Fingal (original) (raw)

Thanks to all who came to our Leinster League event in CastleBlayney. The event was also a NI Colour League event and in fact we had more attendees from the Northern clubs than from the Leinster clubs, including over 50 from LVO. Southsiders reluctant to travel north, even though CastleBlayney is just over an hour from the Airport.

Although there was some rain and drizzle it was relatively mild and not as wet as in recent weeks. The level of the lake was still quite high but the underfoot conditions in the forest on Black Island and in Muckno Park were quite good. However there were plenty of fallen trees in the forest and undergrowth in some places to slow down runners.

Courses were planned by Per, and controlled by Mike Burton of LVO. Comments were generally favourable and on the variety of terrain that included technical forest, reasonably fast parkland and urban streets on the longer courses. Bernie organised and other helpers were Eileen, Val, Roxanne, Tommy, Gabrielle, Kathryn, Alan, Eoin, and Liam. Svetlana also helped to put out controls on the Saturday.

Results are here.

More photos are here.

The next Fingal event will be in Castleblayney, County Monaghan, on March 1st. This event will be the first event of the 2026 Leinster League. It will also be a Northern Ireland Colour Series event, in cooperation with LVO. Courses are being planned by Per Olov Elovsson, and controlled by Mike Burton of LVO. There will be 8 courses available on the day, Yellow, Orange, Red, Short Green, Light Green, Green, Blue, and Brown.

The map has 2 main sections. Lough Muckno park is a former golf course around the former Hope Castle hotel, with some forest and open parkland. Black Island accessible by bridge is a Coillte forest that is mostly mature with some undergrowth. Much of the older beach trees have been knocked down by Storm Eoghan but remain on the ground. The smaller White Island will not be used this time as the level of the lake is very high and the causeway to it is currently flooded. Some of the courses may take in the town streets. Being in Monaghan the drumlin hills in both sections are quite steep, and likely to be slippy after all the recent rain.

Provisional Course Details

The start will be kept open until 2 PM and courses will close at 3.30 PM, to facilitate NI entrants, but anyone expecting to arrive after 1 PM must pre-enter.

Directions. Drive to the town center, then turn east past the old courthouse through the gates into Lough Muckno park. Parking will be on the right.

Online Entry and further details here.

Online Entry
Adults: �10 Children: �6 Student: �6 Unwaged: �6 OAP: �6 Family: �20

Entry on the day
Adults: �12 Children: �8 Student: �8 Unwaged: �8 OAP: �8 Family: �25

There are public toilets beside registration. We will have tea, coffee, and biscuits at the download. There is usually a coffee truck near the bridge to Black Island and there are several nice cafes in the town.

We had a very productive AGM in Bernie's house on Saturday. Thanks to Bernie for providing food and Kathryn for the cake for Jean's 80th birthday. There were 15 people attending which included most of the club core members. The minutes will be on Teamer. No changes in positions.

We also had a very nice Maprun planned by Jean and Eileen in Santry Demesne beforehand. The map was extended into some of the appartment complex. 10 people took part. We will hopefully meet and do mapruns like this as training more often.

The club AGM will be held next Saturday, 21st Feb in Bernie's house at 12.00. We will be meeting for a MapRun beforehand in Santry Demesne at 10.30. All members are welcome to both.

Thanks to all who came to our 2026 night event in Skerries. Courses were planned by Val, updated by Eileen. The event was organised by Eileen and Ciaran

Results are here.

Happy New Year to all Fingal Orienteers members and friends.

We are looking forward to a very active orienteering year in 2026.
There will be an Irish Sprint Championships weekend in Limerick on the 21st and 22nd of March.

The Irish Long, Middle, and Relay Championship weekend will take place as usual on the May bank holiday weekend. It will take place on the open hill terrain of the Sheeps Head peninsula in West Cork.
The sprint has been separated because of no suitable sprint terrain in the Bantry area.

Details and links to enter both are on the Irish Championship Website.

The highlight of the year should be the OO Cup taking place on the last weekend of July in the Killarney area in Kerry. This 5 day event could be the largest orienteering event ever in Ireland, with possibly 2000 competitors taking part. Anyone who has been to the OO cup in Slovenia, France, or other countries will know that the emphasis will be on providing top class technical courses while also providing for juniors and other less experienced participants.

Details and link to entries are on the OO CUP Website

The first Fingal event of 2026 will be a night event in Skerries. Registration, Start, and Finish will be in the carpark of Skerries Mills. There will be a long and a short course. Starts from 6 PM until 7 PM. While there will be running on the streets the courses will also cross open parkland and the ballast pits near the train station.

Entries are open on the OI Fixture list.