Results are in from yesterday's British Middle Distance Championships!

Access provisional results via this link or for a full breakdown, visit the AIRE website.

Well done to all winners and to everyone who took part this weekend! 

Mapping is the one of the most rewarding and enjoyable roles. Not only does it improve your navigation skills, but it can also provide you with a different and new type of orienteering challenge.  

The British Orienteering E-Learning Mapping Courses, Introduction to updating Forest Mapping and Introduction to Sprint and Urban Mapping , developed with the expertise of David Olivant (Nottinghamshire Orienteering Club) and the educational robustness  of Pauline Olivant (Nottinghamshire Orienteering Club) .

Both courses are based around learners having access to either of the two most widely used mapping programs, Open Orienteering Mapper and OCAD.

We strongly advise that you seek an experienced mapper as a mentor to support you through your journey towards being a competent mapper.

Both courses are based on updating an existing map and rather than creating a new map from a previously unmapped area.

Course objectives

• To provide an introduction and basic understanding of the processes involved in how to update and amend an existing Orienteering map.

The course content is designed to only address the course objective rather than attempting to cover the full scope of Mapping. As we recognise that Mapping is a skill that takes much time and practice to hone.

The course should only take around 45- 60 mins to complete and for the whole of May is only £6.00

To access the course and find out more information about our other E-Learning courses, please visit the E-Learning homepage.

Interested in learning about our other E-Learning courses on offer? Visit the E-Learning homepage and access information on all the other resources we provide.

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!

The World University reached its climax with the relay discipline. Run on the same terrain as the end of Friday’s Long Distance, the terrain was vague and green, with the 2.5m contours playing havoc with the confidence runners had in their technique, interspersed with rockier sections to test the strength of the athletes.

The British teams were as follows:

Women:

GBR1 - Cecilie Andersen, Fay Walsh, Megan Carter-Davies
GBR2 - Chloe Potter, Sarah Jones, Katie Reynolds

Men:

GBR1 - Ben Mitchell, Jonny Crickmore, Sasha Chepelin
GBR2 - Nathan Lawson, Joe Woodley, Matt Elkington

The Women kicked off proceedings, and it was a gripping affair right from the off. Five teams broke away early, forming an elite leading pack which drove a high pace at the front of the field, featuring both Norwegian teams, Russia, Switzerland and Finland. GBR1 settled nicely into the chasing pack, and whilst having the longer gaffles early on, held firm and were stable in the early going. Through the spectator, Finland had got a small gap off the front, with many teams making errors on the difficult gaffle of the 7^th control.

It had been a tougher start for GBR2, who had made early errors, and the team – like many others – would struggle to get to grips with the map throughout the day. It would be the hone team of Finland to change over first though, with Norway and Switzerland just behind. GBR1 finished in the large chasing pack, just 2.30 down, with everything to play for. Early on the second leg, the pack completely disintegrated, with all runners struggling on the first two gaffled controls. Switzerland and Sweden 2 escaped the best, breaking away from the rest, with Switzerland building up a 50 second lead by the spectator control. Behind, Fay Walsh for GBR1 struggled in the early green, but settled and hit the remainder of her controls cleanly and was pulling up places throughout the rest of her course. For GBR2 and  Sarah Jones, the day went from bad to worse, but they kept battling and showing the true spirit of the team.

Switzerland finished the second leg in the lead, but their lead had been halved by a four-person chasing pack, including CZE, GER, FIN and NOR. The lead would change hands too many times on this leg to count, with Finland eventually running clear to a minute lead by halfway. Behind, Megan Carter-Davies had started well and was eating into the gaps in front of her. In front, with Norway joining the battle for Gold, the fight got even close, and into the spectator, it was Finland with a narrow lead over Norway and then Switzerland. Finland would then make a late mistake on the next control, letting Norway slip through to the lead. Finland’s superior speed told though, and they came agonisingly close to bridging the gap, but Olaussen of Norway (the Long Distance gold medallist) had too much in the tank, and came home for her second gold medal of the championships, with Finland in Silver and Switzerland in bronze. Megan had a good run behind, but had trouble with her compass, though still managed to climb to 10^th from 14^th by the finish, and was good enough for 7^th nation on the day.

Onto the Men and it was no less exciting than the climax of the Women’s racing. In the early going on leg 1, it was altogether in the forest, but as they closed on spectator Finland 2 attempted a breakaway. They would hold this position to the end as the pack eventually began to disintegrate as the pace began to build upon the return to the arena. Ben Mitchell put in a textbook display of first leg running, never doing anything risky, and finished just 1.30 down in 12^th. Nathan Lawson for GBR2 performed similarly, though just lost touch towards the end, finishing in 18^th.

Six teams quickly broke away at the start of the 5^th leg, hitting their 2^nd control in a detailed rocky section cleanly. These included both teams from Norway and Finland, and two lone teams from the French and Swiss, with Jonny Crickmore of GBR1 leading the chasing pack behind with Joe Woodley of GBR2 just slightly further back. Going through an incredibly vague section through controls 5-8, GBR1 would make two crucial errors which cost them dearly, dropping out of contention and away from the chasing pack. Meanwhile, GBR2 (incidentally a team made up entirely of runners from the University of Sheffield), hit their controls precisely to jump up the order. While many big teams (including both of Sweden’s) made errors, Woodley got a small gap and was solo in 8^th as they headed back to the arena.

Joe had clearly learnt from his mistakes in the middle distance, and whilst nearly everyone else, including the leaders, made errors on the 9^th, he was through cleanly. Through spectator and it was Norway through first, just 12 seconds up on France and a further 50 seconds up on the chasing Finnish teams and Switzerland. Into the finish and Norway had a 50-second gap over a compact group of 5 behind, with GBR2 being caught by the chasers on the final loop but were still in the fight for a top-5 place if things went well. Behind GBR1 had continued to struggle, but Jonny settled towards the end and navigated through the last loop cleanly to finish in 17^th.

On the final leg, it was as nip-tuck as the Women’s race earlier in the day. Norway remained away for the first half of the course, through the vague sections, but was gradually losing time all the way to the chasers, and as they turned for home and the difficult 9^th control, they were caught. Matt Elkington behind though was hitting everything cleanly. Whilst others were losing their heads, he held his and was in 6^th coming across the vague slopes to the 9^th control, with the Czech Republic the main danger, with Sweden having already gone clear at the end of leg 2.

At the spectator control, Norway had got back clear, with a 40-second gap to the Fins and a further 20 seconds to the Swiss, with France falling back and into the clutches of GBR behind. Norway, despite mistakes in the final section, had enough in the tank to stay clear and take a second gold medal for the day, but behind it was a dramatic sprint finish between the three chasers. It would be FIN1 who had the best sprint and would take another silver medal, with Switzerland just pipping the Finnish 2^nd team for bronze. Sadly, a late mistake at the end of what was an outstanding run, cost Matt dearly, finishing in 7^th just losing out to the Czech Republic and France. It was an outstanding performance for the second team though, who gained time on Sasha Chepelin of the first team throughout.

Full results can be found here, but the GBR results are as follows:

Women: GBR1 – 7^th nation (10^th team), GBR2 – 24^th team.

Men: GBR2 – 7^th nation (10^th team), GBR1 – 14^th team.

Well done to all other athletes over the week!