As you may have seen in the IOA Bulletin elsewhere in this issue, there is a vitally important conference on October 10/11 at Terryglass, Co. Tipperary. It's vital for the future of orienteering in ireland as it will decide on the direction we are to go in over the coming years, to see if we can capitalise on the recent World Cup and continue to develop.

Organiser Noel Donagh writes "Each participant will be requested bring a written statement of their vision for orienteering. It is expected that each person's vision will be very different, reflecting the person's motivation and reason for taking up the sport. The sum of these individual will be helpful in assisting the group to identify objectives for the sport over the next 5 year + period. Once the group identify and prioritise objectives the task of deciding how these will be reached the group can begin to formulate a plan to meet these . The sport of Orienteering is 30 years old here. We have run our first international event - perhaps now is an opportune time to examine our strengths and weaknesses and decide where we go as a sport from here. We have been fortunate to have obtained grant assistance to hold a seminar to do just that."

All clubs have been invited to send delegates but there are other places available. If you feel you can contribute, contact Noel Donagh, Barrybeg Lodge, Barrybeg, Athlone, Co. Westmeath.

The Senior Home International was held at Kilnsey in North Yorkshire on September 12/13th. The team selected was:

M20 Andrew Mein, Alan Bogle, Andrew Quin. (Reserves Conor Barry, Alan Barry, Shane Burke, Shane Lynch)

W20 Toni O'Donovan, Aislinn Austin, Clare O'Connor. (Reserve Susan Healy)

M21 Bill Edwards, Steven Linton, James Logue, Marcus Pinker, John Feehan (Reserves Brendan O'Brien, John Casey, Brendan Delaney, Geoff Somerville, Hugh McLindon)

W21 Una Creagh, Nuala Higgins, Julie Cleary, Eadaoin Morrish, Ailbhe Creedon. (Reserves Nina Phillips, Fiona O'Brien, Joanne Mein)

M35 Aonghus O'Cleirigh, Colm Rothery, Colm O'Halloran, Brian Corbett. (Reserves Peter James, John Muckian, Justin May)

W35 Eileen Loughman, Ruth Lynam, Clare Heardman, Mary Healy (Reserves Ann Savage, Sheila Muckian, Ruth Blair, Marella Fyffe).

Bjornar Valstad and Hanne Staff of Norway, who won gold medals at the World Cup races in Ireland back in May, are leading the World Cup series after the Swedish 5-Day round. Valstad has a 1 point lead over Swede Johan Ivarsson with Russia's Valentin Novikov third. Britain's Steve Hale is in 8th place. Hanne Staff has a 7 point lead over Katarina Borg (Sweden) with both Katarina Allberg (SWE) and Reeta-Mari Kolkkala (FIN) a further 26 points down.

Hanne Staff also won the Part World Tour series, having won 5 of the races, giving her over £10,000 in prize money. Rudolf Ropek (CZK) won the men's series. Britain's Heather Munro was 5th in the women's competition.

Congratulations to orienteers Una Creagh, Aonghus OCleirigh and Colm Rothery who were selected to represent Ireland at the World Trophy in Mountain Running on the Ile de Réunion in the Indian Ocean on September 19th/20th.

1998 Mount Brandon uphill trial race report John Lenihan battled through mist, wind and rain to win the senior men's section of the Mount Brandon uphill trial race and clinch 1998 Irish Mountain Running Championship. After a subdued showing on the opening flattish 8 kilometres, the experienced Kerryman powered past his rivals on the mountain to finish in a time of 63 minutes 24 seconds. His main rival for the championship Paul Nolan had a nightmarish race and could only manage 8th in the miserable conditions.

Behind the dominant Lenihan who is set to appear at his eighth World Mountain Running Championships in September, a close battle ensued on the rough windswept slopes of Dingle's highest mountain. As the runners climbed higher, the weather conditions got worse. Lenihan forged ahead to finish to win. At the finish, the recorder - a frozen Vivian O'Gorman - had to wait as Gerry McGrath took 2nd some three minutes behind the Irish champion. The former Belfast Marathon winner was followed home by Colm Rothery, Francis Cosgrave, Aonghus O'Cleirigh and Kevin Thompson. Jonathan Lamont came in a disappointing 7th after being prominent on the flatter opening section.

