Relay Teams

The following information is extracted from www.orienteering.ie:
IOA Competition Rules, Appendices and Guidelines Amendments, version April 2016

G4.3 ELIGIBILITY
Rule 6.7 was amended in January 2012 to allow club members who are Irish citizens, or who can claim Irish citizenship but do not reside in Ireland, to be eligible to compete for an IOA or NIOA club team of which they are a member. The Rule states that:-

‘The Irish Relay Championship shall be an open competition with the Irish Champions being the first IOA or NIOA affiliated club team in the Open Premier, Women’s Premier, Junior 36 and 48 classes.

To represent an IOA or NIOA affiliated club, all team members shall:-
(A) have been an individual, family, or group member of that IOA or NIOA affiliated club for at least three months immediately preceding the Relay Championship, and
(B) meet either of the following conditions:-

(i) they qualify for Irish citizenship through birth, descent, naturalisation, or marriage, in accordance with the Citizenship Acts 1956 to 2004, or
(ii) they have been present on the island of Ireland for at least six out of the twelve months immediately preceding the Relay Championship.

Overseas IOF affiliated club teams may compete in the Open Premier, Women’s Premier, Junior 48 and Junior 36 classes provided that all team members are from the same club.

The Handicap 6, 12, and 18 classes have no requirement for all of their members to be from the same club, and as a result no teams in these classes shall be declared as Irish Champion.

It is the responsibility of the club representative completing the Team Registration Form on behalf of an IOA or NIOA affiliated club in the Open Premier, Women’s Premier, Junior 36 and Junior 48 classes to ensure that all team members meet the requirements of this Rule.’

G4.6 CLASSES
In the Open Premier and Women’s Premier classes the team members compete over three equal length laps of the same physical and technical difficulty.

Teams in the Junior 48 and Junior 36 classes should have a combined age of up to 48 years and 36 years respectively using their ‘orienteering age’. Their team members compete over laps of different length, and different physical and technical difficulty.

The maximum ‘orienteering age’ for any competitor in either Junior class is M/W 18. The classes, course designations, and possible team combinations are as follows:-

 

Class	Course colour standard, and designation	Possible team combinations (Some of many)
Junior 48	Light Green (LG1) Light Green (LG2) Orange (O1)	Three M or W 16’s; Two M or W 18’s plus one M or W 10; Three M or W 14’s; etc.
Junior 36	Orange (O1) Yellow (Y1) Yellow (Y2)	Three M or W 12’s; One M or W16 plus two M or W 10’s; One M or W 14 plus one M or W 12 plus one M or W 10

The three team members in each Handicap class will run over different lap lengths and their technical and physical standards, and recommended winning times, are detailed in the following section G4.13.

Similar to the Junior system, the Handicap classes are based on the combined ages of the team members using their ‘orienteering age’. Handicap Points are allocated to the various orienteering age groups as follows, and these are used to calculate the total points for the team that determines their handicap class.

Age Class	Handicap Points
M21	0
M20, M35	1
M18, M40, W21	2
M45, W20, W35	3
M16, M50, W18, W40	4
M55, W16, W45	5
M14, M60, W14, W50	6
M65, W55	7
M70 and over, W60	8
W65	9
W70 and over	10

The permitted points range for the three Handicap classes are:-

Class	Total Handicap Points	Possible team combinations (Some of many)
Handicap 6	6 to 11	Three M40’s; One M35, one W21, and one W60; Two M21’s, and one W70; etc.
Handicap 12	12 to 17	Three M50’s; One M55 plus two M60’s; One M21, and two M70’s; etc.
Handicap 18	18 and over	Three M65’s; One M21, and two W70’s; Two M60’s and one M70; etc.

The listed possible team combinations above are for illustrative purposes, and many other combinations are possible within the class limits of the handicap points.
The three team members in each Handicap class will run over different lap lengths (loosely short, medium, long in format).