EOC 2025 Round-up

Sprint Relay

The team of Cecilie Andersen, Eddie Narbett, Ralph Street, and Grace Molloy lined up alongside 27 nations, which saw Norway take gold ahead of Switzerland and Sweden in a race that was ever-changing and nerve-racking.   

The team secured a 5th place podium finish where they raced hard around the intricate network of streets and alleys in Hasselt, with the organisers surprising the athletes with a purpose-built pontoon across the docks. 

Results

Image credits: Rob Lines

KO Qualifications

The competition continued on Thursday afternoon in Geel, where the athletes raced the qualification for the Knock out Sprint Finals to be held the following day.  

Facing a dramatic mix of sunshine and storms as well as the challenging courses in the southern end of the city, the athletes needed to finish in the top 12 to progress into the finals. 

With the qualification margins down to mere seconds, four athletes managed to progress under the pressure: Cecilie Andersen, Grace Molloy, Ralph Street, and Freddie Carcas.  

The finals delivered the high-paced excitement, where the organisers reimagined the town’s large car parks, adding networks of artificial barriers to create decisive route choices on the longer legs.  

Of the four qualifiers, Freddie Carcas was GB’s top performer who qualified through the fastest quarter final of the day to secure a spot in the semifinals.  

Results

KO Finals

The European Championships concluded with the Individual Sprint on Sunday, with the morning’s qualification in the centre of Lier finishing at the city’s central square.  

The damp conditions made for a challenging course, with the competitors navigating slippery cobbled streets and bridges through the picturesque old town.  

GB had four athletes who qualified through into the finals which were to be held later that day; Nathan Lawson, Ralph Street, Grace Molloy, and Cecilie Andersen.  

The planners challenged the athletes with a rapid succession of technical legs and unexpected route choices through buildings, including schools, shopping centres, and even a nightclub, leaving little time to plan ahead. 

Great Britain’s most notable performances came from Grace Molloy and Nathan Lawson, who secured top 20 finishes, placing 14th and 15 respectively.  

Nathan commented after the race- “It was a really fun and varied course. Definitely one that tested every bit of your sprint ability. It was tricky to hold it together at the end and I’m really chuffed to have beaten my result from two years ago. This was the race that I was more focused on- I didn’t have the perfect preparation so it’s nice to see that I didn’t let that affect my focus.” 

Cecilie Andersen was going well until she fell badly in the second half and finished with an impressive array of scrapes. - She commented after “The first half was really good! Then, just after the run through, we went into an underpass, and there must have been a step that I didn’t see. I was reading my map, and then I just went flying. I got through the rest of the race- it’s frustrating when it was going so well, but overall, I’m really happy with how I raced this week.” 

Results

Sprint 

Nathan Lawson, Ralph Street, Grace Molloy, and Cecilie Andersen successfully qualified for this afternoon’s final.

The European Orienteering Championship 2025 concluded with the Sprint Final in Lier, Belgium. The planners challenged athletes with a rapid succession of technical legs and unexpected route choices through buildings, including schools, shopping centres and even a nightclub - leaving little time to plan ahead.

Great Britain’s most notable performances came from Grace Molloy and Nathan Lawson, who secured top-20 finishes, placing 14th and 15th respectively.

Results