From what I've heard, other teams have had trouble with reading the IR, too. What they did was the got a different IR Remote with a longer range. If you are going to another regional, you might want to look at that.
As for now, if it is a problem with the IR board facing the wrong way, you could put it on a servo.
If I could get the full situation, I could help you tonight. Just not with programming

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As for mirrors, I guess it would work. It would also continue to limit range, too, though.