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British Orienteering is proud to reaffirm our commitment to clean sport
by backing UK Anti-Doping’s (UKAD’s) Clean Sport Week campaign from 13 - 17 May.
Clean Sport Week is UKAD’s national awareness week championing clean sport,
education and anti-doping initiatives with sports across the UK.
This year’s Clean Sport Week theme is “Journey to the Podium”. Throughout the
week, UKAD will be showcasing the importance of the clean sport journey through the
lens of athletes and the elite sport community. Anti-doping should be a key part of
every athlete and support personnel’s journey – it should never be an afterthought.
Clean sport is an essential part of our athletes’ journeys to the podium / in professional
sport. It takes a lifetime of work, commitment and a network of support to help athletes
perform at the very top. This effort can be taken away in a moment by doping.
Creating a culture of clean sport is essential for the health and welfare of our athletes
and the integrity of Orienteering.
We all have a responsibility to keep sport clean, to raise awareness of anti-doping and
to celebrate the successes of athletes - through hard work, determination and by
competing clean.
We encourage anyone in our sporting community that would like to learn more about
anti-doping to sign up to UKAD’s Clean Sport Hub where there are free education
courses for athletes, students, coaches and practitioners.
Follow @ukantidoping on social media to see a range of educational and exciting
content throughout the week. To find out more about UKAD’s Clean Sport Week
initiative click here.
For anyone who works in sport, don’t miss UKAD’s Clean Sport Week event on
Tuesday 14 March, taking place on the Loughborough University campus. The event
will focus on the para-athlete’s journey to the podium. You can register your interest in
attending here.
Clean Sport Week
British Orienteering is delighted to announce the GBR team selected to race at the World University Orienteering Championships.
The World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC) are held every two years, with the 2024 GBR team competing in Bankso, Bulgaria from 1 to 5 August.
British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) selects and enters the team, working in partnership with British Orienteering. The team announcement can be found on the BUCS website.
Women's Team:
Rachel Brown (University of Edinburgh)
Fiona Bunn (University of Edinburgh)
Eilidh Campbell (University of Edinburgh)
Isobel Howard (University of Edinburgh)
Niamh Hunter (University of Edinburgh)
Laura King (Uppsala University)
Men's Team:
Jim Bailey (University of Edinburgh)
David Bunn (University of Edinburgh)
Euan Tryner (University of Edinburgh)
Peter Molloy (University of Cambridge)
Freddie Carcas (Boise State University)
Eddie Narbett (Bradley University)
The Sprint World Orienteering Championships 2024 (WOC 2024), which will take place in Edinburgh from 12-16 July 2024, is delighted to announce Heart Research UK’s Heart of Scotland Appeal as the Official Charity Partner of the event.
The Heart of Scotland Appeal works towards research and community projects in Scotland aimed at reducing the number of people affected by heart diseases. Currently 48 people a day die from cardiovascular disease in Scotland.
The partnership with WOC 2024 aims to raise awareness of the risks of heart diseases amongst the orienteering community, promoting heart health through exercise. The partnership will also help raise funds and awareness for the Heart of Scotland appeal, with all money raised distributed to research projects across Scotland.
The partnership will also be looking to explore opportunities for people to fundraise and take part in the WOC Tour – the amateur races running during WOC 2024. Additionally, various social media collaborations and storytelling activities will help raise awareness of the great work the charity do, in the build up to and during the World Championships in July.
“Heart Research UK’s Heart of Scotland Appeal are delighted to be the official charity partner of the World Orienteering Championships 2024 in Edinburgh. Heart diseases are unfortunately prevalent in Scotland; however, we know that orienteering is a great form of cardiovascular exercise that works out both your heart and your mind,” said Mary Campbell, Director of Income Generation at Heart Research UK.
“Getting outside and trying orienteering, whether in the Scottish countryside or your local town or city, can really benefit both your aerobic and anaerobic fitness, both of which are key to increasing your heart’s strength, reducing your blood pressure, and resting heart rate. We are dedicated to doing all we can to raise awareness of the impact of heart diseases on families up and down the country. The money raised through this partnership will be spent right here in Scotland on lifesaving medical research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart diseases.”
WOC 2024 Event Director Andy Mitchelmore said of the partnership: “Orienteering is a great form of exercise for all ages and the perfect sport for helping heart health. This is why we felt that a partnership with Heart Research UK’s Heart of Scotland Appeal was such a great fit with WOC 2024 and why we are delighted to have them on board as our Official Charity Partner.”
“We hope we can work together to raise awareness about the work they do in Scotland and help raise funds to support their projects across Scotland. We know the orienteering community will get behind the charity and in July Edinburgh will welcome the orienteering community from around the world, whilst at the same time raising funds for this fantastic cause.”
WOC 2024 is organised by Scottish 6 Days Orienteering in conjunction with Scottish Orienteering, British Orienteering and the International Orienteering Federation, with primary event partners EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate, and The City of Edinburgh Council.
To find out more about WOC 2024 visit the official website. Sign up to the WOC Tour here, and for Heart Research UK’s Heart of Scotland Appeal visit their website.
Kirsten Maxwell and Mairi Eades of Team GB with the Heart Research UK mascot
The annual Jan Kjellström International Festival of Orienteering took place from 29 March – 1 April 2024 in the heart of the East Midlands. In this blog, we reflect on the incredible efforts of the volunteers who hosted this year’s event and share some of the key moments from each day.