In the absence through injury of Robin Bryson and Noel Berkeley, the following team was selected for the Worlds in Reunion. John Lenihan (Riocht), Gerry McGrath (Dundrum South Dublin), Colm Rothery (Metro St. Brigids), Francis Cosgrave (Blackrock), Aonghus O'Cleirigh (Dundrum South Dublin), Kevin Thompson (London Irish). Later, Francis Cosgrave dropped out of the team and was replaced by Jonathan Lamont who gets his first vest.

The womens race was won by Letterkenny's Margaret Synott in her first ever mountain race and she was followed home by Una Creagh (Crusaders) and Anne O'Kearney (Altringcham). Riocht's Majella Diskin finished 4th over 4 minutes behind the winner, but had the consolation of clinching a thinly contested 1998 Irish Championship. The first three were selected to go to Reunion with Beechmount's Teresa Duffy. Teresa managed to miss the race despite having driven nearly 400 miles from Belfast to compete. She couldn't find the start!!

The junior men's race was won by another debutante - the national junior 3,000 metres champion Gary Thornton (Galway City Harriers) in a time of 39 minutes 32 seconds. The winner was followed home a minute and a half later by Donore's Mark Doyle. Longford's John Campbell was third and just headed Limerick's Barry O'Callaghan who made the team for the second year in succesion. However Mark Doyle's record of 4 Worlds with a fifth next month will surely never be beaten.

The Junior women's race saw a tussle among the inexperienced leaders for the three available places. Thurles Crokes' Madelaine Dorney scored another surprise debut win over East Cork's Olga Cronin who went slightly astray on the misty course. Amanda Hanly (Lough Ree) finished 3 seconds behind the Midleton girl and took the final place. The team officials are Douglas Barry (Manager) and Vivian O'Gorman (Assistant).

Orienteers also featured prominently in the Leinster Mountain Running League, with GEN's Paul Nolan leading, followed by 3ROC's Hugh McLindon in his first season of hill racing. AJAX's Brendan O'Brien is 4th and clubmate Michael Walters 5th. First Vet Kieran McDonald (AJAX) lies 8th ahead of 3ROC's Alan Cox.

On yer bike ... Watch out for mountain bike orienteering in Leinster this autumn. Leinster Coaching Officer Damien Cashin is set to organise an event, plus a long-O, between now and Christmas. He just has to wait for the cold, the rain, the mud and the short days of winter to set in to make it really enjoyable ... Sorry about omitting the results of GEN's Glencree score event from TIO86 due to an editorial oversight. The person concerned has been reprimanded ... Next year's British Championships are at Newby Bridge in the LAke District on May 8/9. The individual event is at Greythwaite and the relay at Holker. Should be well worth a trip. Details from Sue Birkinshaw, 221 Hale Road, Hale, Altrincham, WA15 8DN, England. Phone 0044-161-980-5068... and next year's JK at Easter (April2-5) is around Dorking, south of London. The individual is at Leith Hill (anyone remember JK77?) and at Winterfold Hill and the Relay at Hawley & Hornley, Aldershot. Details from Roy Rood (not that Roy Wood! ... or is it?) 22 London Road, Bagshot, GU19 5HN; phone 0044-1276-473579... the 1999... Harvester Trophy overnight relay is on september 25-26 in the Forest of Dean ... and the 1999 Senior Home International is on October 10/11 in South Wales... An unusual report by Ciarann Mac an Aili in the current Irish Mountain Log about the first German ascent of Three Rock Mountain outside Dublin (on horseback, in _August 1828, by Hermann Ludwig Heinrich Furst von Puckler-Muskau, a Prussian officer and German prince.) I kid you not ... Also in IML is Joss Lynam's announcement of his intention to retire from the Editorship next spring after issue number 50. Joss was one of the original orienteers in Ireland. Congratulations, Joss, on all your work for the magazine ... If you've read Dava Sobel's "Longitude" you might be interested in "Latitude", a shop which supplies maps, globes and guides of anywhere you can think of. Their specialist in orienteering maps and equipment is Irish Team member Julie Cleary. They have a comprehensive mail order catalogue. Contact them at 34 The Broadway, Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, Herts, EN6 2HW, England, phone 0044-1707-663090, fax 0044-1707-663029.

