The British Sprint Championships Weekend 2025 saw orienteers travelling across the country to compete in the annual competition, which was this year held in East Anglia from 30-31 August. Peter Woods (WAOC), organiser of the Sprint Championships, and Sally Wilkinson (SUFFOC), organiser of the Relay Championships, provide their insight into the weekend as it unfolded.
Tell us more about the planning process and how you secured permissions for the relevant locations for this year’s British Sprints Weekend.
Honington was already mapped and has been used by RAFO. There are several orienteers in the region who are in RAFO, so we built on their contacts and knowledge. Permissions and logistics were greatly simplified by having the arena and parking outside the base itself.
For the Sprints Champs, NOR had already staged lower-key events at UEA, and we built on the good relations they had already established. It was difficult at first for the authorities there to really understand what the event would look like, but as the planning proceeded, they became more and more intrigued, and really helped us to achieve what we wanted.
How far in advance did the planning process begin?
About 2 years. From December 2023, we included Sprints weekend business in a monthly online meeting for key officials, which initially was more focused on the JHIs, which we hosted in October 2024. This worked well for the JHIs, so we continued the same meeting format for the Sprints weekend preparations.
All images are credited to Wendy Carlyle.
Which key people were involved that you would like to recognise?
For the Sprint Championships this could be quite a long list, but special mentions (in no particular order) to:
- Ann Tatum and her colleagues at UEA who supported us in planning the event, in particular in being able to use cut throughs through buildings in the finals.
- Caroline Louth who created the map of UEA for the Sprints – this is probably the single most important item in the event, but the mapper is typically overlooked, especially if they get it all exactly right.
- Phil Halfoird who did a lot of work updating the map of RAF Honington to bringin it up to the new standard.
- Rod Mansel, who ran download and produced results for the Sprint Relays, and was team leader for Sprints download.
- Daniel Cowley, who ran the start operation at the Sprints – definitely the hardest job on the day, and Daniel was really helpful in recruiting helpers and supporting the organiser.
- Sally Wilkinson, who stepped up to the plate to take on the Organisation for the Sprint relays, and looked after publicity
Not forgetting of course the planners and controllers: Bob Hill, Sarah Mansel, Ben Bethel, Glen Richardson, Steve McKinley and Mike Edwards.
And finally Andy Yeates who was our point of contact with BO and who provided much appreciated help and advice throughout.
For the relay event at RAF Honington the early involvement of Squadron Leader John Liston was really important. He communicated with all RAF personnel over the year prior to the event, ensuring that planners and myself as organiser had the access we needed and answered a large number of questions. He also arranged use of RAF marquees on the day as well as helpers from RAF Orienteering Club.
How many volunteers were involved on the event days?
In addition to the key officials, we had 60 on the day helpers at the Sprints Championships and 40 helpers for the Sprint Relay race.
Can you tell us more about your key highlights from each day?
As organiser of the Sprint Championships, the main highlight was seeing the arena come to life and fill with activity and see so many people having an enjoyable day, making all the efforts leading up the event so worthwhile.
In terms of the relay racing, the really close finish in the Ultra Vet relay with the winning team coming from 11th to 1st place on the last leg. With the organisation of the event, the fantastic help from all six clubs that make up the East Anglian Orienteering Association along with RAFO – true collaboration was needed for the event’s success.
Results
Who were the overall winners of the weekend?
Male Open winner: James Ackland of Interlopers
Womens Open winner: Alice Leake of Aire
Interlopers won the Elite Relay.
Did you get any feedback on the day from event participants? What did they say?
Sprints – I know the planners received a lot of positive feedback about the courses. More generally, people did take the trouble to find me and say thanks.
Relay – we received many compliments on the courses – people found them fast and exciting to run. Also they liked the arena set up with space for club tents along the long run in from the edge of the RAF base.
Looking back, how would you have liked to improve the event?
Sprint entries were low compared to recent years, and whilst that might just be down to geography, there was an unfortunate clash with the European Champs, which I hope can be avoided in future.
We tried to accommodate split starts, and from lessons learned on the day, I think we could have done this a bit differently, so there was no compromise for those with a chance of medalling.
What’s coming up in Autumn that you would like newcomers to orienteering and other clubs to know about
- SUFFOC and WAOC clubs have their Autumn in Anglia weekend on 4 and 5 October when there will be the opportunity to run in the forest at West Harling on the Saturday and then around the historic city of Ely in an urban event on the Sunday.
- HAVOC regional event in Epping Forest on 28 September
- SOS regional event Colchester Urban 12 October
- NOR regional event Sheringham Park 19 October
- CUOC City Race 1 November
- SMOC regional event Rushmere Country Park 23 November
- EAOA is hosting the JIRCS in 2026.
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