Northern Ireland MTBO Champs – New Date!!

NI MTBO champs - Nov 28th - Craigavon Lakes

Following the disappointment of this months cancelled MTBO champs (Thanks Forest Service!) We are pleased to announce a new date/location for this years big event.

It is a welcome return to the intricate path network and route choice delimas on offer at the Craigavon lakes. The event is to be held on Saturday the 28th of November.

We hope to provide 3 courses. A long and short for seniors and a junior course. We will be using a special mountain bike orienteering map of the Lakes area. More details to follow

You can view last years maps and routes on ROUTE GADGET

Dromara CC winter trailquests – Dates announced

Dromara cycling club have announced the dates for this winters trailquest series.
they are putting on 6 events in the very popular series of trailquests.

There is also a chance to hold the re-scheduled Northern Ireland MTBO champs on November 22nd between rounds 2 and 3.

Here are the trailquest details:

Dromara Cycling Club are expanding the fantastic sucess of the 2008 winter league.
In 2009 we shall be holding 6 events on the following dates.
There wll be a 3.5 hour and a 2 hour event on each date.
There will be prizes for each and the best team with youth members.
The entry price, teams of up to 4, pre-entry etc will all be the same and a trsil quest page will be available shortly.

The dates are.

Sunday 8th November at Dromara football Club

Sunday 15th November at Daft Eddie’s Killinchy

Sunday 6th December at Dolly, Brae Inn Ballyward Castlewellan

Sunday 27th December at Brennan’s Garage Seaforde.

Sunday 10th January at Paddy’s Barn Saul, Downpatrick, [TBC]

Sunday 17th January at Shimna Valley Newcastle.

There has been a great deal of interest in the trail quests over the last few moths, so lets hope for dry weather and plenty taking part.
Proceeds to Northern Ireland Children’s Cancer Charity at Shimna Valley Newcastle.

For more information plaese email
trevor@dromaracc.co.uk

MTBO Champs cancelled/postponed !!!!!

It is with regret that we have been forced by others
to cancel/postpone this weekends MTBO champs.

Access problems at Castlewellan mean this Saturdays event will be rescheduled for Late November.
The 2009 champs will definitely be happening before the end of the year and we promise an excellent event in a great location so keep your ear to the ground and watch this space for updates.

Woodburn MTBO report.

Last Sunday saw the first real MTBO event of the year following on from the series of trailquests organised by Dromara cycling club and TrailblazersMTBO. The weather was fine on the day and the dry spell over the previous 3 weeks meant riding would be fast and faces unmudied!!

The event was held in partnership with Lagan Valley orienteers, the local orienteering club who have a great selection of maps of a wide variety of terrains for the traditional foot orienteeing events.
Mountain bike orienteering is very similar to foot orienteering in many respects though courses tend to be slightly less technical because MTBO uses paths only. So courses tend to offer more of a route-choice challenge than technical navigation challenge.

For many this was a first chance to try a course in which riders had to visit controls in sequence as opposed to the score event where any order is allowed. I think most enjoyed the challenge (a score event was provided) and it was good practice for the upcoming Northern Ireland champs.

over 30 riders turned up promptly for the early start – but not the planner who was busy riding flat out trying to get all the controls out on time! (Thanks to Jon and Martin for helping set up the start).
Most opted for the near 12km (measured in a straight line:-) long course, there was a short course of 6km and a one hour score event.

The long course took in a mixture of fast riding forestry roads and more technical riding on the slower trails which have become quite rutted thanks to recent trailbike activity. Route-choice decisions were aided by the fact that in the middle of Woodburn are two very large reservoirs!

Everybody had just set off when a flying Phil reported a missing control!! every planners nightmare, thankfully I had a spare control ready and got up to the control site toot sweet!
The control was situated near a quarry frequented by trail-bikers (I assed two sheepish looking suspects on the way up). The wire strop and padlock had not deterred the vandals and there was no sign of the missing control. The replacement went in and not too much harm was done.