This year may have been the 21st Anniversary of the Thomond Orienteers first Burren Walk and sand dune orienteering at Fanore in Co. Clare. The event was poorly attended by orienteers but had perhaps 200 walkers on Saturday's Burren Walk (or walks, since there are three routes, maybe four next year). Traditionally the weekend (the last weekend in August) marked the end of the summer and the start of the new orienteering season. (This year it just marked the start of the new orienteering season). Alan Shaw, the initiator of the event, has taken a back seat and the main organiser is his Thomond clubmate Gerry O'Carroll.

The conditions were ideal, with sunshine and a light wind, and the Burren Walk is a great one to run, if you concentrate on where you're putting your feet. The Rabbit Warren at Fanore threw up the usual navigational problems: it's a lovely little area, even if the map is 15 years old. According to Alan Shaw, the first Burren Walk in 1978 was just before the World Championships at Tampere in Finland. (However, the Tampere World Championships was in 1979, so either this was to 20th Burren Walk or it was before the World Champs at Kongsberg in Norway in '78 that it started.) Anyway, Eileen Loughman and Wally Young, with a couple of other team members, came down for a long run a few days before heading off. The event featured a long orienteering course across the Burren on Alan Shaw's modified version of Tim Robinson's map, and the course took no account of cliffs or other natural obstacles. In those days the Walk was on the Sunday with a night-O event at Fanore on Saturday night: a great combination. Next year's Burren Walk will be on Saturday 28th August at Fanore with low-key orienteering next day. Details from Thomond Orienteers - and watch for a Burren Walk website!

The past few months have seen the deaths of several orienteers:

Former IOA Chairman John Creagh died in early July. John had been an active member of 3ROC from the early '80's until comparatively recently and was IOA Chairman during the late '80's. He had been diagnosed as having motor neurone disease at the end of last year and had recently retired from his job as principal at the College of Marketing and Design in Dublin. John's wife, Nuala, who died in 1991, had also been very involved in IOA (as Juniors Officer) and 3ROC and their home was always a haven for cold and wet orienteers. Several family members were involved in orienteering, most notably Una, Hilde and Oisin. May he rest in peace.

Some readers may have heard about the tragic death of LVO's Mark Wilson, one of two cyclists killed in a hit and run accident on the Co-Operation North Maracycle at the end of June. Mark was heavily involved in helping LVO and was a founder member of the sub-group SUMO (South Ulster and Mourne Orienteers). He was an outdoor instructor and a BOF instructor and was one of the helpers at IOC 98 at Slieve Gullion. Mark was only 31 and his wife Jacqui had recently had a baby son, Josh. I'm sure all our sympathies go to her and their families.

BERTIL NORDENFELT (1903-1998)

Bertil Nordenfelt, a founder of IOF and its Secretary from 1961 to 1983, was one of the founders of the Swedish Orienteering Federation and editor of the Swedish O-magazine, Skogssport. He was a noted ambassador for orienteering and lectured at the O-Ringen clinic held in conjunction with the Swedish 5-Day. I met him there a couple of years ago when he was only about 90 and he told the group about the changes in orienteering down the years. He was still quite sprightly in the forest, navigating carefully in the complex Swedish terrain. He died early this year, having just entered the M95+ age class. He died in his sleep in Stockholm, not quite as he wanted, in the forest, between controls, at an orienteering event.

Jack Ramsden was the captain of the English orienteering team which won the Continental Cup in Ireland in 1988 and a thorough gentleman. A teacher by profession and an orienteer for many years, he was perhaps more famous as the father of Jean Ramsden who ran on the British World Championships team from the mid '70's to the late '80's. Jack was a member of Deeside Orienteers and died from a heart attack on May 13th while driving home from a training run. Perhaps the Continental Cup is still standing on his sideboard - no one has seen it since 1988.

Rock climber, fell-runner, athlete, caver, canoeist and orienteer: Pete Livesey reached great heights in all of these sports. An outdoor pursuits lecturer at Ilkley College, he took up orienteering in his 40's and within two years was topping the M45 rankings in Britain. He also had a remarkable record as afell runner, including fors consecutive top ten placings in the Karrimor Mountain Marathon. He died of cancer on February 26th.

