The Curragh, CNOC Summer Series 2

I always get a tingely sensation whenever I run on the curragh. Its partially the knowledge that no matter how fit you are, you can always run harder, that there's absolutely no way of escaping the pain. Added to that today would be the fact that the planner (being Colm 'oh sh*t' Hill) was no doubt trying to give us something special to remember the course by.

And as if this wasn't enough, David 'the healdog' Healy had, from our run the previous week in Donadea, earned the right to start one minute behind me on some of the fastest, and more importantly visable terrain in all of Ireland.

This would be a big problem. when someone can see someone up ahead, they don't need to mapread. In the ideal spirit of orienteering in theory they should run they're own course and ignore everyone else, but when its actually happening out there anyone can tell you this is impossible. In theory, theres no difference between theory and practise, but in practise there is. If your ahead, there's that extra pressure to be right, if your behind, you don't have to mapread (much) to be able to stick with the guy who's now over-reading the map. Just enough to make sure he's not making a mistake. And if the two of them both do it right, it can result in a very fast time, so they'd both be fools to try not use each other, whether by alternating legs or pushing along tracks or whatever. It seems in these situations that traditional orienteering gets waylaid and beaten.

Of course, all this only applies if the fellow behind didn't go out one minute down and your desperate to lose him!! And I knew as I stood there in the roasting sun, this was going to be tough.



So the race began. My first muck up came going to 2, when I ran and punched 24 by mistake, which was en route to 2. As a point of note here, I'm not the only one to have done this, alas a lot of people who did do it didn't notice went on to be disqualified. That why you check your codes people! After I noticed what i'd done I quickly looked for the real number 2, with my mind in a mess though I took a bad route choice. As i was leaving it I glanced behind me, David was on me already!

Oh sh*t!



I decided to go against my usual tactic and try grind Dave down a bit at the start, it would hopefully lead to more mistakes and more possibility to get away towards the end of the course. I flew to number 3, taking a hidden way out on the other side of the earthbank to try and stay out of sight. I knew Dave was right behind me, i'd hoped he might lose a tiny bit of time and let me get ahead enough to not follow me through the myriad of confusing gorse on the next leg.

And confusing it was! I nearly made a balls of it myself, The hatched green was basically open, and only when I saw the dense green could I race on.

Ran in and punced, didn't dare look behind me to see if I'd gained some.



5 was easy, staright to the hill and past it. I nearly missed it when some eejit was crouched down taking a shit or a bearing or something anyway and was blocking the control.

Ah number 6. Beautiful beautiful number 6. See on the map how easy it is to see the route into it? Not on the printed version my friends. Compound to that that there was an extra knoll on the close side you could get into easily led to curse words and frustration, as i had indeed gained a decent bit of time on Healy and had now lost it through no fault of my own. Infuriating I tell you!



I could see from the rest of the course it would be very hard to lose him anywhere but the technical section in Hares park, from control 10 to 14.

But there was a tricky looking 7 to think about now, and Dave was what Annie and Clarabel were to Tomas the Tank Engine, right up my arse and latched on.

The gorse to the right on number 6 was looking a bit thinner than the solid green it was represented by on the map, and in the spirit of losing Healy i went for it to try break the line of sight. I ended up having to slow down after I nearly ran by the track, came in, and what im going to blame on the printing again ended up in a bit of a gorse inlet that wasn't marked on the non internet version. Dave passed me here and i let out a groan, this was going badly.



Number 8 didn't help matter either, i went to go down the track right beside it after Dave went around around the bush on the other side only to discover it was badly overgrown and i'd have to turn round.

I punced and looked up the hill to 9, with Dave about 100m ahead of me. I resolved 2 things i would do here. One, close the gap, even if it ment burning out a bit, i'd recover in the upcoming tricky section. Two, Expend a vast quantity of mental concentration to plan the technical legs with great precision as it was pretty much going to be make or break point.



Up and up I went. By the time i got to 9, Dave had slightly missed it and I was right behind him. I had decided to go straight through the gorse to 10 and come in from the left of it, thinking Dave would go a different way and I'd end up in front. To my dismay he ploughed on straight on my route choice and spiked it, me still in persuit.



