An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir June 2019 www.dfmagazine.ie 32 | BY COMDT MAEVE O'GRADY, AIR CORPS HQ T he Netherlands Armed Forces hosted the Regional CISM Orienteering Championship in Harskamp from 8th to 11th April. Athletes from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Slovenia, Sweden and Ireland competed. The format of the competition involved two races over two days with the winner decided by total time. The Irish team consisted of Col Brendan Delaney (DFTC, Team Coach/ Chief d Mission), Cpl Colm Hill (DFHQ) and Pte Josh O'Sullivan AR (1 Field CIS Res). The first race was held at Leusderheide and the course tested athletes across the full spectrum of navigational skills and physical ability. The terrain included thick forest, open ground with thigh deep heather, and wide loose sandy tracks. Main- taining speed across the heavy terrain tested physical fitness to the limit. After the event, it came as a welcome surprise to see two Irish in the top 5 with Cpl Hill finishing 3rd and Pte O'Sullivan finishing 5th. The second day was held at Beekhuizerzand. The start list for the second day was a reverse chasing start, with the leading athlete overnight starting last with the slowest athlete starting first. This ensures that there is pressure on all athletes not to be caught and to do the catching to move up the results board. This format also adds to the atmosphere at the arena where, in theory, each athlete that arrives will have gone faster. The terrain was different to the first day. The runnability was greatly increased. There was no heather to contend with, only a large swath of open sand. The hills and contour detail were smaller and less defined. This resulted in the pace and navigational challenges going up, added to the pressure of knowing there is the slim chance of a CISM Medal. The motivation was high in the Irish camp and could be seen by Cpl Hill catching his 2-minute man by the first control. This set the tone for the days racing. Fast paced and on the edge both physically and technical with a fine balance between risk ver- sus reward, trying to run a straighter line in the terrain with the possibility of an error or running around on the track system and adding more distance that would only greater increase fatigue. At the end of the days racing, Cpl Hill secured his 3rd position while Pte O'Sullivan maintained his 5th place by 11 seconds from a hard charging member of the Belgian team. Cpl Colm Hill and Pte Josh O'Sullivan

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