Rumours of my demise are much exaggerated!! The final race in the NC challenge takes place this Sunday and the start will be located at GR114030. Given the difficulties with access in last week's race I have endeavoured to ensure that there will be lots of open runnable terrain in this race and hopefully no irate landowners. In fact it is likely that you may meet no one else other than fellow competitors - the course looks excellent - if I say so myself! So far it would appear that we have a number of runners in contention to claim the series. Ajax's Paul Smith is currently on a total of 333 minutes with his nearest rival Zoran Skrba on 349. Behind Zoran is GEN's Gavan Doherty on 369 with Setanta's Finbar McGurren on 407. Finally we have the original founder of this series, none other than Joe Lawlor with 412 minutes. If CaitlÃn Bent runs on Sunday she is sure to claim the ladies title. As we all know anything can happen on these races and a 16 minute lead is not a huge margin. Traditionally the past winners of these series have mainly been orienteers so it will be very interesting to see if non orienteer - IMRA runner Zoran can overtake Paul and claim the title. However young Gavan could upset things as this sort of terrain may suit the GEN runner. Its all to play for so let's hope we get a good turnout and good weather on the day. If you intend running please email me by Friday (philip at pmbrennan dot ie)and let me know. |
| Peter O'Farrell | Aug 10 2011, 9:57pm | Having just read Moire's excellent book I feel compelled, nay enthused, to do this event. Not the round now, just this event! Sign me up. |
| Brendan Lawlor | Aug 12 2011, 2:04pm | Nead an Iolair (or should that be Nead an t'Iolair Caitlin?!!)...sounds ominous, shame I'm going to miss it. Well done to Philip and Kevin for keeping this excellent series going this year, minor tinkering for 2012 I would suggest (ie why not a race per month in August, Sept and October for example) - it ain't broke (much) so lets not fix it (much!) |
| CaitlÃn Bent | Aug 12 2011, 2:42pm | Brendan, were you reading my mind this morning?:) |
| Justin Rea | Aug 12 2011, 2:52pm | Translation? (disadvantaged Kiwi here!) These races remind me a bit of Rogaine, so how about a format where the controls are optionally visited in any order and assigned points relative to acessability from the start. This would give 'short course' options for some people and leave the hard slogs to the competitive types. The challenge could only be won by someone scoring maximum points with time taken as second decider. This format extends the challenge of route choice to deciding which order to visit controls, not just how to get to the next one. |
| Joe Lalor | Aug 12 2011, 4:28pm | Nead an Iolair = Eagle's Nest |
| Paul Nolan | Aug 14 2011, 5:41pm | Many thanks to Philip and helpers (Brendan Doherty and perhaps others I missed) for putting on a good old fashioned mountain race today. And hearty congratulations to Zoran on his début win and the series title. It's never over until the finish line! |
| niamh o ceallaigh | Aug 14 2011, 7:58pm | Thanks Philip, A great race. I am WRECKED!! |
| Philip Brennan | Aug 14 2011, 9:17pm | Results of "Nead an Iolair" - the final race in the Nav challenge series as follows: Zoran Skrba 136 mins Paul Nolan 136 mins 15secs Kevin O'Riordan 150 mins Peter O'Farrell 150 mins 32 secs Finbar McGurren 153 mins Gareth Little 162 mins Gerard Cunningham 163 mins Paul Smith 173 mins Ed Niland 181 mins Barry Moore 191 mins Niamh O'Ceallaigh 202 mins Joe Lawlor 208 mins David Duffy 214 mins Torben Dahl 227 mins Harry McGee 228 mins Dermot McNamara 230 mins Pól O'Murchu 275 mins Derek Kellett 277 mins Ger Power 359 mins CaitlÃn Bent 359 mins Thomas Galvin 363 mins Paul O'Grady 363 mins James Flanagan 363 mins Richard Nunan DNF Mick Kellett DNF Thanks again to those that helped on the day; Brendan Doherty & Kieran Rocks for controls in and Dave Weston for controls out. Despite the occasional heavy shower the weather was pretty benign and it was generally a very good day for running in the hills. The course was pretty fast and runnable and with the exception of the last checkpoint (the sting in the tail) most runners had little difficulty with the navigation. On the day Zoran Skrba was first home with Paul Nolan hot on his heels, both finishing strongly with very fast times. It was a worthy victory for the IMRA runner who managed to claw back the lead Paul Smith had from the previous two races and so claims the title "Navigator of the Year". Zoran's navigational skills have clearly improved over the past number of years and surely it must be time for him now to embrace the sport of orienteering. CaitlÃn Bent showed her determination and perseverence today and claims the ladies title in the series - congtatulations. And so ends another NC series! Many thanks to all the competitors, at the end of the day the race is about you guys and I hope the series challenged you both physically and mentally and left you looking for more. I look forward to handing over the series to some new blood in 2012! |