An interesting development mentally happened on the way to 11. Dave ran slow, and I passed him and punced first. I took this to be a sign that he hadn't read the controls ahead and was going to let take the reigns. Crap, this was where i'd hoped to have lost him! To test my hyphothsis I slowed down a bit coming downhill out of 11 under the pretense of reading my map, and when he didn't pass me i knew i was right.

This presented a problem. I couldnt lose him later in the course, it was too open. If i could even get a small gap i'd be able to kill myself and Dave would mistake this for fitness and lose moral, and hopefully pace. But I had to get ahead here!

There was only one choice, which I was only able to do since I'd studied the map so hard on the way to 9. I dove for the gorse! Straight through a narrow passageway towards where i knew (hoped) the clearing would be. I came out on the edge of it, turned in to the hidden passageway, and spiked it. Dave had taken a different route choice in, I didn't know where he was, except that he was behind. The adreneline pumped, I had more of this stuff in me at that point in time than EPO in the average tour cyclist!



Full blast to number 13, full blast to 14. I was doing well! No sign of Healy behind me. I misread 14, thought it was in the depression, and overshot. Sh*t! Turned around in a panic, ran back and got it. As I was leaving uphill to 15, Dave passed me in the other direction going into the control, rats he was right behind me again! Mission failed. I was more disgusted than if someone had told me that he had hidden his armpit hair in that ham and cheese roll I just ate.
He later told me that he was about to overshoot that one, and if it hadn't been for me he wouldn't have gotten it.

I had had a bit of a physical break in the technical area, and was feeling strong, so I blasted my way up the hill through the forest to 15, in a last last ditch effort to make up some ground. I'd read it good, came around from the right, and hit it. Hopefully Dave would run straight and get caught in the gorse and have to run around. (I find out later he got straight through it >.< )





Full pelt to 16. I daren't look behind. I see my sister Niamh up ahead going into the gorse, but strange, she's not going into where I thought the control was. I look furiousally at my map, i have about 5 seconds before my options run out. I decide to go to my original spot, and low and behold there it is. I jog slowly out, looking confused, and around to the other side of the bush, hoping that Dave has seen Naimh running the other way, me looking lost, and hopefully running into the wrong place. As soon as im out of sight on the other side of the gorse im sprinting. I really really need to have a large gap that Dave can't close on the way to 17. I run hard, dig deep, give it everything I have. I read ahead and hope that I can recover on the few downhill legs coming up, otherwise its game over. I don't look back. (Niamh later says Dave was about 300m behind me for the duration of that leg.)



Hit 17, hit 18, hit 19, all easy. 20 looks interesting, you can't get into itfrom head on, or is perhaps the map closed in again. I play it safe and go around (Dave get straight through, again :/ ), and im sloggin up the hill to 21. Im beginning to wonder at this point if iv'e managed to beat back Dave a bit, I havn't seen him for a while. Coming out of 21 however, I see him ont he other side of a gorse bush! He right up me again! But he hasn't seen me, and I run. Hard. As hard as I can. No prisoners at this point. I can see route choice to 23 could be important. I decide to go round the hill to try keep a high speed up.I hit 22 and blast off.



Im not sure which way Dave decides to go but i lose him. Coming up the hill out of 23 again there still no sign of him running down into it! Oh my God! I could have actually clawed a bit of desperate time back! Concentrate Seamus!



With renewed energy and hope I blast up the hill, fly to 24 (the one i got at the start) and tank on. I've put wings on at this point, im dying. As fast as I can but it still dosn't seem fast enough. When I don't see him as I come out of 25 I decide its possible to beat him, and flake it even harder. I'd be passing F1 cars at this speed.




I didn't know there was so my levels of pushing it again and again, so many walls to break, but boy did I learn that today. I scream across the plains.

I see Conor Short ahead of me, and I pass him in a suprisingly short time. (lol)

As i come into 29, the second last control, I see Dave just entering the last loop. Holy Shit it going to be close!

Going down to 30 I have to slow down. I've reached the last level. Nothing left to give. I stumble blindly into it and to the finish. Im so wrecked I can't even keep a mental count to see how long Dave is coming in behind me, he has to be in in one minute or less to beat me. He comes in, and I feel it might be over a minute. I might just have this!

We download. Success! Im a mere 28 seconds ahead of Dave overall. The endless agony was worth it.

Thanks for the course Collie!