The expected winning time on the Long course was around an hour and Phil O’Neil duly obliged coming home fastest in 1:01:54 just ahead of last years NI MTBO champ Paul McArthur and LVO’s Phil Stuart in third.
LVO’s Andrea Stefkova was first Female home.
On the short course Adrian Woods was victorious and the score event was won by Michael Murphy from brother Kieron and a gaggle of Dromara riders.

Special mention to John McBride who took a nasty spill on loose gravel near the reservoir and recieved some painfull looking injuries following a bit of a face-plant.
Thanks to Mandy and Boys for helping out with registration and Alan for map-printing and LVO for letting me convert a map to MTBO standard and use it for the event.

We are looking forward to seeing a big turnout for the Northern Ireland champs event to be held at Castlewellan on Saturday 10th October (more details to follow) The courses should be great fun with a good fast riding network of paths and a great forest setting.
See you there!!

Catch up with how Paul got on with his race here:

Woodburn MTBO results now up.

Thanks to all who turned out on a fine Autumn day to test their navigation and Mountain-biking skills. A good turnout of 30 riders took part in the warm up event for next months NI MTBO champs at Castlewellan.

Full results can be viewed here:

Woodburn MTBO Sunday 27th September 2009 – Results

Woodburn MTBO Sunday 27th September 2009	Sun 27/09/2009 21:00
Results	created by OE2003 © Stephan Krämer 2007

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   Pl   Stno Name                         YB Club                             Time 

Long  (19)                10.8 km   14 C          

    1        O'Neil, Phil                    Dromara CC                    1:01:54
    2        Mc Arthur, Paul                 LVO                           1:04:10
    3        Stuart, Phil                    LVO                           1:13:39
    4        Kay, Jon                        Maryland Wheelers CC          1:23:22
    5        Lyness, Andrew                  LVO                           1:27:43
    6        Brown, Geoff                    Dromara CC                    1:28:53
    7        Smyth, Bobby                    NWOC                          1:29:52
    8        Grimley, Martin                 Dromara CC                    1:30:03
    9        Stefko, Igor                    LVO                           1:31:35
   10        Millar, Jack                    LVO                           1:32:59
   11        Stefkova, Andrea                LVO                           1:36:07
   12        Mc'Alister, Wilson              LVO                           1:36:40
   13        Carson, Susy                    LVO                           1:41:59
   14        Dong, Ding                      Dromara CC                    1:56:47
   15        Bradley, Jonathan               IND                           2:05:43
   16        Tomasz, Joanna                  IND                           2:06:15
   17        Smyth, Graeme                   IND                           2:15:46
   18        Boom, Lesley                    IND                           2:37:38
   19        Manton, Paul                    IND                           2:37:52 

Short  (8)                5.8 km   8 C            

    1        Woods, Adrian                   IND                             46:53
    2        Whincup, John                   LVO                           1:03:09
    3        Regan, Eileen                   IND                           1:15:55
    4        Armstrong, Drew                 Dromara CC                    1:16:47
    5        Millar, Harry                   LVO                           1:19:44
    6        Millar, James                   LVO                           1:41:12 

             McBride, Euan                   LVO                                mp
             McBride, John                   LVO                               dnf

 

Woodburn MTBO score, Sunday 27th September 2009 – Results

Woodburn MTBO score, Sunday 27th September 2009	Sun 27/09/2009 22:28
Results	created by OEScore2003 © Stephan Krämer 2007

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   Pl   Stno Name                              Club                    Pts   Time  Pty Xtra  Score 

Score  (6)     60:00 min  16 C  300 Pts    

    1        Micheal Murphy                    LVO                     230  54:55              230
    2        Kieron Murphy                     IND                     210  59:58              210
    3        Alan McMullan                     IND                     220 :00:58  -10         210
    4        Denis McMullan                    IND                     200  57:28              200
    5        Robert Hegarty                    LVO                     190  53:32              190
    6        Stephen Beck                      IND                     170  58:23              170 

and split times can be analyzed here on splitsbrowser and WinSplits Online

We are hoping to put up a link to Routegadget soon for all to draw up their routes and see how they did against the others.

