JEC 2025 Roundup

Images above: Emily Atkinson, James Hammond and Finn Selmer Duguid.

Friday’s sprint race at Stirling University brought some very Scottish weather, but this didn’t dampen the spirits.

With grippy shoes advised, the juniors battled the weather and some very technical courses, and there were some strong performances for the M/W20s with James Hammond in 13^th and Emily Gibbons in 12^th. However, it was the M/W18s who stole the show. Finn Selmer Duguid cruised round to take 4^th in M18, only 37 seconds down, while in the W18 class, Emily Atkinson took an early lead and just kept it up the whole way, getting faster and faster, to take the win by a storming 27 seconds.

The Scots clearly showed their home weather advantage! Once everyone had dried out, the next challenge was to make it back to Dounans, which storm Amy was making difficult by bringing down many trees across the roads.  Everyone eventually made it back, and a flower crown was created for the prize giving; team spirit was high.

Pictures by Mairi (Eades), Judy Bell, and Crawford Lindsay.

Images above: Tommy Rollins, Emma Crawford and Emily Gibbins.

Huge kudos to the organisers who held their ground while many other events were being cancelled across Scotland due to the storm; everyone was extremely grateful that the event went on as planned. On Saturday morning, Loch Ard was looking magical as ever, waiting for the athletes to tough their way round.

After Friday’s high spirits, these continued into the long distance with our athletes keen to get out there. They emerged from the forest looking pretty tired, but there were many voices of delight about such an incredible area of “proper orienteering”. The commentary kept us on our toes at the finish with Finn Selmer Duguid just off the podium in 7^th, Emily Atkinson with another solid run to come 11^th and Ruth Gooch in 18^th. In the 20s, Daisy McNamara finished in 12^th after a strong start and our top result in the long was James Hammond in 4^th, so the flower crown could once more make an appearance that evening.

Images above: Ruari Cottier, Daisy McNamara, Oscar Peel, Scarlett Kelly and Katie Buckley.

Thankfully, the weather continued to get better, so the relay area was no longer underwater by Sunday morning! The atmosphere was already electric, and this was made even more so as GB athlete Ruari Cottier serenaded the mass start out with his bagpipes. GB fielded eight teams, and there were some fantastic runs, many smiles on faces, fun terrain, and the sun even decided to make an appearance.

The first-finishing team from each nation determines the podium, and after some close battles, James wished the run-in had been a bit longer as they were so close to bronze, but it was an excellent 4^th for the boys’ team of Finn Selmer Duguid, Adam Methven and James Hammond. The girls’ team also achieved a podium position, finishing 6^th. A good performance from 3 W18s - Emily Atkinson, Ruth Gooch and Freya Tryner, who all have another 2 years as juniors.

Images above: Emily Atkinson, Daisy McNamara, Emma Crawford, Charlotte-Rose Burton. Emily Atkinson, Freya Tryner and Ruth Gooch. Adam Methven, James Hammond and Finn Selmer Duguid. 

The weekend was a great success and it was fantastic to see GB athletes thriving under the pressure of a home international. The Performance Program is incredibly grateful to the Athlete Support Fund and British Orienteering for donations that enabled us to field a full team of 24 athletes and keep costs reasonable for competitors.

Catch up on all the results from JEC 2025 via the button below. 

JEC 2025 results