On Wednesday evening it was time for a little socializing and what better way to do so than with pizza and a good movie?! Those who were available convened at James' apartment where pizzas were prepared and enjoyed. Seven of us then went to Cineworld on Parnell street and watched the long but great new 007 James Bond movie 'Spectre'. It was great to see everyone and we hope you equally had a good time!
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Last weekend James and Laura travelled to Magilligan sanddunes, near Limavady, Co.Derry for the Northern Ireland Orienteering Championships (NIOC) and the Irish Middle Distance championship. Here's a report Laura wrote for us: The weekend was held in conjunction with the JHIs, an international competition for the junior squads (12-18) from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. This clearly seemed to influence the placings of many of the controls which often seemed a bit too glaringly obvious considering both competitions were championship races. Both races took place in Magilligan, a sanddune army base. Saturday was NIOC, an enjoyable race with fast terrain for runners with the exception of green patches which were slow to get through at times. I ran W21S, a 4.5km race and came 2nd and which can be seen below as an example of the map. James ran M21L, a very competitive 8km course, which he finished 9th in a quick time of 54.25. Many DUO Alumni members were present and had good runs such as Ruairi Short (7th in M21L), Regina Kelly (9th in W21L), past President of DUO Andrew Butterfield (10th in M50L), current President Ruth Lynam (8th in W21L) and club coach Andrew Cox (5th in M55L). Sunday was the Irish Middle Distance. The Irish Champs had been held in Co. Down in May which would normally consist of a sprint race, a middle distance, a long distance and a relay, however instead of the Middle Distance we had an urban race in May. They decided to have the Irish Middle Distance with the NIOC to make another nice weekend of orienteering instead! The Middle Distance took place on a different part of Magilligan and the map was on a scale of 1:7500, different to the usual map scale of 1:10000. Sunday was most definitely a runner’s course, with lots of vehicle tracks adding to the runnable terrain. You can see my W21L map below, a 2.9km course. James ran the 5.2km Mens 21 Elite course in just over 42 minutes An enjoyable weekend overall, the only downside was the run-in both days as we were running into the strong wind! Thank you to NWOC for organising the weekend. Hopefully more DUO members will be at the next Irish Middle Distance as part of the Irish Champs hosted by WATO 29th April-2nd May 2016 (see www.ioc2016.net for details!)
Last night we went out to Coolock Leisureplex for a relaxing night out! Despite not being there himself, James organized for us to go BYOB bowling, with free pool and snooker included. As the week was a busy one, not all of us made it there, but it was great fun nonetheless! Clíona beat everyone with her excellent bowling skills, whereas Michael (somewhat less talented at bowling...) proved to be near professional when it came to playing pool. Clíona talks about a trip she and some others made to the Mournes Mountains last weekend: A small contingent of DUO members made the trip to a training weekend in the Mournes Mountains during October. They joined members of UCDO and Queen’s in some training for both beginners and experienced orienteers organised by UCDO. On Saturday, some short courses were put out at Meelmore, rocky open mountain terrain, to practice on bearings and this was followed by an optional run up Slieve Donard (the highest point in Northern Ireland!!!). Around 2 hours, 14km and over 800 metres climb entailed, but the spectacular views of the Mournes made it worthwhile! Thanks to some very sound hostel staff at Tollymore Adventure Centre, we were able to have an evening of pizza and drinks while watching the rugby world cup on Saturday. We also got to know our fellow orienteers from other colleges a bit better, with friendly rivalry for this year’s intervarsities already apparent. The following morning we were tight on time so an impromptu ‘sprint relay’ was set up in Tollymore forest around the adventure centre. Pieces of toilet paper were used in place of control kites and relay teams were made of pairs with a long and short course. A good run out for a Sunday morning and a nice piece of forest too. The weekend was finished up with a visit to a pub in Newry to watch the Irish rugby game. Despite the result of the rugby, it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and well done to James, Clíona, Christoph and Elise for making the trip! Below some photos made by UCDO This Sunday we enjoyed a trip to the gorgeous Woodstock Gardens, where Waterford Orienteers (our coach Andrew) planned a course, organized by our Captain Jana. While a large group of us met up in Trinity early on Sunday to take a private party bus down south, coach Andrew, captain Jana and webmaster Julien set up the course and download tent. Despite some confusion eventually our driver from Cork was found and the bus got going. It was a busy event with not just our runners but lots of small little humans running around. When the bus arrived a brief instruction was given to our beginners and then off they went, all together into the stunning forest and gardens. Being out 'real' orienteering for the first time, it was quite challenging at times, but everyone did a marvelous job! Especially considering there was serious time pressure, because at 1pm the Irish rugby team was going to play their quarterfinal against Argentina. As soon as everyone finished (WHOOO WELL DONE!) we hopped on the bus straight to a pub in inistioge where we were going to watch the rugby together with the locals. Unfortunately our orienteering adventure was far more successful than the rugby and somewhat sad we left after the match back to Dublin. Thank you all for coming, we hope you had a great time and look forward to seeing you at our next events! Results can be found here, scroll down to 'medium'. Last Sunday, Ciara Grant, Elise Rognsvag, and I (Fiona, DUO's PRO) headed off to the Dublin Mountains for the club's first outing of the year. The morning started hectic, as I'd left all the equipment in college and Sunday bus times did not aid the situation! But the chaos woke us up and got us pumped!
Now, Ciara and I only joined the club last year. We would by no means consider ourselves experienced (despite what we wrote during Fresher's Week!) but the club's expectations weighed down fully on us. We had to choose our course wisely, not wanting to get stuck in the midst of 10 year olds showing us up (although, their courses did look appealing). Likewise, we were afraid of ending up among the serious pros, the elites of the clubs, who run mad courses that are nearly 9KM... The likes of which Elise took on. Not yet, we decided!! Red seemed like the best bet - long and easy. We'd be able to focus on speed and technical abilities without much worrying of route choice or mad tracks. We psyched ourselves up, got a few lovely smiles and tips from those who spotted us looking just a bit out of our depth, and set off! Ciara's skills lie in the speed, mine in the map reading, together, we are the ultimate team. 5.8KM lay in front of us, with a 280 metre climb. We ran along, pausing briefly for a quick breather (photo shoot) and took the course one control at a time. When we finished on a time of 102 minutes, we were quite pleased with ourselves! It was the first time we'd ever done a course of that length and we came out unscathed. And we hadn't got totally lost or ended up off the map like our last outing!! With 14 people undertaking our course, we came 4th and 5th. To say that made our day is an understatement! It may have gone to our heads just a tad, but we now feel ready to conquer. Come at us 9KM, we got this. Yesterday DUO ran the first training of the academic year and it's fair to say it was a big success! With over a dozen people attending the diverse courses designed by Jana and Clíona were put to good use and enjoyed by many. It was great to see so many enthusiastic students show up and we hope everyone had a good time. Aided with instructions from the entire committee those new to the sport went out and explored campus using an orienteering map for the first time, beginning with a butterfly course over the cricket pitch. Confident after a successful small first course they then went out on the longer courses crossing campus using SI cards. The incredible sunny weather greatly helped set the atmosphere and after the run most enjoyed a pint in the sun before heading inside the Pav for some tasty finger-food, a drink and chats. You can download the results of the courses here! Just a quick reminder for you all: our first training will be Thursday the 8th of October 15.00-17.00 |
DUODUO is the orienteering club of Trinity College Dublin with a history spanning over 40 years. Here you'll find stories and photos of events and achievements. Archieven
February 2016
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