GB Team at the Antwerp Sprint Orienteering Meeting (ASOM)

Written by Peter Molloy

A weekend defined by unseasonably warm temperatures, copious waffle consumption and excellent course planning saw some considerable successes for the British contingent with five runners qualifying for the knock-out sprint in a seriously stacked start field.

Whilst Charlie Rennie couldn’t quite handle the heat in his quarter final, and Peter Molloy and Nathan Lawson didn’t have the legs to make it out of their respective semi-finals, it was Freddie Carcas who did us proud with an eventual 4th place finish in a stacked final containing no fewer than 3 World or European Championship medallists.

Image below: Freddie Carcas_Credit: Mairi Eades.

In the women’s competition Cecilie Andersen dominated her quarter and semi-final runs, however where she really dominated was in her integrity in very nobly disqualifying herself having run through some uncrossable vegetation. So whilst she may not have had the chance to fight for the victory here, she is no doubt in excellent shape for the season ahead.

Image below: Cecilie Andersen_Credit: Mairi Eades.

However, Cecilie bounced back well to take 9th place in the next day’s individual sprint, which featured a mix of intricate short legs and tricky long legs in the city centre of Turnhout. Indeed, Nathan Lawson decided that he fancied a slice of this 9th place action and equalled Cecilie’s result in the men’s class, hotly followed by Freddie and Peter in joint 14th place, the latter of which did well to recover from falling for Nathan’s blatantly false claims about the historic uses of the quarantine building to still achieve a strong result.

Overall, the weekend was a great success, enjoyed by all and hopefully forming the first step on the journey to what should be a rewarding and challenging European Championships in Belgium in August 2025.

Images below: Map samples from ASOM.

Results

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