World University Orienteering Championships - Middle distance race

Will Gardner was top Brit in 13th place in the Men's race.

It was a another tough forest day for the British team at the World University Orienteering Championships with two challenging courses set by the planner. The area was certainly challenging with difficult route choices through patches of green forest. 

First British finisher was Katie Reynolds who finished in a very credible time of 39.33. Katie held a top position for a long period of the day. The next British women finisher was Charlotte Watson in a time of 40.34. Charlotte was closely followed by Lucy Butt who completed the 4.4km in a time of 38.34. This was enough to secure Lucy a top 20 position of 19th. Final British starter on the women's course was Jo Shepherd who finished in a time of 39.39 just behind Katie.

On the men's course Aidan Smith came though first for the British team finishing in a time of 40.51. Next up was Sasha Chepelin who completed the course in 38.54 and finished up in 32nd place. This was a very good performance for the junior competing against many athletes then him. Next finisher was Britain's best of the day with Will Gardner completing the 5.6km course in a very credible 36.58 which secured him 13th place. A very good result against some incredibly tough competitors. Final finisher for Great Britain in the Men's race was double world university champion Kris Jones who despite a good position early in the race unfortunately made mistakes towards the end and ended with a time of 41.22 

Women

19th Lucy Butt 38.34

24th Katie Reynolds 39.33

25th Jo Shepherd 39.39

31st Charlotte Watson 40.34

Men

13th Will Gardner 36.58

32nd Sasha Chepelin 38.54

45th Aidan Smith 40.51

47th Kris Jones 41.22 

"My plan was to start steady and minimise mistakes early on before opening up and increasing the pace as the course went. This went pretty well, with only a couple of thirty second mistakes creeping in near the end as I started to get tired. It's the best result I've ever achieved in the forest so I'm over the moon to add to the team's successful week." Will Gardner

"My aggressive approach to today's Middle race was always going to be risky, and unsurprisingly by half way round I was beginning to fumble around having gone a few miles into the red zone. However, although my mistakes from today total a time loss that's much larger than my recent norm, I am very satisfied with the sections of my race that went well, especially during a head-to-head with a Finland competitor for the second half of the course. I was punished harshly for every hesitation and poor micro-routechoice, but that's what I came here for and I feel I have gained some valuable experience from these championships so far." Sasha Chepelin

"My aim for the race was to 'be sensible and be good'. I was really excited at the start and felt really good warming up. As I started the race I could feel myself panicking and at every control circle faffing around hoping the control would pop out at me. Although I was getting to the control circles in good time I was losing a lot of time hesitating with the Fine-O. I continued to feel slightly out of control for the rest of the race and although I'm disappointed I learnt a lot from pushing my navigation to the edge and I am super excited for the relay today." Lucy Butt 

"Unsurprisingly, it was tough to refocus after the excitement. I managed ok at the start and despite a scrappy race I was on course for a solid result after three quarters of the race. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep it together at the end, lost my head and made a succession of mistakes. Tough to take but more to come today." Kris Jones

Item posted by Jennie Taylor, Marketing Manager on behalf of Ed Nichols