Financial problems seem to be the reason for recent lay-offs of Association for Adventure Sports (AFAS) staff. Ann O'Connor who worked on developing contacts with affiliates, set up the AFAS web site and was active in monitoring centre standards, was laid off in June and Maeve MacPherson, Deputy Director of Tiglin, was given notice in August, much to the surprise of her many friends in outdoor pursuits. Maeve was a member of the IOC winning 3ROC ladies team over the years and had represented Ireland at Senior Home International level although learning to fly had taken up much of her time in the last couple of years.

Many people thought that when the VEC took on much of the financial responsibilities for Tiglin back in the early '80's that the Association's money worries were over. Obviously this isn't the case. Simon Powell, the new Director of Tiglin, is keen to cut costs and make the Centre leaner, while the Association is moving towards enhancing its once great reputation as the national centre for excellence in outdoor pursuits. Internal problems in Tiglin mean that the Board will have to sort things out fairly quickly.

Orienteering, in common with other "adventure" sports like mountaineering, skiing, caving and canoeing, is affiliated to AFAS although apart from the very useful AFAS office in the House of Sport which provides administrative support for IOA, the level of contact between IOA and AFAS is minimal.

As mentioned in the article on the National Adventure Marathon elsewhere in this issue, some teams were turned away, one even arrived from the UK, and although a tough activity all expressed interest in meeting a similar challenge again. Damien Cashin also noted that over the years most teams entering the adventure marathon in Kerry actually travel from the Eastcoast.

In an effort to develop the idea of adventure racing, an ACE RACE (Adventure-Challenge-Endurance) is proposed to be run over the October Bank Holiday weekend...24-26 Oct'ober 1998, going under the title of..THE CELTIC ACE RACE. The Celtic ACE Race is designed for teams of four and involves activity in orienteering ... hill running ... mountain biking ... night navigation ... team work ... and watersports and requires a level of fitness, stamina and endurance.

The Celtic ACE Race will be based in Co. Wicklow, entry fee is £290 per team and entries should be sent to: Damien Cashin, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow. Ph: 01-2818212...Email dcashin@iol.ie

If the ACE Race is too much for you, how about a mountain bike event? MB-O is now a fully-fledged form of orienteering, with its own IOF committee to look after it. World Championships are planned and some events will be run in conjunction with next year's World (foot) O-Championships in Scotland. Damien Cashin is working on a mountain bike 'O' event and plans to run it on Saturday 31st October with the start location at the Shay Elliot monument between Laragh and Glenmalure in Co. Wicklow, Grid Ref. T1392 . Based on a score type event with two levels: a two hour event starting at 12.00 hrs and a three hour event starting at 11.00 hrs, all finished by 1400. If people do not have a Mountain bike a limited number are available to hire at £6.00. Pat Healy's 1:25000 may is the map for the event. Justin May and Luke Campbell-Crawford are already oiling their bikes ... Details from Damien Cashin (contact details above).

This year's Munster Championships are at Clashacrona, 2 km west of Dunmanway in Co. Cork on Sunday 8th November. The event is one of the National League series and is being run by Bishopstown Orienteering Club. The area is described as a mixture of forest and moorland with an old railway line running through the forest. Entries to Bernard Maguire, 79 Cardinal Court, Wilton, Cork. (Ph 087-2340798). Fees are £7/£4 to October 7th, £9/6 from October 8th. Entry forms are included with this issue.

If you want to go to see the World Championships you'll never have a better chance. The next WOC is at Inverness in Scotland next August and will be run in conjunction with the Scottish 6-Day, Highland '99. It should be a great week. Entry forms for Highland '99 are included with this issue. Accommodation is likely to be in short supply, so get there early. Cheapest entries close on January 31st next.

The IOA has announced that the maps of Crohane used for the World Cup last May are out of bounds for orienteering. These areas are likely to be used for the Irish Championships. There is a suggestion that IOC be run in conjunction with the 1999 Shamrock O-Ringen, with the Relays at a later date.

Mention of the old railway line on the Munster Championships map led me to wonder how many Irish O-maps have current or old railway lines on them. Has anyone any suggestions? I can think of at least two with current lines, one with a disused line, one with a rail tunnel.

