WARD JUNIOR HOME INTERNATIONAL - Northern Ireland 12/13 October 2019 Bulletin 1 - Lagan Valley Orienteers

WARD JUNIOR HOME INTERNATIONAL
              Northern Ireland 12/13 October 2019
                                     Bulletin 1
Welcome
   Lagan Valley Orienteers warmly invite teams of Juniors from the Home Nations to the Ward
Junior Home International to be held on the slopes of the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. The
Individual event will be held on Saturday 12 October at Cassy Water near Rostrevor, and the Relays
will be held in Donard Forest, Newcastle on the Sunday. The location of the Relay start will be
adjacent to the accommodation at YMCA, Greenhill Newcastle. The events are being held in
accordance with British Orienteering Rule R: Junior Home Internationals.
The individual competition on 12 October will be followed by the Northern Ireland Championships.

Event Officials

 Event Co-ordinator               Harold White (LVO)
 Assistant Event Co-ordinator     Gordon Stephens (LVO)
                                  Individual                       Relays
 Organiser                        Richard McCourt (LVO)            Sharon Dickinson (LVO)
 Planner                          Stephen Gilmore (LVO)            Stephanie Pruzina (LVO)
 Controller                       Andrew Butterfield (GEN)         John McCullough (3ROC)

Travel
For the teams travelling from Britain, the nearest airports are George Best Belfast City Airport that is
55k and 60 minutes drive-time from Newcastle, and Belfast International Airport that is 70k and 75
minutes away. Dublin Airport is an alternative but it is 140k to Newcastle and the drive-time is 120
minutes. All of these airports are served by most domestic airlines.
Belfast Port is served by ferries from Cairnryan in Scotland, and from Liverpool. Ferries operate from
Liverpool and Holyhead into Dublin Port while ferries also sail from Fishguard to Rosslare in the
South East of Ireland.

Accommodation
The accommodation for competitors and team officials will be at Greenhill YMCA, Donard Park,
Newcastle, B33 0GR and will be available from 4pm on Friday 11 October. Bed linen will be
supplied. Breakfast and a packed lunch will be provided on the Saturday and Sunday, and a dinner on
the Saturday night. Special dietary requirements can be advised at the entry stage. For teams arriving
on the Friday afternoon or evening, Newcastle has a good range of eating establishments. Check-out
is at 10.00am on the Sunday
As the accommodation is within the competition area for the Relays, we are putting the competitors
on trust that they will not ‘familiarise’ themselves with the terrain before the Relay competition. For
competitors wishing to warm-up, they should use the open area of Donard Forest below Greenhill.

Travel directions for the Individual competition on Saturday 12 October
 From Newcastle follow the A2 south through Annalong and Kilkeel, and then take a right turn into
Kilfeighan Road , which will be signposted7k from Kilkeel. This is a single-track lane with a few
passing locations, and a one-way system will operate with no cars allowed to leave the parking field
before 1.30pm. The journey from Greenhill should take about 40 minutes
The parking is located 3k from the A2 turnoff and the final part crosses a narrow bridge, or the nearby
ford, and becomes an unmade track. A small carpark is located at the end of the metalled road and it
will be reserved for minibuses. Please observe the instructions of the traffic and parking officials, and
be courteous to the residents of the lane who will be going about their daily business.
The parking field is downward sloping with the entrance at the top and the exit at the bottom.
The address of Assembly, which is 100 m from the parking field, is 45 Kilfeighan Road, Rostrevor,
BT34 3AW. The OS coordinates are J225172.

Start Times
The Individual competition will start at 11.00 am. The Start is located 1.5k from Assembly and
competitors should allow 20 minutes to reach the Start. The starting order for competitors has been
supplied by the Home International Committee and copies will be sent to the team managers.
Call-up for the Men’s Relay race on the Sunday will be at 9.30am for a start at 9.45am. The Women’s
Relay teams will be called up at 9.46am for their start at 10.00am. It is hoped to have the prize-giving
at or before 1.00pm.

Safety
As the Individual competition is on open mountainside the carrying of whistles and cagoules is likely
to be compulsory. The policy will be confirmed at the Team Managers meeting on the Friday night.

Timing System
SPORTident electronic punching with a traditional SI card will be used for both days.

Terrain – Cassy Water
The valley of Cassy Water has considerable contour and rock detail which all courses will visit.
Longer courses will include legs across the valley with, for a change of pace, some controls in the
forest further up the valley.
The Slieve Martin and Cassy Water area was surveyed by Pat Healy in 2016 based on LIDAR
supplied by Bluesky. The Western area was used for the Northern Irish Championships in 2016, and
the map being used for the Individual competition is the eastern area where the survey and
cartography were completed in 2019.
Competitors in the age classes M/W18 will compete using maps of 1:15,000 scale while competitors
in the other age classes will compete using maps of 1:10,000 scale. In both instances the contour
interval is 5 metres.

Terrain – Donard Forest
The terrain is varied and the courses have been planned to avoid the steepest climbs but inevitably
there will be some sections of climb for all competitors. It is anticipated that this should not account
for more than 5% of the course lengths. The Northern section provides more complex contour and
rock detail.
The forest is actively managed with sections that have been recently felled and some that have
suffered wind damage. Avoiding these areas unfortunately means all courses will have transport legs
to link the more interesting areas.
Donard Forest was surveyed and drawn by Peel Land Surveys in 2016 based on LIDAR supplied by
Bluesky. The map has been revised by Bill Simpson this year to allow for forestry work and recent
vegetation changes.
The map scale for all classes is 1:10,000 with a contour interval of 5 metres.

Ceilidh
A ceilidh will be held on the Saturday night in the Function Room of Bryansford GAC, Castlewellan
Road, Newcastle, BT33 ODB starting at at 7.30pm. Music will be provided by the Alistair Scott
Ceilidh Band.

Orienteering Foundation
We are very grateful for the very generous financial support from the Orienteering Foundation
(https://www.orienteeringfoundation.org.uk) to enhance the competitor experience of the weekend. It
will be used to pay for the ceilidh and for mementoes for all competitors and team managers.
Photography
A condition of the grant from the Orienteering Foundation is that we have to supply them with
photographs of the events and as it involves minors, we need to abide by the BOF regulations on
Safeguarding, Image Taking, and the Use of Images dated 16 July 2016. In this regard we would be
obliged if you could advise the parents of competitors selected that their child could be photographed.
Please advise us when confirming the team names if any parent does not want their child to be
photographed, and we will issue them with an identifying armband. LVO will not share any photos of
children on websites, social media, posters, and other publications unless we have written permission
from the parent.
Cost
While every effort has been taken to limit costs, and with the benefit of the Orienteering Foundation
grant, the cost per competitor is £95 and per team official is £75. Payment should be made at the time
of supplying entry information.
Entries
Bulletin 2 containing final details will be sent to Team Managers by Friday 27 September.
Entry information should be supplied by Wednesday 2 October. A form to do so, and a schedule of
the start times for the individual event will be forwarded to the Team Managers shortly.
Registration of Relay teams should be made at the Information Point at Assembly on Saturday
between 1.00pm and 3.00pm .
Further Information
Further information can be obtained from the Event Co-ordinator whose details are below.
Harold White
Event Co-ordinator
Lagan Valley Orienteers

E-mail: haroldwhite29@btinternet.com
Phone: 02891 460389 / 07748 056269