The final event of the Junior World Orienteering Championships took place today at Jahodna, 15km North West of Kosice. The women's event started at 1000hrs and the first runners in the men's event left the arena 45 minutes later.

In the women's event the running order for  GBR1 was  Lucy Butt, Florence Haines and Charlotte Watson. Lucy ran a solid race on the first leg and passed on to Florence in 18th place. Florence then ran a very determined race and in so doing pulled back 7 places. Charlotte Watson then wound it up even further to bring the team home in 9th, which was 8th nation as Norway's 2nd team finished one place ahead.

The running order for GBR 2 was Katrin Harding, Rona Lindsay and Zoe Harding. Zoe had a particularly good run on the anchor leg which gave her the 23rd fastest time on leg 3. GBR2 finished 30th overall.

The women's team put down their collective thoughts and said, "We're really happy with a solid finish to a tough week of racing. Everyone held it together and with a relatively young team we're all looking forward to see what we can achieve in the future."

It was unfortunate that Jonny Crickmore had to withdraw from the men's event because of injury and so GBR1 fielded just two runners: Jamie Stevenson and Peter Bray. However, GBR2 stepped up to the mark and all three runners, Aidan Smith, Tom Fellbaum and Duncan Birtswistle ran great races to come home 13th overall but 12th nation. Once again Aidan, who still has three more years in this age group, impressed his team mates and the team management by running a superb race and handing over to Tom in 16th position. Tom then ran a very strong race and made up one more place to put Duncan into 15th place as he left the start arena. Duncan went on to run the 12th fastest time on 3rd leg and brought the team home in 13th place and 12th nation as Czech Republic's 2nd team finished in 7th place overall.

Tom Fellbaum coming into the finish of 2nd leg

The men's team also gave a collective summary: "After all the highs and lows during the week, we were determined to give our best for the final day. Jonny's unfortunate injury on the morning of the relay meant we were only able to put out one full team (all first time JWOCers). Aidan produced a great run on his first leg, Tom had a steady run, gaining another place and finally Duncan fought with some strong runners to finish 12th. The entire men's team were very proud of this result and of our performances over the week."

Results

Full results can be found here.

Team GB in Kosice City Centre

The team are planning a day of recovery tomorrow with some hydrotherapy before travelling home tomorrow evening from Budapest to Manchester arriving around 1245hrs.