Fourteen GB Elites joined their Scandinavian clubs last weekend to run in the famous Swedish Mass Relay Tio Mila, taking place at Nynäshamn, near Stockholm. The weekend comprised of 3 Relays: youth, women and open races.
The name “Tio Mila” literally means “10 miles”, referring to a Swedish mile of 10km. The main race is run over 10 Legs, through the night into the next day, the distance totalling 100km. Women and youth races are shorter and run in daylight.
Notable GB performances included Jo Shepherd and Hollie Orr running with Halden SK, finishing in 3rd place. Sasha Chepelin also ran for Halden SK in the Open Relay on the 9th Leg, helping the team to 9th position.
The area was classic east coast Swedish terrain, complex enough to challenge all the runners.
There were exactly 1,000 teams entered in the five relays: youth, women's, open.
Women's Race
Several juniors were also active at the weekend running at Tio Mila.
Frank Townley (Southern Navigators), Caitlin Irving (West Cumberland Orienteering Club), Anna Harris (Deeside orienteering Club) and Joe Sunley (West Cumberland Orienteering Club) formed a team of four to run in the Junior Tio Mila race. All ran well in the intricate terrain.
Adam Conway (Guildford Orienteers) ran for the Norwegian Club Kongsberg 1st team, helping them finish on the podium in 7th place out of 338 entered teams. He ran the second Leg, bringing his team up from 25th to 8th place.
Two other juniors, Joe Hudd and Charlie Rennie from West Cumberland Orienteering Club, then ran with the others as part of a team in the main overnight adult Relay. Joe ran the first Leg in the mass start starting at 8.30pm and with courses ranging from 7-15km, the team did a magnificent job, everyone playing their part. Three parents made up the numbers to form a team of ten runners.
“It was a great learning experience for us all”, said Adam Conway (Guildford Orienteers). “The combination of complex terrain, large mass starts, night & day Legs, Long distances and teamwork was truly epic”.