Issue 46, April 1990 - Orienteering in Ireland

THE IRISH ORIENTEER
APRIL - MAY 1990
NO. 46 ISSN 0790-1194
The Irish Orienteer is publis~ed at two •.mont~ly Inte~als ~nd is available through all Irish .
orienteering clubs. All material concerning orienteering will be gratefully received by the editor.
John McCullough. 9 Arran Road. Drumcondra. Dublin 9.
The oopy dates for the forthcoming issues are:
No. 47 June-July 1990
No. 48 August·September 1990
No. 49 October-Movember 1990
27 May
29 July
23 September
For further information on orienteering contact the Irish Orienteering
Association. c/o AFAS, House of Sport, Long Mile Road, Dublin 12. (01-501633).
COVER PHOTO: £10 for you if your photo makes it to the front pagel Preferabty black and white,
about 10"x!l" please.
RESULTS: Cost £6 per page submitted.
FIXTURES: The fil'tures list Is the most recent available but experience has shown that changes can
occur, frequently at short nollce. " you are in any doubt, check with the organising club or the Sports
Diary in the newspapers. Start tlmss are generally from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm. Where possible an
Ordnance Survey' Grid Reference (GR) Is given for the area.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: £6.50 per annum (six Issues) or more cheaply through your club.
ENTRY FORMS for events are distributed free of charge. Please supply at least 550 copies in good
time.
ADVERTISING RATES: Full page £40. half page £25, quarter page £15. Reductions for multiple
insertions and for O-adverts. Small ads £5 to IONNIOA club members (gear for sale. etc.)
COVER: Aonghus O'CI~irigh (Curragh) in some of Munster's rough open (J.McCuliough).
In this issue
A letter, Orienteering news from Ireland and abroad, club news from Fingal. Three Rock.
Ajax. Sct anra, Great Eastern Navigators. rixtures from April to December, Irish
Orienteering Association news, Leinster news. final Lcinstcr League results, new Irish
Junior Squad lists, Club News section. results from Claravalc, Phoenix Park, Connacht and
lntcrprovinciul Championships. Cnsrlcrlmon. Pine forest, Student Championships, Hill
Running fixtures, preview of World Student Champs, lOA AGM report, Book Review,
Shamrock ,0·Ringen, Junior affairs bulletin, and the 1990 '1'10 Uscful Address List ...
In the next issue...
Reports Oil the Leinstcr Championships. the JK, Irish Championships. Book 'reviews; O·
techn iqucs and equipment. results or Spring events and more ...
Why not write something for The Irish Oricnrccr? News from your cl ub or you r province,
whatever strikes you as interesting? Do an event report! The sky's the limit. Mapping.
planning. juniors. organisation. compctirlon. controlling. cquipment. techniques, gadgets,
Iprofiles of people or clubs ...
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LETTER FROM ROMANIA
You had probably never experienced a miracle. let me try to make you part of the
miracle I lived through in my first free letter.
For forty years the communists tried to make us the "new breed of human being" • that is
slaves. but not the ordinary slaves one knows about from forbidden ancient history books, but
:1 new breed, the type of slave that enjoys hunger, cold, beating and fear and, to top it all, loves
lts masters. Well they succeeded, they made us a population of schizophrenics. we had the
slave's personality towards outside if we wanted 10 survive and one in the private which mostly
means vcry, very private.
I felt human for instance just while running alone in the woods. The slogan "Oricmccrs
do it in the woods" applies well to us Romanian orierucers where "it" means "feel free". I eould
hal r forget fear while reading CompasrSport for there was always the risk that "they" stopped
access to all printed mailer. The first steps in this direction were done about IWO years ago
when nil Hungarian printed mailer was forbidden access in the country,
Theil there was the risk of an interrogation about the how und why the CompossSporl,
and that ill thc cellar of the secret police. I had already gone through the ordeal of sueh an
Irucrrngution on the occasion of .onc of Per Olaf Bcngtsson's visits here about three years ago.
III spite of the fear that I had, implanted daily through more than forty years. I used rn
write to you and other "birds of a feather". And lucky I was. Just 50 kill to the south, ill the city
or Thnisoura, ihousnnds of people like me who were on the black lists of lire secret police, were
picked up during the riOIS. tortured and massacred and then thrown in a common grave. We
know the risks we run when the riots srancd here too so in case we didn't gel shot during ihc
riots we planned to run for the border. because we didn't give victory II chance. Fortunately we
were wrong and this is the miracle 1 mentioned. Considering the forces we hud to fighl ngainsr
you realise that our victory is a miracle and so great one that there's only one explanation: Got!
must have been involved. though we all know about Gorbachev, the wave of freedom through
Eastern Europe - we consider ourselves a special case. Now we arc free and find it still hard io
believe and when we do we cry. Imagine a tough 46 year-old bearded fellow weeping like a
baby on ihc streets. at home. in front of the TV. We really feel like babies. we arc new born. so
far we didn't live, we just wailed to be awakened from a bad dream.
Enthusiasm carries me away but I'm not ashamed. It's unbelievable, it is wonderful to sec
it wriuen down, to put it down.
Now everyday life calms down. there's bread as much as you want, meal, apples III be
found in the shops. The longest lines are seen in front of newspaper kiosks. It seems that we
nrc on the right way. What regards orienteering. We take it for granted iha: an independent 0federation
will be built this year and it'll apply for IOF membership. Pcrsonally 1 have already
planned to ride on my bike to several Ovcvcnts in Hungary. For those who don't know I have III
mention that I have never been in Hungary nor anywhere else, It's u bit late but 1 want to taste
freedom. meet people, make friends.
I have to thank you, Ned, for the opportunity to read Co mo ass Sp ort, one 0[' the few things
thut helped me keep my courage and sanity. I wouldn't mind if part or all or my lcue r gets
published in Comp as sSp ort , let it make "my brothers and sisters into orienteering" appreciate
hotter the freedom they take for granted.
David Cornel, Arad, Western Romania.
(This lcucr was published in the latest issue of Compassspon. Having spoken to some Romanian
orienteers competing in Czechoslovakia some years ago it was clear that they were having ;.
di fficuh time: much effort and patience was required to visu Czcchoslovakla: the chances of
gelling to Hungary or Yugoslavia. which were considered "degenerate" were nil. - J.McC.)
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