While on the subject of trivia, how many Irish O-maps have the highest point in a county on them? How many have county boundaries on them? Send your suggestions to TIO for the next trivia-packed issue. (Though based on previous experienced I don't really expect anyone to. Go on, surprise me...)

Congratulations to Irish Team Coach Justin May and five-times Irish Champion Una Creagh who got married on 25th July. The wedding was in the picturesque church of Glencullen, within sight of many orienteering and hill-race venues and just off the Three Rock Mountain map, and the reception at Ashtown Castle visitor centre in the Phoenix Park, also on an O-map. Orienteers and runners were, of course, well represented. A note of sadness was the death of Una's father less than two weeks before. Una was given away by her brother Oisín, a former Irish Junior Team member and the best man was Larry Roe, former IOA Junior Affairs Officer.

A letter from the director of the National Certificate in Exercise and Fitness gives details of level 1 courses for fitness instructors. The course can lead to qualifications enabling the instructors to work in the area or just for personal development. Contact the University of Limerick (061-202829), Litton Lane Studios, Dublin (01-8728044), Motions Fitness Centre, Leixlip, Co. Kildare (01-6244551) or Maltings Fitness & Racquet Club, Portlaoise (0502-21216).

The 1998 Scientific Journal of Orienteering (Vol 14) will be produced as a double issue and published in early December. The deadline for manuscripts is October 15th. Orienteering World will change to a twice-yearly magazine with the aim of promoting orienteering rather than reporting on the elite side of the sport, a function now being done more by the internet. Subscribers will be sent details of the plans during the autumn. The IOF has produced a 36 page colour brochure called "The World of Orienteering" aimed at increasing the media's knowledge of orienteering. It seems geared towards promoting orienteering as an Olympic sport. The photos are great and it's very well produced (apart from some spelling and the fact that they have the wrong address for the IOA web page).

How about seeing in the year 2000 in New Zealand? The World Masters Orienteering Championships 2000 will run from 31st December 1999 to 7th January 2000. The event is open to all M/W35's and over. There's a sorting event open to all. Details from WMOC 2000. P.O. Box 180, Feilding, New Zealand; e-mail wmoc2000@xtra.co.nz, web site http://tef.massey.ac.nz/~pet/wmoc2000.htm. Let's hope their event computers are Y2K compliant! (And by the way, it is Feilding, not Fielding!)

The British Orienteering Federation has appointed a Swede, Goran Andersson, as its first Performance Director. Britain is ranked 5th in the world after the Scandinavian countries and Switzerland and BOF has the target of achieving World Championships relay medals for both men and women by 2003. Goran Andersson (45) is an experienced coach and coached the Swedish Junior Team in 1986/87 when they won gold medals at the World Junior Championships and the Swedish Womens Team from 1988-92 when they won two World Champs gold relay medals and three individual medals.

On June 18th, Kanri Pulkkinen, of RUSU orienteering club in the south-eastern comer of Finland, was killed by a bear while out on a training run close to the Russian border. Although the forest in question is known as having an increasing confident bear population, it also has a permanent orienteering course, regularly used for local training. This was the first death by a bear attack recorded in Finland this century, and the marks on the ground indicate that the 42 year old army instructor must have accidentally split the bear from its cub; the bear appeared to have only struck one fatal blow before retreating. The body was found by members of Rukolaati Suunista orienteering club who formed a search party with local police when the father of three failed to return from a routine terrain run. The bear was found in the area and shot. Based on information from Steve & Ulla Davidson, RUSU/LEI (from SENAV)

Thanks to all of you who took the trouble to write articles or supply information or photographs or anything else for this issue. It's not easy - I know, I've been doing it for years! Thanks also to the editors of the other orienteering magazines from which TIO borrows stuff and who in turndo the same.

John McC.

The 1998 Irish Orienteer Trophy event is on Sunday October 4th at Trooperstown, Laragh, Co. Wicklow. Organisers are Great Eastern Navigators. All Irish clubs are invited to participate for the coveted Trophy, first won by 3ROC in 1983. There are seven teams from each club, competing on the brown, blue, green, light green and orange courses. A summary of the rules is given on page 37. Start times are 11.00 to 1.00 pm. See you there!