Also full report to follow

 

Woodburn MTBO – final details

Sunday is shaping up to be fine and dry for the first MTBO of the Autumn. Here are some more details for the event at Woodburn.

Following the recent comparitively dry spell the tracks that were mud-fests have now hardened into some pretty easy going paths – however Mountain bikes are definately recommended!! the terrain is 50% fast forestry roads and 50% slower single track.  Beware some tracks can become very indistinct, but should still be followable(?) with care.

All controls will be located on paths (there will be no need for control descriptions)You must stay on paths at all times. You must visit them in a sequence – although it is upto you how you get from one to the next. We will provide a score course for those that prefer to collect controls in any order. Although MTBO is mainly a solo sport you are welcome to ride in pairs if you prefer.

There are 2 MTBO courses. Long which is about 11.5km as the crow flies, and a short course of around 6km. All competitors must wear a helmet and map boards are recommended. The forest may be busy on Sundays with other members of the public, please respect them and be courtious at all times.

Registration is from 1030 with starts from 1100, Registration is on the day, please register as a member with the TCA before the event – This saves £2 admin fee on the day too!!

 Registration will be held in the carpark next to the Woodburn Pesb. church.  See you there!!

Woodburn MTBO Sunday 27th September.

 

TrailblazersMTBO and Lagan Valley Orienteers are hosting 2 mountain bike orienteering events this Autumn – Including the NI MTBO champs at Castlewellan forest on Sat 10th of October. Here are some more details about this Sundays MTBO event at Woodburn forest near Carrickfergus.

Registration will be held in the carpark near the Woodburn presbyterian church on the Woodburn road
View Larger Map  and will be signed from the junction of the B58 and B90.

Registration will be from 1030am with starts between 1100am amd 1200.

Event entry fees are £5 for adults and £2.50 for juniors under 16. All riders must be members of the Trail Cyclists Association for insurance purposes. It is free to join as an associate member. You can join up on line here: or join on the day (extra £2).

There are 2 courses available – a long course with winning time around 1hour and a short course with an expected winning time of around 30 mins. We are also providing a score course option for those who prefer this. It will be a one hour score event starting around 1130am. 

Sport ident timing will be used and timing cards can be hired for £1. courses will be pre-printed. courses will close at  1400pm. For more details drop Ivan a line at: IVANMANDYMILLAR@aol.com

MTBO map sample.

MTBO map sample

Trailblazers have specially adapted the Lagan Valley Orienteers maps of Castlewellan and Woodburn to be more cyclist freindly for the MTBO events coming up in the next few weeks.
We have shown here a sample of the Castlewellan map showing among other things the ride-ability of all paths and tracks. There are some special path markings that let you know whether a path is wide or narrow and whether it rides fast or slow.

The real test of navigation in these types of races is route choice over long legs offering many different path types.

We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming events testing out your route choice skills!!
Don’t forget the NI champs event date has been moved to the 10th of October because of a calendar clash.

Trailblazers MTBO events

MTBO is here!!

Trailblazers is back!!
We have 2 events planned for early Autumn – this time its Mountainbike orienteering – more emphasis on navigational skills using special maps and cross country courses were each control must be visited in sequence.
We are teaming up with Lagan Valley orienteers to stage the N.Ireland MTBO champs in October and are putting on a warm up event at the end of September.

Here are the provisional details:

Sunday 27th September, MTBO event – Woodburn forest, Co. Antrim
Saturday 10th October, N.Ireland MTBO champs – Castlewellan forest, Co Down.

Keep the dates free and check back for more details coming soon.

2009 spring series report

The 2009 spring series report is now available to download from HERE or the event details page (beware – its a big file!) Also, you can read Martin of The Losers EVENT REPORT
Thanks again to all who took part in the series. We have had numerous offers from people interested in putting on events next year and plenty of great areas have been suggested.

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the upcoming MTBO events in early Autumn.
And the next installment of DROMARA CC Trailquests this coming Autumn/Winter.