The full programme of this year’s UK Annual Orienteering Festival includes:

Three of the four competition areas over the weekend are very close together near to Farnborough / Aldershot. The Long-distance race on the Sunday is near Newbury (an easy hour’s drive away).

Friday’s Sprint race and Saturday’s Middle-Distance race are International Orienteering Federation (IOF) World Ranking Events. In addition, all three individual days will form part of 2019’s UK Elite Orienteering League and the UK Orienteering League. All four days will use Emit touch-free punching.

The JK event is named after Jan Kjellström (born 1940, died 1967) who was an orienteer from Sweden who played an important role in the development of the sport of Orienteering in Great Britain. Kjellström, a son of Silva compass founder Alvar Kjellström, travelled to Great Britain to promote the sport. There, he helped to accelerate developments in orienteering competition, mapping and coaching.Orienteering is a family sport as well as for top international competition. There will be taster courses suitable for beginners of all ages and abilities.
 

Di Smith, JK2019 Event Coordinator, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming top International athletes compete for the top medal places across the weekend. We are also looking forward to seeing many families and individuals taking part, with courses planned to suit all ages and fitness levels.”

There are entries to the JK2019 from a total of 27 countries. Organisers are delighted to see entries from as far as New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and China. The top ten numbers of entries are from: UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Finland, Denmark, Latvia, Spain.

Jennie Taylor, Communications Officer at British Orienteering, said: “This event generates a real boost to the local economy with people travelling from overseas and across the UK to enjoy top quality orienteering.”

Orienteering is an outdoor sport. The aim is to navigate in sequence between control points, using a map, and decide the best route to complete the course in the quickest time. The sport of orienteering is for everyone at different entry levels.

The organising team are looking forward to welcoming competitors to some great terrain.

For more information and to enter visit the JK website.

Snapshot of some of last year's winners. 

Photo credits:  Rob Lines 

British Orienteering would like to take this opportunity to wish all members a great international festival of orienteering this Easter weekend.  

British Orienteering would like to thank Event Coordinators Di and Terry Smith from Southampton Orienteering Club (SOC) and all the South Central Orienteering Clubs for their time, commitment and hard work they have put into this event.  

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Photos: JK2018; Photo Credits:  Rob Lines. 

Tessa Strain said:  “I was happy with my race. I know my fitness isn't as good as the best and so I just focussed on getting my controls right and was pleased to be within touching distance of the lead.”

Peter Hodkinson said:  “I think we performed well as a team and I'm happy with a strong run on my leg. I started with a small gap ahead of the main group of favourites and worked hard to gradually close this throughout the course. By the end, I had gained time on the leaders and set Ralph off with the main pack so I'm satisfied that I did the job that needed to be done. There were a lot of routes doubling back in the zoo so I was often able to see the teams ahead which really helped me to push on as I saw the runners ahead getting closer to me.”

Ralph Street said:  “I was really excited to be going out amongst some good runners, there were a lot of 50/50 decisions to start with and we stayed together as a pack. Around halfway through the zoo, I saw an opportunity to potentially gain time and this put me into the lead of the pack. From there I tried to push on and close the gap to Kyburz, unfortunately, my orienteering suffered a little bit but overall I feel I did gain time by making this tactical decision.”

Megan Carter Davies said:  “Tessa, Peter and Ralph sent me out in a great position. I knew that realistically I was not going to hold our 2nd place so there was no point worrying about it but instead have a good run for me. I did that and was happy to see that I was actually able to keep with the other girls out there. I misread the hedges after the arena passage allowing Helena to overtake but otherwise, I am really happy with how that went and am very proud of my teammates for doing such a great job today.”

Congratulations to all the athletes that have taken part in The World Games 2017. The GB team will now look ahead to World Cup Round 3 in Latvia which takes place on 25th - 27th August 2017.

The full set of reports on the World Games 2017 are available below:

The World Games 2017 continues with the Sprint Relay

Tessa Strain finished in 13th place at the World Games Middle Race

The World Games moves on to the Middle Distance tomorrow

Seventh Place for Ralph Street at the World Games

The World Games 2017