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#JKMemories : The original JK Event – A few memories by Chris James

By Chris James, North Gloucestershire Orienteering Club

The original JK Event – A few memories.                            

It was in the early months of 1967 that Jan Kjellstrom was sadly killed in a winter motoring accident in his native Sweden. He was the son of Alvar and Ebon Kjellstrom and nephew of Bjorn Kjellstrom.  The Kjellstrom brothers established Silva Compasses AB. in the 1930s.  Jan had been acting as an ambassador for the firm by promoting the Silva Compass to nations newly involved in orienteering.  We had seen quite a bit of him as he helped us establish the sport and provide training within the UK.  Some from the UK had also been over to Sweden to meet his club Rotebro from the Stockholm area.

On receiving the sad news Chris Brasher and John Disley decided to invite Jan’s parents and members of Rotebro to Surrey for a commemorative event in Jan’s name.  With less than 2 weeks’ notice John realised that he needed a Planner/Organiser to find a suitable area, plan the courses, and make all the necessary arrangements.  At the time I was working at Kingston-upon-Thames College of Technology (now a university) on the opposite side of the road to Surrey County Hall where John worked as the County Sports Co-ordinator.  John tracked me down and I agreed to use my free Wednesday afternoon off from work.  I checked out the area that he suggested called Marley Heights not previously used for orienteering. On visiting the area I felt rather doubtful about it. So on the Saturday Frank Milner, previously of South Ribble OC, agreed to further explore the area with me.  After much searching we felt that the area was certainly not suitable as the ridge area was rather built up with large country houses with only thin strips of woodland surrounded them.

So the next day at the Sunday event over Blackdown, Surrey organised by Martyn Hyman a crisis meeting was called. With John Disley, Chris Brasher and Martyn Hyman it was decided that given only 6 days left we should use the Blackdown area again as Martyn felt permission would be forthcoming.  The JK event would be planned and started from the opposite end of Blackdown in the hope that many would be unaware!

My problem was now my lack of suitable time to accomplish the planning task.  However, a student at the College, Tony Walker, indicated that he could achieve the task.  So in effect he became the Planner and I acted as Controller.  We succeeded and gave the Swedes from the Rotebro Club a taste of what we could offer.  All went well and we pulled it off.  Can you imagine this happening in the current situation when arrangements start as early as 4 years before each JK event?

In the following year we again held the event in Surrey before it went to the NEOA in 1969 which included the first JK Relays.  Even here the organisers were faced with very significant weather issues.   In the week prior to the whole event there was a very heavy fall of snow that made Slaley Forest designated for the Relay area inaccessible.  The solution was to move the event to another part of Wark Forest used for the Individual races less affected by snow and access problems.  Could we purchase sufficient copies of the original OS 1:25,000 map to give each competitor a copy?  An approach was made to the OS in Southampton.  They were able to confirm that they held sufficient copies of the map but could not supply them with less than 2 weeks’ notice.  At this point Chris Brasher intervened by putting a telephone call through to the Director General.  The maps were released and picked up but there were still courses to plan and maps to be marked up with only a day or two to achieve this.  Tony Walker and Pete Simpson went out and planned the relay courses and then sat up all night drawing up the individual map for each competitor.  This event was also a great success!!

To my knowledge there have never been such significant problems again though, no doubt, there are other tales to tell.                                                  

Results in early JKs:

JK ’67 was on 19th March at Blackdown, with the men’s and women’s courses won by Gordon Pirie (NUT) and Jenny Tennant (SN). The JK Trophy was awarded to the best team entered which turned out to be the ‘C’ team from IK Stern, Gothenburg. Both Stern and Rotebro sent quite strong teams to the event. Perhaps it is a pity that team scoring has disappeared?

JK ’68, Ludshott & Bramshott Commons, Hindhead:

          Senior Men: Jonathon Thomson, (RMOC), Women: M Pinel, Rotebro

          JK Trophy: Rotebro

JK ’69, Wark Forest

          Senior Men: F Dvorak, Women: J Sevcikova, Relay (JK Trophy) EUOC

JK ’70, Clumber Park North & Alderwasley (Relay)

          Senior Men: Geoff Peck EUOC, Women: Carol McNeill WOS, Relay: GULAR (Norway)

JK ’71, Leith Hill (Individual) & Holmbury Hill (Relay)

          Senior Men: P Andreasen (TOL), Women: Sue Banner (WCOC),

          Relay: OK PAN Kristianstad (Sweden)

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Memories of the JK Online
Have you got any old photos, maps, stories, snippets to share? Over the JK week British Orienteering will publish as many as possible so we can share our experiences and understand more about this fantastic event together. Email to: info@britishorienteering.org.uk

Share your memories online using the hashtag #JKMemories

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