Question: What started in southeast Europe nearly 25 years ago and has now spread north and west reaching Ireland for the first time this year?
No, not some nasty tick-borne disease, but instead a very nice orienteering event, the OO Cup.
It’s a 5 day event held annually. Until 2015 it was always held in Slovenia but since then it’s been in Austria, Italy, France, Sweden and now Killarney in SW Ireland. Th event has a very multi-national feel with the 2000 competitors coming from 35 different countries. The most represented nation was Switzerland with 290 entrants, followed by Ireland with 230. There were 170 Brits, including 6 Border Liners.
All 5 days were held in what was described as “mountain terrain” – it was similar to Lake District open fell with complex contours plus lots of crags, boulders and marshes. However it was significantly slower going with tussocks, marsh grass, heather, bilberry bushes and myrtle everywhere, sometimes with hidden rocks underneath. There was a noticeable absence of sheep-cropped grass or helpful trods. Even the top M21s were only managing speeds of 8 mins/km. When we first saw the course lengths (4km for M60 for example) we were worried we would be disappointed by how short they were but we needn’t have been concerned. Over the course of the day tracks began to develop through the marshes and tussocks to the benefit of late starters but with start times balanced over the week it was fair.
The first three days shared an assembly area, situated at a vast windfarm near the top of a 500m mountain. The drive there included 9km up a rough gravel track; the event details included the phone number of the local tyre company! Driving round Killarney afterwards it was easy to spot the orienteers’ cars by the thick covering of grey dust and the illegible number plates.
Despite the common assembly area the three areas barely overlapped and were different in character, though they did share the sameabsence of paths. On Day 2 the mist was down making navigation extra challenging – accurate compass use and good distance judgement came into their own.
Days 4 and 5 were on a different mountain. This time, instead of driving up it we walked, with long steep treks to the start and back from the finish. The terrain was even rougher underfoot than the preceding days, but the rock features were more clearly defined so arguably the navigation was easier(?). There were still no paths though.
Results are based on total time over the 5 days – no dropping your bad runs here. All 6 BL members had some results to be pleased with, though all also had at least one tale of woe. Even Dan who was the most consistent over the week ran off the map one day having decided that the fence he had crossed just wasn’t mapped. We had two prize winners: Keith 3rd in M65 and Karen 2nd in W35. Stella won 3 of the days in W65 but unfortunately a mispunch on Day 2 put her out of contention.
Next years event is back in Slovenia at the end of July (and just early enough to fit in with the Scottish 6 Day if you are well organised). From the sample maps, the terrain looks beautiful – runnable, complex Karst woodland. It’s very tempting!
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Border Liners Orienteering Club 