Results:
1 Seamus O'Boyle 46:52
2 David Healy 47:20
3 Gerard Butler 48:00
4 Ruairi Short 56:01
5 Jonathan Quinn 63:50
6 Senen O'Boyle 64:20

Full results
Splitsbrowser
Routegadget (Map)

CNOC Summer Series 1 - Donadea Forest Park

The first of the CNOC Summer Series was being held in the scrappy forest otherwise known as Donadea.
I knew a lot of it would be on paths and tracks and in the open sections of forest which would mean the orienteering would be fast and furious.
Warming up with David Healy and Niall Ewen in the car park we decide to go out at minute intervals, to up the ante a bit. A quick flip of a coin (or car keys as it was in this case) decides the start order, Niall leading off, David next, and then me bringing up the rear. The running would be excellent :)

I was feeling strong running running out form the start, so i decide as its a local event to throw a bit of caution into the wind and run hard as opposed to slow and steady. (Nothing whatsoever with the fact that i knew there was two fast runners in front of me)

Set out. 1 was fine, took the bad route to 2 leaving me with no attack points but was perhaps slightly shorter, nevermind that though as i missed it anyway. (Click any image to enlarge)





The first interesting development was at 4, where as I was running into the forest I saw Dave and Niall coming out. Started counting in head and discovered my mistake at 2 had cost me some time.

The next bit of contact was catching Niall on the track going from 5 to 6. I passed him coming out of 6 and by this time could see David ahead in the forest. Just followed his line into 7, and when he mucked up a bit on 8 I was right behind him. I decided to try go a bit straighter to 9, Dave ended up in brambles and being caught up a bit. So time was made there.

nothing interesting happened up the track from 9 to 16, with the exception of Dave realising I was in front of him and not behind as he thought.



However at this point I legged it out of 16 too fast and got passed after I ran over the track instead of along it >.< Foolishness.



From there on in it was straight enough side by side running, Dave tried to go the right way to 19 but got screwed over by the gorse and ended up coming in a minute behind me. This is his route for that last section. I leave his route choices for the other controls in for comedy value. I advise watching 16 to 17 on a fast speed for optimal laughter.




Results:
1 Seamus O'Boyle 42:20
2 David Healy 44:28
3 Colm Hill 46::51

Full results
Splitsbrowser
Routegadget (Map)

Leinster Champs 2010, a detailed analysis.

Or in other words, a patethic attempt to write an article.

This is the story of my Leinster Championship 2010, held on Carlingford Mountain.

It begins in Dublin on a sunny day, friday the 7th of May, where i meticulously pack my bags for the weekend ahead, only to be texted by a friend to say, "Hey, where are you? This KISS concert you said you'd go ages ago is on tonight, i have your ticket right here!".
Oh sh*t!
After finding out that fortunately Ruairi had an exam on saturday and would be getting a lift with Ruth that afternoon i decide that i can infact go to said concert (which was the source of my mysterious horrible rasping evil voice for the weekend) and hop a lift with them the next day. Phew, disaster averted!

On Saturday we arrived too late for the first of the elite training events, a short course on the side of a mountain (so i wasnt too bad!) we had an evening of georgous sun and georgous confusion with mazes and micro-o's. Top quality planning guys!

Next came the actual Leainster Championships the following day. Another sunny one, and due to my lack of trousers Hugh kindly lent me his shorts (and politely refused to take them back until i washed them, but he's in China now. Say goodbye to your shorts Hugh.)


0-1: The course now begins in earnest, I pick up the map and immediately moan, I can see the first control site is visable from the start, and that fecker Hill will definitely pick up time on me there as he's watching like a hawk. I perhaps foolishly choose to go straight to 1 to throw him a bit, i know if I go straight and he's follows my route he's likely to muck up. Not a lot, but perhaps enough to gain back the few seconds i've lost. (It turns out he went the other way anyway.)


I run straight on my compass. Im highly aware that im useless at scale at the beginning of a course before im settled in, particularly 1:15,000, so im trying to go off the countour shapes, of which there are none. Nice plan Shea. I fortunately come only a little too high on it and drop in. Passed a DFO chap here who went off 6 mins ahead of me, he follows me in and we run on. (I dont see him again)



1-2: Handly leg. I try stretch my legs out a bit to tell my body what speed I want it to be running at when im concentrating on something else like the sun or the view. Dont quite see it as soon as i expected but not too worried, it has to be here somewhere.






