The results of the Leinster Inter-Club competition run by GEN, published in the last TIO, contained some errors. Due to some digits disappearing from the points (101 appeared as 01) in a jumbled e-mail, GEN's score should have been 390 as stated in the summary. They did not derive any points benefit from organising the competition: this was the result of the editor's putting two and two together and making 22. Apologies to a justifiably outraged GEN.

After what I felt was a reasonable letter in the last issue about event safety, using the Connacht Championships as an example, there was some rather heated and intemperate correspondence on the Irish orienteering electronic newsgroup, culminating in threats against one of the correspondents. As far as TIO is concerned, the correspondence is now closed. Let's look forward to next year's event.

CNOC have announced details of the 1999 Interprovincial Championships. The event is to be held on Saturday October 9th at Kylebeg Wood, Stradbally, Co. Laois.

The forest has not been used for orienteering for several years, and has been re-mapped at 1:10,000. Competitors are invited to make a weekend of it and combine the Inter-Pro with the first Leinster League event next day at Clarabeg, Laragh, Co. Wicklow.

Those of you who like to keep TIO as a record of happenings in orienteering might like to know what the World Championships team for WOC99 in Scotland was:

MEN:(in alphabetical order)

John Feehan Short Race and Relay

Steven Linton Classic Race

James Logue Classic Race and Relay

Colm O'Halloran Short and Classic Races

Marcus Pinker Short Race and Relay

Colm Rothery Short and Classic Races and Relay

WOMEN: (in alphabetical order)

Aislinn Austin Classic Race

Julie Cleary Short Race and Relay

Ailbhe Creedon Short Race and Relay

Nuala Higgins Classic

Una May Short and Classic Races and Relay

Toni O'Donovan Short and Classic Races and Relay

Aislinn decided against running this year and so Eileen Loughan came into the team for a thirteenth successive World Championships, a series which started in Scotland in 1976, before Aislinn was even born! Aislinn certainly has a furure in orienteering if she maintains her current form, as demonstrated in her winning the NI Championships at Slieve Gullion. This is just as well as it is rumoured that Julie Cleary, Una May, Nuala Higgins and Eileen Loughman are planning to retire from competition at this level.

In addition to the fixtures listed at the back of this issue, there are a number of Leinster events planned whose details weren't known at the time of publication. These are:

November 7 AJAX; November 28 DUO; February 6 AJAX; Feb 13 DUO; May 7 AJAX.

The Leinster Fixtures Secretary is Alan Ayling, 618 Howth Road, Raheny, Dublin 5.

Delays in the production of this issue mean that we can include a brief report on the Northern Ireland Championships at Slieve Gullion on September 25th, run by LVO.

Justin May won the M21L course and Aislinn Austin won the W21L class. All the courses had significant amounts of climb, much of it through quite high heather, so the physical challenge was certainly there in abundance. Fine, mild weather on the day, with good visibility, meant that the mountain top (almost 2000 feet high) presented less of a navigational challenge than it might have. There was a disappointingly small entry of about 200. The Northern Ireland Ladies Champion was Violet Cordner (LVO). No men from NIOA clubs finished the M21L course. In the results below, the Northern Ireland Champion is listed if different from the class winner.

W12A Erinna Foley-Fisher MNAV

Kerry Savage LVO

W14A Zara Stevenson NWOC

W14B Joy Ferguson NWOC

W16A Sharon Lucey FermO

W16B Niamh Lalor GEN

W18A Niamh O'Boyle CNOC

Denise Healy FermO

W20A Susan Healy GEN

W21L Aislinn Austin CorkO

Violet Cordner LVO

W21S Ruth Hollinger LVO

W35L Heather Ervine LVO

W40L Marella Fyffe FermO

W40S Annemarie Lucey FermO

W45L Ger Power 3ROC

Heather Majury LVO

W45S Nora Lalor GEN

Jenny Orr LVO

W50L Jean O'Neill FIN

W50S Frances O'Neill SET

W55L Clare Nuttall LeeO

W60L Diana Large GEN

Rosemary Croley LVO

W65L Faith White SET

M10A Conor Savage LVO

M12A Seamus O'Boyle CNOC

M14A Christian Foley-Fisher MNAV

Kristofer Johnston NWOC

M14B Glen caskie NWOC

M16A Ben Fulton NWOC

M16b Jon McKee LVO

M18A Stewart Caithness FermO

M20A Rory Finlay FermO

M21L Justin May 3ROC

M21S Paul Fegan LVO

M35L Aonghus OCléirigh CNOC

Brian McBurney LVO

M40L Ronald Patterson FermO

M45 Brian Bell GEN

Bill Simpson LVO

M45S Nigel Foley-Fisher MNAV

M50L Colin Henderson LVO

M50S Brian Power SET

M55l Ted Feehan BVOC

Ernie Wilson LVO

M60L Freddie McCann LVO

M65L Bill regan FermO

M70L Sean Rothery 3ROC

Norman Ervine LVO

The 1st Southern Brigade hosted the All Army/FCA Orienteering Championships on Kilworth Firing Ranges, and surrounding lands, Co Cork on Sunday, 9th May, writes Paul Dunne.

