Irish Orienteering Championships 2025

Written by Ric Gamble, Lagan Valley Orienteering Club.

Five days of competition started with an Urban race around Ballymena town on Thursday 1 May, before heading up to the UU Coleraine campus for the Sprint race the following evening. Both days were also classed as UK Urban League races.

The next three days the competition was based in the sand dune terrain of Magilligan, where competitors competed in the Middle Distance, Long Distance and Club Relay races, with the individual races also part of the UKOL.

The top Irish Orienteers were joined by competitors from Britain and further afield including Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland and Australia, making it a very competitive field of 500 runners.

All the events were open to people of all levels of fitness and experience, so the elite athletes were joined by novice runners and families, enjoying our great sport together, in the sun having a lot of fun!

Results

Feedback from the event

A post-event survey was sent to all participants, and here is what they had to say about the weekend!

"Great venues. The uni was more complex than I expected, and the dunes are always a big attraction. We also loved the social events in the evening. These add a lot to the overall experience, and don't often happen at events in England."

"This was the first IOC I've been to, but I've a lot of experience participating in and organising events in other sports, in different countries. I thought this was top-notch, well done everybody. Everything went super-smoothly as far as I could see - if there was any panic in the background, you hid it well!"

"Maps, courses, start times, email communications, parking, equipment, photos, and prizegiving were all delivered at a very professional level. It is clear that the organisers are very competent and were helped by many willing volunteers."

"Really great event. Organisation superb and all the volunteers were so helpful . The area was beautiful too and we managed to fit in some sightseeing."

"Thoroughly enjoyable throughout. The volunteers went out of their way to be helpful and I noticed no glitches in the overall organisation or competitions. Good maps, and nice planning."