| Pól Ó Murchú | Aug 14 2011, 10:28pm | Great race today Philip. Thanks for organising race and series. Great races |
| Derek Kellett | Aug 15 2011, 8:48am | Thank you, enough said. Well done Zoran. Mr. Smyth i found your hat. |
| Finbar McGurren | Aug 15 2011, 9:04am | Thank you Philip and co for an excellent race and an excellent race series overall. Really enjoyed the course yesterday. Excellent training for both AR and the Mournes which I'm really looking forward to now. Would be interesting to see one of these races run in the dark... :) |
| Zoran Skrba | Aug 15 2011, 9:24am | A big thanks to Philip and the volunteers. Really liked the route, was quite runnable. Was a bit more familiar with this area and terrain compared to the first two. Paul N. great to have you alongside for some company at times, and a constant reminder of "16 mins" :). And thanks for the well wishes. On another note... maybe this series can be spread a bit more over the year. Maybe have 5 races... one or two per month.. with few in the spring? |
| Paul O'Grady | Aug 15 2011, 7:41pm | Thanks for a great race Philip and team. I have to agree with Zoran - there aren't enough of these races!! |
| Paul Smyth | Aug 29 2011, 4:56pm | Hi Derek, That's great news about my hat. Can you email (temp2011(at)me(dot)com) or text me (oh8seven2six1six4oh7) your contact details. Thanks Paul |
| Mick Hanney | Sep 5 2011, 10:25pm | Saw this posted on Boards on the A/R/T outdoors sub-forum... Any chance they are from any of our nav events? Nav 1 used the coffin stone under Djouce for instance? Orienteering markers left in Wicklow mountains A few weeks ago I was coming down the Glenmacnass side of Scarr and came across one of those red/white flags used by orienteers in a reasonably remote place. No other flags around or evidence of an orienteering event so assumed it had been "forgotten". Then last Saturday came across another one, at the coffin stone between Djouce and War Hill. Again no evidence of an event on so got to wondering, are these left in situ permanently? Is there a giant course set out through the mountains? Anyone else come across them? |
| Paul Smyth | Sep 5 2011, 11:51pm | There was a control at the coffin stone on the first Nav. race this year so that may be left from that. The other control mentioned was not on any of the Nav routes (Glenmacnass side of Scarr). I suspect that this is the same control I came across during this year's Rogaine. It was on a small path heading up to the shoulder of Scarr from the Glenmacnass car park. It was not part of the Rogaine either (I checked when I finished). The contention of the second poster in that thread that 'I've seen plenty of them around and wondered the same thing.' is unlikely to be entirely accurate as orienteering clubs are generally careful about retrieving their gear after an event. Outdoor pursuits centres and similar often include orienteering in their schedule of activities and tend to reuse the same courses regularly leading to the appearance that a control may be permanently in place, when in fact it is not. I've seen controls from time to time in the same locations on Sorrell Hill for example. |
| Mick Hanney | Sep 6 2011, 11:53am | Thanks Paul. If theres an IMRA bod out Djouce way over the coming weeks you might retrieve said kite from the coffin stone? I daresay any of the orienteers would take it off your hands for re-use. |
| Colm Hill | Sep 6 2011, 12:03pm | Some of the random kites could be from a military nav ex. If its on a feature thats on the OS maps, its probably military. If its on a feature thats not on any map (larger than 1:15k), its probably an orienteering clubs. |
| Hazel Thompson | Sep 6 2011, 12:03pm | If there are any controls out there they may be left over from the Rogaine. We believe that they were all retrieved but now and again, a control is missed and not collected. We loose a few this way every year so if it is retreived, please return it to anyone from Setanta Orienteers. If it was from the Nav Challenge, it is also a Setanta control as Philip is a club member. Otherwise, it is probably not a good idea to be removing controls as they can be out on the mountains for a few days before or after an event, particilarly longer events like the Rogaine. For normal weekend races, the controls would usually be put out on Saturday evening and collected on Sunday. Hazel |
| Mick Hanney | Sep 6 2011, 12:23pm | Perhaps the race demarker from Nav 1 can confirm if the coffin stone kite was retrieved? As that'll determine whether it needs to be taken in or not? |
| Pol O'Murchu | Sep 6 2011, 6:10pm | I actually seen that one on Djouce a couple of weeks ago. Went from Djouce to War hill and was looking back from half way up War hill and I noticed it. Had meant to check at the time abnd completely forgot. |
| Philip Brennan | Sep 7 2011, 8:21pm | Confession time I think, as far as I know that control may not have been collected so if anyone cares to pick it up on a training run please return it to me! Thanks |
