At the end of October, the Great Britain senior team gathered near Falkirk for the annual Planning Weekend, which is the big opportunity for the coaches and athletes to get together each year to celebrate successes and plan ahead for the coming seasons.
Saturday 31 October saw athletes taking part in a mass-start training race at Falkirk Wheel (with a few guest runners) - the winners were Imogen Pieters (South Yorkshire Orienteers) and Eddie Narbett (Interlopers).
Athletes gather at Falkirk Wheel ready for the mass-start training race, and the forest looking autumnal (Credit: Holly Stodgell).
The afternoon was spent in discussions about squad structure, staffing, and planning calendars, followed by our annual awards (see a list of winners below) and a sociable evening. On Sunday athletes listened to talks by Sarah Rollins (squad doctor and former WOC runner), and Ralph Street (World Cup winner), before either doing a sprint training or a group long run.
Map extract (courtesy of Forth Valley Orienteers) and athletes from the air (Holly Stodgell).
One important aspect of the weekend was saying goodbye and thank you to 2 staff members - Rachael Handley and Pippa Archer. Both staff and athletes were effusive in their praise for the contribution made by Pippa and Rachael over a number of years. We wish them well in their future endeavours.
Huge thank you to Lorna and Colin Eades for delivering the Falkirk Wheel event, and Forth Valley Orienteers and Masterplan Adventure for allowing use of their maps over the weekend.
GB Team Awards 2026
- Best Senior Performance - Peter Molloy (13th in individual sprint at World Cup 1)
- Best Senior Improver - Imogen Pieters (WOC team as first year senior and A Final at EOC)
- Best Team Performance - Imogen Pieters, James Hammond, Euan Tryner, and Isobel Howard (8th in World University Orienteering Champs sprint relay)
- Best Junior Performance - Finn Selmer Duguid (1st JEC Sprint, 2nd JEC Long)
- Best Junior Improver - Jocie Hilton (return to JWOC team, racing at WUOC, top W20 at JEC)
- Volunteer Awards - Sarah Rollins and Paul Taylor
- Athlete contribution (voted for by athletes) - Euan Tryner for all his work as L4 athlete representative
Images above: Pippa Archer with 'Best Junior Improver' - Jocie Hilton; the World University Championships Team with their award for 'Best Team Performance'; and Pippa Archer with Sarah Rollins, one of the two winners of the 'Volunteer Awards'. Images courtesy of Graham Gristwood.
Images above: Euan Tryner, winner of 'Athlete contribution' award, stands with Pippa Archer. Fiona Bunn and Mairi Eades present Pippa Archer with her 'big thank you'; and Pippa Archer stands with Imogen Pieters, who was voted the 'Best Senior Improver'. Images: Graham Gristwood.
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