Friday, May 29, 2009

WOC team selection

Congratulations to the following athletes who have been selected to compete at this years World Champs in Hungary:

Women.

Rosalind Hussey
Ciara Largey
Niamh O'Boyle

Men.

Neil Dobbs
David Healy
Colm Hill
Shane Lynch
Andrew Quin
Ruairi Short
Nicolas Simonin

Well done to all selected.

You will notice that there have been 7 Men selected for WOC this year. This situation has arisen due in part to me taking over the role of HPO in the middle of the selection process for WOC and i apologise for any confusion caused.
In retrospect i should have made the announcement of the deadline for expressions of interest in WOC selection more widespread. (some athletes were not aware of this deadline) and I feel it would be unfair to deny them the opportunity to be considered.
Unfortunately this means some athletes may compete in only one race at this years competition.
Although this is not an ideal situation - It is great to see the strength and depth of the squad and hopefully the overall WOC experience should be of real benefit, especially to those competing at WOC for the first time, and should provide good preperation for those hoping to compete at WOC 2010.

Best Regards, Ivan

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Irish team selection WC 3 & 4

The following atheletes have been selected to compete for Ireland at the World cup races 3 & 4.

Ciara Largey, Marcus Pinker and Neil Dobbs.

The races will be held at Fossrum near Oslo on June 26th and 27th. Good luck to the team.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Message from the new Irish HPO

Firstly, many thanks to Brendan for guiding the Irish elite squad over the past 7 years. A job well done and a tough act to follow for me!

It was great to see so many squad members at this years IOC. There were some great performances by the elites in some pretty tough conditions - well done to the winners. Personally i think it is important for as many elite runners as possible to compete at the IOC as it is the premier annual Irish event and a great opportunity for the squad to get together and catch up.
certainly for me, being out of the loop with elite orienteering for the last couple of years there seems to be a real Buzz around the squad.
Some excellent work by Ruth and Greg and others with the Irish juniors has produced a great crop of young orienteers. The squad has a healthy mix of ambitious juniors and the more experienced seniors. I think if you can work together, train hard, get the best out of each other then your common goals can be achieved.

Some squad members had asked about selection criteria for this years WOC. For this year the criteria that was set out by Brendan earlier in the year stands.
So congrats to those who have qualified automatically following the IOC.

Could i ask all squad members (not sure where the squad is defined? maybe this should be done)
to forward me their contact details (email, phone no.) so i can get a contact list started. Feel free to send me your thoughts/questions on any O matters you may have while your at it!
my details are:

email IVANMANDYMILLAR@aol.com
home 02897 533149 (NI)
mob 07979 382321

Regards, Ivan.

Irish squad meeting at IOC 2009
















Photos from the meeting - http://tinyurl.com/seniorsquadphotos

Old maps for Trondheim WOC 2010 finals can be downloaded from the official website in the 'Embargoed areas' section. Below are the direct links but you can find more information about the maps and the ares from the website.

http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Smaabergan.pdf
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Midtbyen.pdf
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Sverresborg.pdf - sprint final
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Froset.pdf
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Stavset.pdf
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Storheia.pdf
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Leinstrandmarka-vest.pdf - middle/long/relay finals
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Leinstrandmarka-oest.pdf - middle/long/relay finals
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Smistad.pdf
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Jervfjellet.pdf
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Tulluan_syd.pdf
http://woc2010.com/GamleKart/Stavsjoefjellet.pdf

Sunday, May 3, 2009

IOC CLASSIC RESULTS

Results for the Classic Distance Race are:
MEN:
1. Marcus Pinker
2. Colm Hill
3. Neil Dobbs
4. Rory Short
5. Seamus O'Boyle

WOMEN:
1. Ciara Largey
2. Niamh O'Boyle
3. Maeve O'Grady

UPDATED IOC Medium Results

Results for the Medium Distance Race are:
MEN:
1. Marcus Pinker 37:24
2. Nicholas Simonin 39:23
3. Darren Burke 40:50
4. Seamus O'Boyle 42:23
5. Neil Dobbs 42:24

WOMEN:
1. Niamh O'Boyle 38:53
2. Ciara Largey 39:47
3. Maeve O'Grady 49:01

Saturday, May 2, 2009

IOC MEDIUM DISTANCE

Provisional results for the Medium Distance Race are:
**awaiting official times & results**
MEN:
1. Marcus Pinker
2. Nicholas Simonin
3. Darren Burke
4. Andrew Quinn
5. David Healy

WOMEN:
1. Niamh O'Boyle
2. Faye Pinker

Friday, May 1, 2009

Topics for SQUAD MEETING 2nd May 09

*Suggested Topics for SQUAD MEETING:*

* WOC 2009 Hungary: presentation, logistics, pre-WOC training
possibilities. Selection of runners for races/start groups (in
previous years this was done by "consensus" based on selection
races and known form).
Goals.
* WOC 2010 Norway: presentation, logistics, training possibilities,
selection race. Goals.
* World Cup (Finland, Norway, Switzerland) 2009 and NOC 2009:
presentation, logistics, training, selection. Goals.
* budget (Individual grants versus training camps versus competition
fees etc)
* development
* Presentation??
* Expectations of squad members before and after selection
such as:
- communications
- training/competing
- coaching
- goals (as mentioned before) and plans to achieve and be measured against
* What constitutes a 'squad' or how do we define it, limit it's
size, invite people on or move people off...
* Structure for supports, and what proportion can/should IOA provide
* I'd like to suggest we discuss and create an Irish relay team goal
(5 year timeframe). We can try to increase our position in the
long run, for starting off we could aim to improve our percentage
behind the winners.

Location CONFIRMED for squad meeting

*Location of Squad Meeting:*

We will meet at the local community hall that will be used for the IOA
sessions on Sunday.
*2pm - 3pm Saturday 2nd May.*

*Location:Barnsmore, Donegal* - in the *Local Community Hall* which will
be the Assembly Area for the Irish Orienteering Championships.

*Directions: *4km along N15 from Donegal Town. - we will have tea and coffee available
and be close to start areas etc.should time run over.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Barnesmore,+County+Donegal,+Republic+of+Ireland&sll=54.639224,-8.115463&sspn=0.003148,0.00927&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FWmoQgMdrxmG_w&split=0&ll=54.679786,-8.062248&spn=0.096069,0.427094&z=12&msa=0&msid=115710557496789397905.00045d7d1c190b0011402