WOC2011 training camp / World Cup France

The Irish hit Annecy in France to prepare for next years world orienteering championships in Aix les Bains/Chambery. A worthy mention: a certain someone from Corko has returned to the wild.

After the first days of training in local terrain to next years WOC it seems that foot placement will be challenging.

But you can't spend the race watching where you put your feet, look up, and keep an eye out for the Alps!

But seriously it's physically challenging in a different way to Trondheim and it's way more intricate! If you haven't seen Thierry Gueorgious twitter post about his training here check it out - http://twitpic.com/2ir3pf . The Irish team were on this map today.

Stay posted for future updates about the training camp and the world cup race this Sunday.

And now some terrain pictures:

Development team announced for French World cup.

I am pleased to announce the following squad members have been selected as part of the Irish seniors development team to compete at the World cup event in Annecy, France 2nd/3rd October:

Men: Darren Burke, Gerard Butler, Hugh Cashell, Colm Hill, Seamus O'Boyle and Rauiri Short Women: Niamh O'Boyle.

The French WC weekend will see a long distance race on the Sunday and sprint events on the Saturday. There will also be the opportunity for those on the team and other squad members to sample some of next years WOC terrain in organised training sessions in the area.

The following weekend Niamh and Darren will be taking part in the final World cup event of 2010 the postfinance sprint in Geneva.

Good luck to all those taking part!

You can also find more French WC and WOC info on the new WOC 2011 Irish blog here:
http://worldchamps2011france.wordpress.com/

Ivan Millar
(High performance director)

Park World Tour results

Irish senior squad members were competing at the Park World Tour sprint races in Perth this weekend.
They had fine runs in the Elite finals on Saturday with Niamh O'Boyle finishing in the top ten with 8th place, 2 and a half minutes behind WOC sprint runner-up Sweden's Helen Jansson. Niamh's World champs team-mate Rosalind Hussey qualified for Saturdays Elite final and finished a respectable 18th place in a high quality field.
Corko junior Niamh Corbett narrowly missed out on joining Niamh and Rosalind in the big final, she finished a mere 11 seconds off qualification.

Nicolas Simonin was the only Irish representative in the Men's final. He had a strong run finishing 14th in a time of 15:39
In a race that was won by sprint specialist Norway's Oystein Kvaal Osterbo Nick was less than a minute off a podium spot!

Special mention must also go to the Irish Juniors who were placed 3rd (finally getting the better of the Welsh)In the Junior Home International which was run alongside the PWT events in Perth. Well done!

You can view full results, photos and maps on the PWT website

Irish Team for Senior Home International Selected

The Irish team to compete at the SHI in Southern England on November 6th and 7th has been selected. The team will be:

M21: Darren Burke, Gerard Butler, Seamus O'Boyle, Colm O'Halloran, Marcus Pinker and Ruairi Short.

M20: Niall Ewen, Conor Short, Josh O'Sullivan-Hourihan

W21: Aislinn Austin, Rosalind Hussey, Ruth Lynam, Niamh O'Boyle, Toni O'Donovan and Faye Pinker.

W20: Fiona Hill, Olivia Baxter

The relay event will be held on Saturday in Pamber Forest, while the individual competition will be held as part of the November Classic in New Forest, Southampton. The event webpage can be found here.