My Club: Three Rock Orienteering

Una Creagh is five-time Irish orienteering champion and won the British title two years ago

Una Creagh is five-time Irish orienteering champion and won the British title two years ago. She has represented the country at the world championships since 1989 and this month leads the women's team for the World Hill Running Trophy at Ile de Reunion in the Indian Ocean.

The Three Rock club was founded 22 years ago when the then only club in Ireland split into three. It serves mostly the south Dublin area, with training and competitions throughout the Dublin mountains.

Membership: It numbers around 150, with many of those being families who join under single membership. The split is around two-thirds male to female with a number of elite competitors and a number of members competing in the Hill Running League also.

Status: We're probably the second biggest in the country after the Cork Orienteering Club and consistently finish in the top three in national competitions. In Leinster we've been league champions since the event started.

READ MORE

Honours: The club has won many national orienteering leagues in the past, although not in recent years. We've had numerous international representatives in all age groups and on all levels of competition. The national team manager, Ronan Cleary, and team coach Justin May are members of the club as well as former international athletes Claire Walsh and Deirdre Neagle.

Finest Hour: Winning the women's national relay title again last season was great considering we've done so for eight of the last 10 years, and organising the Senior Home-Counties International earlier this year was also a big honour for the club.

Worst Moment: A big disappointment for the club recently has been the problems with Tibraden and Kilmashogue forests, which have both been either cut down or damaged, so we can't compete there after all the trouble of making out maps of the area.

Club Hero: John McCullough, who is the backbone of the club. He is also editor of Irish Orienteering magazine, organiser of events and the drawing of maps as well as member of both the national and Leinster committee.

Greatest Rivals: The Cork Orienteers, who have beaten us in the National League in the last few years, are very strong but next month the competition is in Leinster so hopefully we can upset them.

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan is an Irish Times sports journalist writing on athletics