EYOC 2009

05 July 2009

Sprint Results: Good Irish form continues

The EYOC junior squad report from Serbia: A fantastic finish to a superb week with the Irish Juniors placing another solid performance in the final race of EYOC 2009. The day started with all athletes heading to the quarantine area for 08:45 as the sprint was being held in the town of Kopaonik itself.

Best performance in M18 was Seán Knight placing a top 50 position (48th)running 1.9km in 13min 49secs, with Pádraig Mulry and Conor Short close behind with 66th (14.59) and 69th (15.20) positions respectively (M18 map here). Best performance in M16 was Eoin McCullough in 56th placing a time of 13mins dead for 1.8km followed by Jack Millar, Laurence Quinn and Cillin Corbett in 58th (13.11), 61st (13.51) and 71st (16.07)respectively (M16 map here). Full results available at EYOC website here. Much praise is due to team leader and coach Greg McCann who provided continuous support, encouragement (and patience) which the Juniors could not do without. The end of one major international competition marks the beginning of another with the Junior World Orienteering Champs starting tommorow in Italy, so stay tuned and look out for updates!

M18 (1.9km, 60m climb) (96 competitors) (link to map with course)

1. Antonio Martinez Perez, Spain 10:49

2. Andreas Boesen, Denmark 10:59

3. Jiri Necas, Czech Republic 11:15

48. Sean Knight 13:49

66. Padraig Mulry 14:59

69. Conor Short 15:20

M16 (1.8km, 45m climb) (85 competitors) (link to map with course)

1. Andrey Kozyrev, Russia 8:34

2. Andriy Polovinko, Ukraine 9:33

3. Florian Schneider, Switzerland 9:33

56. Eoin McCullough 13:00

58. Jack Millar 13:11

61. Laurence Quinn 13:51

71. Cilian Corbett 16:07

04 July 2009

Relay Results: M16's run the race of their lives (see map here)

The M16 boys beat their arch rivals Great Britain to finish in a fantastic 14th position. This was a very exciting and tense race with each runner coming in ahead of the British team. Jack Millar ran the 1st leg with Cillin Corbett on the 2nd leg and Eoin Mc Cullough completing a great performance.

Not to be out done the M18's put in their own good performance. Setting a target of a top 20 position the boys were laying in 22nd positon at the end of the

second leg and with a great performance Conor Short brought the boys into 19th position - a great result. Sean Knight ran the 1st leg with Padraig Mulry on the 2nd leg. (-Greg McCann)

Results (click for full results including times) (click here for map)

M18 relay (27 teams)

1. Czech Republic

2. Russia

3. Estonia

19. Ireland

M16 relay (23 teams)

1. Czech Republic

2. Switzerland

3. Ukraine

14. Ireland

Right: mass start of M18 relay (Sean Knight, Ireland in centre of photo)

Tomorrow is the final race of EYOC - the sprint - and confidence should be high after today's tremendous performances.

03 July 2009

Long Distance Results (see maps with long distance courses here, also M18 here and M16 here)

Sean Knight (LVO) led the Irish challenge in the M18 category, while Jack Millar (LVO, pictured below) stayed just 4 seconds ahead of Cilian Corbett (CorkO) in the M16 class.

Team leader, Greg, comments: 'While none of the boys were happy with their performances, their times and positions are very respectable at this standard of competition. As one junior commented "that was the hardest race of my life." Tomorrow, we have the Relay's with Sean and Jack leading their respective teams off. Here's hoping the boys can build on todays results.'

M18, 8.2km, 415m climb (96 competitors)