The Relays of the JK 2018 Festival brought much close and exciting racing – and an exceptional amount of mud! Heavy rain and snow overnight had turned yesterday’s slightly muddy assembly field into a sea of greasy grey mud, drawing memories of Glastonbury from some and of ‘the muddiest assembly fields I have known’ from others.

The JK Trophy itself is awarded to the winners of the Open Men race, and Leg one was led home by Peter Bray of Manchester and District Orienteering Club (MDOC) with a large group close behind and all the favoured teams in close attendance. Last year’s silver medallists Edinburgh University Orienteering Club (EUOC) had Jonny Crickmore on Leg two and a strong run saw him breakaway in the latter stages to give Alexander Chepelin a two minute lead over Will Gardner of Octavian Droobers (OD) and men’s JK individual champion, Alasdair McLeod for Airienteers (AIRE). Alexander held his nerve and his lead, coming home to greet team-mates Alex Carcas and Jonny Crickmore and give a delighted EUOC their first victory since 2009. Behind him, Will Gardner’s faster time of the day took silver for OD with AIRE close behind in bronze.

The Women’s Trophy saw some early gaps in the field on leg one as a group running together dropped significant time at control four, and Chloe Haines of AROS (ex-Edinburgh Uni) and Julie Emmerson of OD took full advantage to come home two minutes clear of the field. On leg two it was Chloe’s sister Florence for AROS and she ran strongly to send out individual winner Jess Tullie with a two-minute lead. Behind Jess was a strong chasing group including the next three from the individual race, Hollie Orr of Lakeland (LOC), Tessa Strain for EUOC and Megan Carter-Davies for a Swansea Bay/Mid-Wales combination (SBOC/MWOC). The same control four that caused problems on leg one had a key impact on the race once more as this time it was Jess that struggled to find it, losing several minutes and the lead. In the end, it was Hollie, running with Lizzie Browne and Heather Heppenstall) who came in to take a clear win for LOC, their first ever JK title. Behind her, it was Tessa taking silver for EUOC with Megan for MWOC/SBOC in the final podium place.

Elsewhere it was a very successful day for SYO, with victories at either end of the age spectrum. They led the field home in both Men Veterans(M 120+) and Women Veterans (W120+), and also took the wins for both the Junior Relay and the Mini-Relay, with bronze in the latter thrown in for good measure.

The trophies for the older juniors were taken on the men’s side by West Cumberland (WCOC) and on the women’s side by Interlopers Team CompassPoint (INT). The successful teams amongst the older seniors were Bristol OK (BOK) for the Men 165+ and Happy Herts (HH) for the Women 165+, with the most senior class (MW210+) being taken by Octavian Droobers (OD) – the only club to successfully defend a trophy from 2017.

Alongside the relay champions, also very worthy winners at the prizegiving were the male and female winners of the ‘Performance of the JK’ trophies. This year they were awarded to Matthew Gooch of MAROC and Claire Ward of Interlopers, both of whom were winners on all three individual days.

Photos credits:  Rob Lines 
 

The full JK Relay results can be found here. 

Winsplits 

Splitsbrowser   Routegadget

Special congratulations should go not only to the relay champions and prizewinners but also to the day 4 organising team from HOC and COBOC (and friends). They coped admirably with all the additional challenges the weather brought them and overcame them to stage a very successful day. Well done and thank you to them, and indeed to all other officials and helpers over the weekend.  Now over to South Central for JK2019 – try and arrange slightly less mud, please!
 

2018 Event Officials 

Andy Yeates JK 2018 Coordinator, says:  "After four days of great quality orienteering, the 51st Jan Kjellstrom has drawn to a close. The weather conspired to bring the event to a premature end after 3 very successful dry and, at times sunny, days, and I was extremely impressed on day 4 that all the cars were installed and that the event started on time. It is with huge pleasure that I send my extremely grateful thanks to all the West Midlands clubs, outside officials and helpers for all the hard work put in over many months leading up to the event and over the weekend itself. They are to be highly commended and are a credit to the WMOA and to the sport of orienteering. I wish South Central OA all the best as they take on the mantle of organising JK 2019."

British Orienteering would like to take this opportunity to thank Andy Yeates JK2018 Event Coordinator and all the volunteers and clubs who have actively supported and been heavily involved in putting on this fantastic four-day orienteering event. Thank you all for giving countless hours of your time and helping to make this a great JK event of orienteering for all members to enjoy.   

www.thejk.org.uk

Read more news reports from the JK2018

Day 1:  This year's JK kicked off today with a lightning fast Sprint at MOD Stafford.
Read about Day 1 here.

Update from the British Orienteering Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the end of Day 1 of the JK.
Read more here.

Day 2: Saturday 31 March - Middle Distance at Brereton Spurs.
Read about Day 2 here.

Day 3:  JK2018 saw a Long race around the woodland of Beaudesert. 
Read about Day 3 here.

TrailO competitions:  
TempO on Day 1 and PreO on Day 3. 
Read all about TrailO at the JK2018 here.