AIRE and CLARO look forward to seeing you all at the British Middle Championships this coming weekend. 

You have entered in greater numbers than we anticipated, but we have adapted to cater for you all as best we can.  Both Danefield and Kilnsey Moor is a lovely places in the Spring sunshine and we really hope the weather is kind so that you can enjoy it at its best.  The technical woodland of Danefield is in sharp contrast to the fast open areas of Kilnsey.  You should enjoy some great orienteering on both days.  Str8 compasses is sponsoring a lot of prizes for the Northern Championships and the British Middles so run well and good luck.

Start times and final details are published, maps are printed and lots of equipment is ready to move.  No controls are out yet, but we have been busy at Kilnsey as you may be able to see from a picture.  There are a variety of crossing points on Kilnsey Moor – many of you will only encounter this one.  There are no stiles to cross at Danefield you’ll be relieved to know.

We will be able to accommodate you all in the parking areas for both events, but as always, it would help if you car shared as much as possible.  The Danefield field has remained in good condition throughout the winter, but as some rain has been forecast over the coming days we will have some tracking available.  Kilnsey has the delight of hard standing in the quarry.  We can’t promise that you will keep your feet dry, but at least cars should not get stuck in the mud as might have happened at some recent events.  We’re hoping that’s true for Danefield.  Definitely true for Kilnsey!

Anyone wanting to carry a club tent to Danefield, could reduce the distance to carry the tent by 800m by using the drop off point suggested in the event details.  It would need to be a rapid drop-off as there are often no parking bays available. They are all quite uneven, and the road is very narrow.  To get back to the parking field it is best to not attempt a 5 point turn but to drive in an anti-clockwise route with LH turns for 2.5k to get back to the parking field.  This should take no morfme than 5 minutes.

Have a great weekend.

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Full details on the British Middle Championships are available via this link. Visit the CLARO website for more details regarding the Northern Championships. Good luck to everyone taking part!

As agreed at the AGM 2023, from 1 May 2024 British Orienteering would like to offer an exclusive part-year Membership to new members.

New members are individuals who have not been members of British Orienteering in any of the previous four calendar years.

Part year membership fees 2024

Seniors – £10

Young adults – £7.50

Juniors – £3.00

Families – £25.00 (all members must be new members and not on the database to take up this offer).

No memberships will be merged with existing memberships.

Please note from 1 January 2025, any “new” members will need to renew their membership for 2025.

Find out more about how to join online today. 

The GBR teams for the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) and the European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC) are announced.

The JWOC races are in Plzeň, Czechia from 1 - 6 July and the EYOC races are in Szczecin, Poland from 21 - 24 June.

All named athletes are selected to all disciplines at each competition.

In alphabetical order of surname, the JWOC team is:

Non-travelling reserves: Adam Barrie and Emma Crawford

In alphabetical order of surname, the EYOC team is:

It had finally clouded over in Kuortane by the time the runners of the 2018 World University Championships were ready to start the Long Distance. Two years ago, the best British result was that of Charlotte Watson, who claimed an impressive 12^th place, with Swede Rassmus Andersson winning the Men’s race and Fin Ana Haataja winning the Women’s race. With neither of the defending champions in attendance, there would be two new winners in 2018.

The terrain for the Long was similar to that of the Middle, with vague contours shape, low visibility green, but with long route choices which created wide differences in routes between the top runners. The first Brits out into the forest were in the Men’s race, which started half an hour before the Women’s.

Joe Woodley was first up and had a stable start though gradually lost time throughout, and despite picking similar routes to the eventual winners tired towards the end and mistakes crept in. This would be the tale of many runners out there today. Matt Elkington was next up for the men and had a very smooth start. Though he made a slight error towards the crucial pre-butterfly control, he was caught by the flying Heimdal of Norway. These two would work well together before the long leg back to the arena. Dropping off the back of Heimdal, Matt made some errors on the 15^th and 16^th controls – two controls that would prove costly for nearly half the field, particularly 16 which would claim high profile victims in both races.

Whilst Matt and Joe were out in the forest Fay Walsh and Cecilie Andersen had both started. Fay put in solid splits the whole way, never lighting up the board but never making huge errors. She had clearly learnt well from the Middle distance and Cecilie meanwhile carried on her good form from the week so far, and was solidly in the top-10 during her run, running for parts with long-time leader Tommer of SUI. It was 5^th place for Fay at the finish, and where others were making errors Cecilie nailed the tricky 14^th control (16^th on the Men’s course), hitting possibly the cleanest of any runner on both courses.

Ben Mitchell was the next runner out of the blocks, and though he made an early error and had the occasional slip with his compass direction, was reliable throughout. With no major errors and strength in the terrain, Ben gradually made his way back up the splits board whilst others dropped off. Like Cecilie, he hit the final difficult controls cleanly, which jumped him up the board, with 21^st at the finish.

Sarah Jones was next into the forest for the Women, and it was a tough day at the office. It seems Sarah never quite got her head into the terrain, and struggled throughout. No one can deny her commitment and drive, however, as she battled all the way and didn’t drop out like many would have. Elsewhere, the last Brits, Megan Carter-Davies and Jonathan Crickmore were out into the woods. It’s clear that Megan was on a fantastic day, quickest at the first split, and improving that at the second before the long legs back to the arena. A small slip on the first of these was countered by mistakes from the other favourites, but on the 14^th, her race came unstuck. She battled through to the end, but gone was the medal which for so long seemed possible.

For Jonny, it was a race of two halves. Again, early errors cost time, but for a long time, he was running alongside a big group of others, running quickly and navigating well. In the latter stages though, he too would begin to drift off the pace and fall back down the results. It has come to light though that he twisted his ankle out in the terrain (though where exactly we are unsure), and did well to finish the course.

In the fight for the medals, it was a Scandinavian and Swiss battle in both courses. The leader in the Men’s for a long time was Håvard Haga, two minutes quicker than his teammate Heimdal – Haga, whose sister won two gold medals at the Winter Olympics in cross-country skiing. It was Jonas Egger though, medallist in the 2016 Sprint Distance, who would prove victorious though, smashing Haga’s time. He would only be challenged by another Norwegian Paul Sirum, who would come in just 50 seconds down for second place.

For the Women, it was again Norway in the fight for medals. Tommer was initially beaten by her teammate Paula Gross, but Marie Olaussen of Norway was too fast for everyone. Demolishing Gross’ splits, she finished 2.30 ahead of the Swiss runner. Swedish athlete Öberg was the only person who looked close to challenging Olaussen, but she too would fall short, having to settle for silver.

British results:

Men: Ben Mitchell – 30^th, Jonathan Crickmore – 31^st, Matt Elkington – 43^rd, Joe Woodley – 51^st.

Women: Megan Carter-Davies – 15^th, Cecilie Andersen – 24^th, Fay Walsh – 32^nd, Sarah Jones, 77^th.

Full results can be found here.

The Relay:

Starting at 8:00 UK time for the women, and 9:30 for the Men, the relay is the final discipline of the 2018 championships. With the same terrain as today’s long distance, runners will need to remain calm under pressure and focus on themselves, as the vague contour detail could cause havoc in the fast-paced relay environment. Expect athletes running way overspeed, enter sections of forest under pressure to catch time, and making big mistakes as a result. A fast pace will be needed, but any error could result in minutes lost for any team.

The teams for Britain are as yet unconfirmed.