Day 1 – Sprint Race and Pre-O at Loughborough University
The event kicked off at Loughborough University, where the atmosphere quickly became eclectic the more participants arrived at the venue. Alongside the sprint race and World Ranking Event, a Pre-O course was also made available courtesy of British Trail Orienteering. Participants also had the opportunity to take part in Biathlon Orienteering, which returned to the event after taking place at JK 2018.
All images are credited to Rob Lines and Wendy Carlyle.
Aside of a few unforgiving downpours, the weather held for the majority of the day, giving participants the opportunity to navigate the map area (1:4,000 2.0m contour interval to ISSOM 2007, updated in 2023 by Peter Hornsby).
As the final runners made their way across the course, it was soon time for the awards ceremonies to take place.
First up the WRE flower and award ceremonies took place, after which it was time for the British Orienteering Annual Awards! British Orienteering’s CEO Peter Hart presented the awards to winners of the Club, Coach, Volunteer and Mapping Awards 2023. If you missed out on who won the awards, please visit this link. Next the UK Urban League 2023 Awards took place, followed by the JK Sprint Race medals. Well done to everyone who received an award and was recognised for their efforts over the past year.
Results
The results from Day 1 are available here. Congratulations to the winners of all age categories including:
|
M18E |
James Hammond (FVO) |
|
W18E |
Rachel Baker (CLOK) |
|
M20E |
Euan Tryner (EUOC) |
|
W20E |
Imogen Pieters (SYO) |
|
M21E |
Peter Hodgkinson (INT) |
|
W21E |
Laura Robertson (SYO) |
Trail O PreO results
Access the results from the TrailO PreO course here. Well done to the winners!
|
Elite PreO, Timed Section |
Ben Kyd (MDOC) |
|
Standard PreO |
Jacob Stevens (CHIG) |
Day 2 – Middle Race at Beaudesert
Day’s 2 and 3 of JK 2024 moved to Beaudesert where participants of the Long and Middle Race navigated the forested area with streams and marshes, and intricate contouring and the famous bell-pits (deep holes with raised edges) proliferating.
Glorious blue skies greeted everyone on arrival and throughout the day as everyone embarked on the challenges of Beaudesert. The wet weather of recent months ensured a muddier and wetter challenge than usual in the area, but this didn’t stop over 2,000 people pushing themselves
W21E and M21E courses
There was a couple of controls that were misplaced (as in placed in the wrong place not lost) which impacted W21E and M21E courses.
Following some protests to the organiser and controller a judgement was made in that the W21E course was made VOID and the M21E course results were “truncated”.
Results
The results from Day 2 are available here. Congratulations to the winners!
Day 3 – Long Race at Beaudesert
It was a misty start for participants back at Beaudesert for the Long Race on Day 3 of JK 2024. Orienteers made their way into the forested area, exploring the much wider forest and challenges compared to the previous day.
Results
The results from Day 3 are available here. Congratulations to the winners!
Day 4 – Relay Race at Stanton Moor
The event closed with the Relay Race which headed into the Peak District at Stanton Moor.
As the relay teams battled the elements to win the JK trophy and it was the FVO Flyers who took first place, followed by Interlopers N and Interlopers S in third place.
In the junior relay, it was SYO Buzzy BEEs (SYO) who took the win, with ‘WE Cambridge, we saw, we conquered’ (WOAC) coming in second place, and ‘NOR wreaking HAVOC’ (HAVOC/NOR) finishing in third! Well done to all.
Results
The results from Day 4 are available here. Congratulations to the winners!
|
JK Trophy |
FVO Flyers (FVO) |
|
Junior Relay (M/W40-) |
SYO Buzzy BEEs (SYO) |
A link to overall results from JK 2024 is available here.
Thank you to all involved in this year’s event
Special thanks must go to the army of volunteers who helped put the event together this year. From those manning the general enquiries stalls, to recording the results, tending to the sponsors stalls, and of course our planners, mappers and controllers especially in the face of unprecedented weather conditions in the lead up to this year's event.
A special thanks must go the clubs that organsied each day:
LEI, WCH and DVO.
We would also like to extend a huge ‘thank you’ to the four fantastic Day sponsors for the JK 2024:
Days 2/3: Revive / Instinct Trail
Day 4: Inov8
Whether it was trying the Altra shoes for yourself at the Sprint, testing the Revive supplements which are driving our GB athletes to the WOC, utilising the great trail packs from Instinct for the long JK event or grabbing some fantastic inov8 gear, we hope you enjoyed having them at the event! All competitors will have received an email packed full of discount codes from our sponsors too!
Final word from our CEO Peter Hart
“The Jan Kjellström as always was a large and complex event, was nothing short of spectacular, and it truly exemplified the dedication and passion you all have for our sport.
Every aspect of the event was executed well, and It was evident that meticulous planning and hard work went into making it a memorable experience for all the participants.
Beyond just this event, I want to express our appreciation for the ongoing contribution you make to the sport. Your unwavering commitment to creating opportunities for athletes of all ages and abilities is truly commendable. Events like these not only showcase the talent within the sport but also inspire future generations.”
______________________________________________________________________________
Images from the event can be found via Rob Lines or Wendy Carlyle’s Flickr accounts. With huge thanks to them both for volunteering to take photos of the event. You can also read an interview with coordinator of this year's event, Andy Yeates via this link.
Scholes Mill, Old Coach Road, Tansley, Matlock, DE4 5FY
Tel: 01629 583037, Email: info@britishorienteering.org.uk
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