The weather was atrocious. I felt like someone was throwing buckets of water at me, whilst I struggled to run, hailstones featured and caused my forearms to numb. The terrain was similar to the Curragh, Co Kildare yet tilted at a 30˚ angle with more ditches, trenches and barbed wire. At one point I noticed two army trucks unloading weapons in the mist and rain. I was proud of myself under potential fire - I did not hesitate and ran past the butts and collected two members of the intermediate team, then made a major mistake in locating the last control and had to backtrack to find controls 13 and 14.

I ran 8.4km in 74 mins to finish second to Lt O'Neill who ran 55 mins in the O/40 competition, a phenomenal time. 19Bn won the Senior men's competition, with Pte O'Brien running 65 mins for 10km, an excellent time. 25Bn won the the Senior women's competition carrying on the fine tradition of winning for the 25th. Comdt Frank Ryan 25Bn won the O/50 competition. 4th Western Brigade won the overall competition shield as usual.

As reported in a previous issue, Joss Lynam has retired from the editorship of Irish Mountain Log, the Mountaineering Council of Ireland journal, which he edited since he founded it 21 years ago. Joss was, of course, one of the founding fathers of Irish orienteering and was very involved in starting AFAS, the Association for Adventure Sports. See you in the forest, Joss! ...

The NI Series event at Banagher, Co. Derry, on September 12th had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the heavy rain. This caused the many gullies and streams to turn from plashy brooks into raging torrents. The event is to be re-run, probably on November 7th. Check the NIOA inf-O-line for details.

GEN's Diana Large recently had an exhibition of her photographs on show in Bray Heritage Centre, entitled "The Changing Year in Ireland". Diana's photos have adorned the prizes for several major events like the Leinster Championships and the Senior Home International. You can usually buy Christmas cards with her photos from her at events coming up to December. One of her photos appeared in The Irish Times to advertise the exhibition, though it was credited to "Diana Cage".

For the Inter-Pro you can choose to represent the province of your birth or the province in which your club is based. Further information from Ruth Lynam at 045-867183.

On the subject of courses, CorkO's John Muckian is reported to be organising a "Computers in Orienteering" course, covering all aspects of computer use in O, from mapping through course overprinting and control descriptions to timing and results. No date has been fixed for the course, so watch this space.

O-suit reminder - Members (or former members) of Irish international teams are reminded that Irish team O-gear is to be worn only when you are running on the team or running in an IOF event, not for everyday use.

Irish Sports Council - Carding Awards

Congratulations to Colm Rothery, Marcus Pinker & John Feehan who were all awarded training grants of £2,000 each. Toni O'Donovan was given £1,500 & Aislinn Austin got £1,000.

The Crone Wood mountain race on August 22nd was used for selecting the teams for the first British and Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships in October. The latter is being held in Glendalough and will be for teams of Boys and Girls who are Under 19 and Under 17 in the current year - ie the competitor must under 19 as of 31/12/99 etc.

RTE have been granted planning permission for a 140 metre mast on Three Rock Mountain, in Dublin, as well as extensions to their transmitter building on the mountain. More intrusion into a high amenity area used for orienteering. If placed on the top of Three Rock Mountain it will exceed the height of nearby Fairy Castle by about 50 metres. There has also been substantial felling of the runnable forest on the lower slopes of the mountain.

An article in The Irish Times of 6th July 1999 is about a new photographic survey of the Irish coastline, which might be of interest to any club looking to map a sand dune area à la Inch in Kerry. Read it at www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/1999/0706/hom5.htm

Map specs: Did you know that the minimum size for the features shown by the small depression (U) and small pit (V) symbols is 2 m diameter and 1 m deep? That the small knoll () symbol is used for a knoll no lower than 1 m and no bigger than 5m diameter?

Social & Personal: Bill Edwards, who narrowly missed selection for the World Championships team, got married in September. Irish Team mamber Nuala Higgins and Squad Co-ordinator Tom Callery announced their engagement at the Shamrock O-Ringen.

How would non-NIOA members like to subscribe to "Crossing Point", the Newsletter of the Northern Ireland Orienteering Association? If you would be interested, then either:- (1) Send a cheque for STG£1 for a sample issue, or (2) Send a cheque for £4 for a year's subscription, made payable to "NIOA". The address is:- Jonny Scott, 25 Lansdowne Road, Kilfennan, N. Ireland, BT47 5QT

or e-mail jm.scott@ulst.ac.uk with any enquiries!