2-3: Two options here, high or around. I usually try to avoid climb earlier in any course, even if you lose a few seconds going around you save up some mental points (Its mentally hard running uphill i find), lets you read the map better, and dosnt blow your legs as much out for later. (Im quite conscious of my endurance, its not as good as others so i dont like spending it near the beginning.)

Long story short, i go around, up slightly, but mostly around. Calculus does after all say the optimal route choice is somewhere in the middle! Hit a lone boulder, see the lower crag, and in. Hoped Hill has stopped watching at this point, as its back in view of the start.


3-4: Once again I go around, that hill looks horrible and going around definitely plays to my strenghts, flat, probably fast, and with huge attack points (the forest/ earthbanks/ spur like hilltop thing) where as going up means some shitty hill climb, running on steep sided terrain (again something i know to be a weakness of mine, which is why im terrified when i read ahead to number 5), followed by attacking the control from above, while its at the base of a crag, thats not something easy to do. Im still playing it safe too, so there was absolutely no question in my mind that i was going around. Everything goes to plan and i hit it beautifully.



4-5: It here. The one i knew was coming. The giant easy uphill-for-about-a-million-light-years control. I pace myself, i dont want to go too hard at this and have nothing left for the rest of the course. I run up and forward, up and forward, always up and forward at the same angle, constantely trying not to climb too much or too little. I barely read the map, ill know im there when i run out of 'up'. Seconds turn into minutes into hours into days as i climb climb climb with nothing else.

Im slightly tempted to go over the saddle before the control and attack it from the huge crags, but I was too low down when i go past it to consider it, it would be wasteful in time and energy to go that way now.

I suddenly have the most terrifying thought ever, that perhaps that saddle was the one that the control was in, and ive run too far (i wasnt reading my map, after all), and as we speak im slowly inexonerably running in a perfectly straight line off the map. I tell myself its not true, briefly consider turning up, but run on and before long the other saddle come into view, along with a sigh of relief. Start reading my map again, come around the top beautifully, spike the crag, and nothing.
Oh sh*t!

I look dumbly at the map, and the groud, and conclude something is very wrong. It should be here. I run to a knoll and back. I look at the crag again. I run along it. There, in a perfect kite shaped hole in the crag is the control. I breifly curse the name of 3roc and punch, and continue on.



5-6: I remind myself to concentrate again, a favorite trick of planners is to give you a long easy leg to get you into oxygen debt before switching to technical. I slow down, breathe, and read my way in. I come in slightly too low on it but im happy enough.







6-7: Easy enough leg, no choice. Run up the hill and skirt round a small bit so as not to lose height, easy to see, easy to hit.

















7-8: Obviousally, I choose to go round. Muse to myself about how nice it would be to win, notice im being distracted but dont really mind, i wasn't really planning on doing well anyway, so i let my thoughts go a bit. I arrive at the technical section, dont bother reading it, float loftily towards where im guessing it should be, see a lake, see a lake on the map, find control. Am quite chuffed with self, musing at this point that perhaps im some kind of Demigod.








8-9: Back to reading the map proper, run straight, tick off things, run over the long low spur beautifully, spike the knoll, and nothing.
Oh sh*t!
Dont move, look around, things line up, this must be it!! Fuckballs! Lean over, its under me. CURSE YOU 3ROC!











9-10: Decide at this point i've done a bit of climb, so i dont mind climbing at this point and i go straight up and over. However im way too high and stupidly end up in the pass, takes a moment to figure out exactly where i am. Its only when i arrive back later i worked out what happened, i was too high coming over! About turn and down the hill, pass Hugh coming up it and briefly ponder how long ahead of me he went out, but i cant remember. Controls easy, but valuable time has been lost.







10-11: Not much to say, over and around.

















11-12: I meant on this one to do a big curvey 'S' shaped line to avoid height gain, but come out way too low on the bottom bit and decide at this point its just as fast going over. Compared later to other splits I didnt lose much, if any time by doing that, but it made me look at the map a bit harder from then on.













