Following a sprint focus in the senior international competition calendar during the first half of the year, World Cup 3 moved to the forests of Czechia last week for a set of tough, technical races. Athletes faced the challenge of navigating steep rocky hillsides through a mix of forests, ranging from excellent visibility to full-on fight!
Team GB comprised a mixture of experienced athletes plus senior international debuts from Daisy McNamara and Adam Methven.
Qualification Race
The week kicked off with a race that served as the qualification for both the Long and Middle distance finals. Athletes faced hot conditions on a course that mixed technical middle style legs with long route choices. Competition was intense, with nations allowed up to 8 men and 8 women. However, strong runs from Matthew Gooch, Niamh Hunter and Fiona Bunn meant they all qualified for the A finals, with the rest of the team heading into the B finals.
Long Distance Finals
The courses for the Long distance final took athletes on several laps of some hilly terrain, with the orienteering challenge featuring a mixture of long route choices and detailed navigation.
Long Distance results:
Women A
- 51st Niamh Hunter
Men A
- 48th Matthew Gooch
Women B
- 20th Daisy McNamara
- 23rd Chloe Potter
Men B
- 22nd Adam Methven
- 33rd Will Gardner
- 38th Ralph Street
- 41st Alastair Thomas
- 45th Alasdair Pedley
Fiona Bunn chose not to run today, to manage an injury ahead of the Middle Final later in the week.
Images below: Alasdair Pedley and Niamh Hunter.
Middle Distance Finals
Speed and precision were needed to do well on a predominantly downhill course through the stony hillsides. GBR athletes who had missed out on the A Final showed their class, with several top-10 results in the B Finals.
Middle Distance results
Women A
- 49th Niamh Hunter
- 65th Fiona Bunn
Men A
- 66th Matthew Gooch
Women B
- 6th Chloe Potter
- 8th Daisy McNamara
Men B
- 6th Ralph Street
- 26th Alastair Thomas
- 30th William Gardner
- 35th Alastair Pedley
- 50th Adam Methven
Images below: Daisy McNamara and Matthew Gooch.
Relays
The week culminated with the forest relays where nations could enter up to three teams in each of the men’s and women’s races. Despite some errors in the heat of the race (literally!), GBR athletes fought hard at the end of a tough week of racing.
Women’s Relay results
- GBR 1 (Daisy McNamara, Chloe Potter, Niamh Hunter): 19th (13th nation)
Men’s Relay results
- GBR 2 (Will Gardner, Alastair Thomas, Alasdair Pedley): 23rd (16th nation)
- GBR 1 (Ralph Street, Adam Methven, Matthew Gooch): 26th
British Orienteering would like to congratulate all the athletes on their performances and extend thanks to the staff who supported the team in Czechia (Duncan Archer, Pippa Archer, and Josh Beech). Look out for more international forest races next month as the senior season concludes with the European Championships in Lithuania.
Full results, splits, maps and tracking can be found in the IOF live center:
https://orienteering.sport/event/orienteering-world-cup-round-3-4/welcome/
Images below: Chloe Potter and Daisy McNamara.
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