The September 1999 issue contains:

1 Colin Steps in / EGM / Fixtures / Focus on Baronscourt

2 NICS & JHI Info / Charity Bike-O / A Cautionary Tale (2)

3 BUOC Reunion / Fermanagh Orienteers Funding News

4 LVO News . . . Harry's twice-yearly section / BOC 2001

5 O in Bordeaux . . . Bill Simpson's pre-Y2K summer tour

7 Night to Remember . . . Declan McGrellis at the rogaine

8 Improve Your Skills

9 Annual General Meeting '99

10 Northern Ireland Relay Champs Results ... Drum Manor

12 NI Colour Series 5 Slieve Croob ... how was your time?

The programme of the World Cup 2000 programme has now been changed. The IOF Foot Orienteering Committee has accepted Ukraine’s offer to host an additional event in conjunction with the two events allocated to them in the original programme. "The change is due to the recent withdrawal of Belarus from organising the events awarded to them and scheduled for 4-7 July 2000. Whilst we deeply regret the withdrawal of Belarus, we very much appreciate Ukraine’s offer to organise a short distance event", says Ove Gasbjerg, chairman of the Foot Orienteering Committee. "We believe that this is the best possible solution. The event proposed by Ukraine offers good possibilities for publicity and the terrain is suitable for a short distance race, offering fast but challenging orienteering. Because of organisational restrictions, a rest day has been included in the programme between the classic distance qualification and the classic distance final. Despite this additional day, the reduced schedule will also be more affordable to the participating federations than the original programme."

The Special Rules for the World Cup 2000 programme including the scoring system are currently undergoing a final revision in order to incorporate the change caused by the replacement of the Belorussian events.

Due to the wish of the European orienteering federations, the classic distance and the relay event in Ukraine have also been designated the European Orienteering Championships. The addition of a short distance event in Ukraine is, however, not indicating a future standard format of the European Championships, Ove Gasbjerg emphasises.

In advance of the usual TIO fantasy orienteering extravaganza (where you can plan your 2000 O-schedule) here are a few ideas to get you thinking: January 2000 World Masters O-Champs, New Zealand; JK2000 at Aberfeldy in Scotland at Easter - April 24 or so; Welsh 5-Day at Trawsfynydd, August 6-11 with all events within 10 km; Leinster Champs at Carlingford on April 9th; maybe no Shamrock O-Ringen until 2001?; Swedish 5-Day, Narke, July 23-28; Finnish 5-Day from July 17-22 ...

IOA plan to complete the Strategic Planning process over the weekend of Nov 19/20/21. It is important that all orienteers are aware that they are welcome to make their input and that you feel that the direction we chose to go is your collective decision and not that of some distant group called "the executive", writes Noel Donagh.

I would hope we would be in a position to vote on the plan and the structural changes necessary at the next AGM but definitely by the 2001 AGM.

Post TERRYGLASS - at PORTUMNA

Follow up seminar will take place in Portumna Co.Galway - (about 10 miles south west of Birr) on Fri/Sat/Sun Nov 19/20/21 1999. I have booked B&B accommodation in the GalwayShannonside Hostel for a guesstimate number of persons.

There is no charge for that number of persons. So reserve your place with either Frank Ryan or myself soon. I will guarantee each club two places up to Nov 1st. After that date I will fill any vacant places.

The seminar takes the Sport from Terryglass to agreement on a strategic plan for the sportand will possibly formulate the structural changes necessary to carry out that plan in time for the next AGM.

That is the target: we may not achieve it but we will make progress towards it.

It is more important that orienteers take ownership of the direction we plan to take for the future. Terryglass was the beginning.

Outline Program:

A keynote session will be held at 9 pm on Sat 19th Nov 1999. This is a very important session as it will show the decisions made at Terryglass and program the work for the following days. All attending should try and attend this session.

The program resumes on Sat 20 Nov at 9.30 am and breaks for lunch and a short exercise/training event in Portumna Forest Park at 12.30. The workshops begin again at 3.00 pm to 7.30p m.

The Seminar will complete the workshops beginning at 10 am Sun Nov 21 and a final keynote session will conclude the seminar before 1.30 pm.

Noel Donagh, Barrybeg Lodge, Barrybeg, Athlone, Co. Westmeath (ndonagh@bigfoot.com) or Frank Ryan, St Mary's, Ballinfoyle, Galway (fryan@aran.gmit.ie)

Forthcoming Irish Mountain Running races are

Oct 24 Brockagh Mountain, nr. Glendalough., 11.00 hrs, British & Irish Junior Championships.

Nov 7 Howth, Co. Dublin, 12.00 hrs, GAA club, Dungriffin Road. 8.5 km/360m.

Nov 13 Powerscourt Ridge, Glencree, Co. Wicklow. 13.7 km/960m. 12.00 hrs.

Dec 27 Christmas Flash, Bray, Co. Wicklow. 2.4 km/ 191 m; 12.00 hrs.

Jan 9 Hellfire, Co. Dublin. 5.6 km/289m, 12.00 hrs.

Jan 16 Corrin Hill, Fermoy, Co. Cork. 14.30 hrs. Relay.

Details from Douglas Barry (01-2868180) or website www.iol.ie/~imra