12-13: On of my biggest time loses. I run under the crags, through the pass, down past the marsh with spur hilltop thing, beautifully down the crag face (it was slopey), hit the boulderfield thing, nothing!
Oh sh*t!
Frantically i read my descriptions, east side (Its only after i realise i read it wrong and was west side). I leg it over, still nothing. Back up the hill to those few crags, and look around. Thats definitely it. Run back down and poke around. Nothing. Look on west side. Its buried.
*profanity deleted* 3333RRROOOOCCCCCC *profanity deleted*



13-14: I choose to run back trrough the same saddle, the hill is steep and it looks like the best way. I meet Hugh again coming down it and warn him its buried. He pretty much ignores me and later informs me he had no trouble with it. At the saddle i run left a bit, im watching those huge crags and trying to picture where the control is relative to them in a big 3D map in my head. Hit the line of hilltops, realise they are in fact marked on the map as a line of hilltops, and run it.









14-15: Once again to avoid running horizontally across steep ground i choose to go up and down the huge gully. Im pushing now at this point, i dont mind using energy, but try not to use so much as to get into le O2 debt. Dont really bother reading my map running up, but when i do im accutely aware of the possibility of a parallel error, running onto a wrong spur at the end of the downhill. Make sure of everything and run into the control slowly and carefully.












15-16: Look for the steep ground and cheese it to the base of that. Run along under the crag with the distinct obvious end on it, run on top of the next ones as it looks as though from the contours the control is up slightly and with the distint shape its located in it will be easier to make out from above.

















16-17: Again aware of a short technical leg after a long easier one, and take it slow and read everything. No bother.








17-18: Could have been f*cked over by this one. I decide to not bother read everything (aka anything) and decide to leg it until I see the bend/end of the forest and the big hilltop spur thing that the controls on. This turned out to be stupid, as a brief inspection of the map clearly shows you that you won't be able to see the forest as you get closer to to spur, what with the spur being itself in the way and a technical scientific principle I like to call the 'seeing in only straight lines effect'. (Please note at this point I wasn't even bothering to draw my GPS in accurately, let along run accurately.)

After i lose track of the forest I reason im pretty much as the north-west side of the spur hilltop thing, when i unexpectedly see a control thats on a feature that looks suspiciousally like mine. Fortunately im running right past it, I check the code and its not. But this throws my confidence in my plan, revealing a possibly fatal flaw. That you probably wont hit the control if you dont have a dog's bollox of an idea where you are.

I run on to the area I think its in, and low and behold its not on the crag end like I thought, but up the nastiest little bastard of a steep pricked gully fuck right beside it. Tits. Nothing for it, so I slowly walk up and get it, as children and old women pass me out.



18-19: I classify my controls into differnt sections depening on whether they're tricky, fast, slow, long, steep, O2 debt related and so on. Upon seeing number 19 I immediately knew which class it fell into, the fabled 'fuck you' class (Also known as bingo's). This type of control can make of break your run. There was no very safe looking way into it, nothing but gorse to try work out where the bejesus you were if you missed it, and can swallow time better than a black hole.

Like number 4, I not good at hitting the correct crag from above. This is like that, but with zero choice as to route choice. I run down into the area, read things carefully, arrive on top of a crag, and nothing!
Oh sh*t!

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, where are you you litte *Bleep* *Bleep* son of a *Bleep* c'mon *BLEEP* *BLEEP* *BLEEP* horse.

Im looking behind me at this point at what looks like a crag, this meaning that I would indeed be on the lower one. On the off chance that that higher looking one was a pile of rubble or something, I run down a bit as if I were on the higher one, and low and behold there it is, shining waiting for me. *BLEEP*



19-20: On the way to 18 I'd read this as a proper leg and not some kind of long run in, and decided the way to go was not to lose height, but contour around. Alas, when I hit the track unmarked gorse bushes forced me down to the junction, where I then had to climb up another track to get to it. I see a lot of people running to a different control, which I know is not mine but I check anyway, before continuing uphill, where I just beat Ivan into the control.

20-F: Fast and furious. As fast as I can go, do my ankle a bit about halfway down, utter a profanity and continue. Finished at last, and with not too shabby a run either! though with those time loses I well expect to be beaten. Still, its a sunny day, and there people to be socalised with!


Post-mortem: I won! Seems everyone made bigger mistakes than me. The giant plaque trophy pointless thing is mine! BOW BEFORE ME!

For the much more accurate and fun routegadget where i stole these screenshots from, check out

http://orienteering.ie/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=158&kieli=

Alas my track from mt GPS seems to have been overwriten by a huge GPS track leading from Carlingford to Dublin. On the plus side I now have a really accurate map of the Luas system....