Last week saw the conclusion of the senior international season as 10 GBR athletes headed to Lithuania for a week of tough racing at the 2026 European Championships.
Qualification Race
There was a great start to the week with half the team qualifying into the A final and several other runners narrowly missing out. Top performance of the day was Simon Harden’s 5th place in his heat.
The courses proved a real test of balancing speed and intense concentration due to the low visibility and subtle contours of the area.
Imogen Pieters, qualifying for the A final for the first time, commented: “The course and area were really fun. After some mistakes early on I got into the map and with solid focus towards the end finished strongly. I am super excited to be in the final and am looking forward to tomorrow.”
Images below: Ralph Street in the Qualification race, and Daisy McNamara with Imogen Pieters; Credit: Rob Lines.
Long Distance Finals
The long distance final was a real test of endurance as the courses crossed large areas of very slow forest. Route choice was key with some the GBR men running as far 21km for the 17km course.
Top result in the Men's A Final was Joshua Dudley in 32nd with Simon Harden just one place behind. In Women's A Final, Imogen Pieters finished 41st, with Grace Molloy sitting this one out to protect her ankle for the middle race on Saturday.
Matthew Gooch had a great run in Men's B Final – his 9th place meant that he was promoted to the A final for Saturday’s middle distance race.
Results
Men’s A Final
- 32nd Joshua Dudley
- 33rd Simon Harden
- 45th Ralph Street
Women’s A Final
- 41st Imogen Pieters
Men’s B Final
- 9th Matthew Gooch
- 15th Euan Tryner
- 37th Charlie Rennie
Women’s B Final
- 31st Daisy McNamara
- 34th Niamh Hunter
Images below: Euan Tryner & Niamh Hunter in the Long Distance Race. Images are credited to Rob Lines.
Middle Distance Finals
The middle distance finals provided a fiendish technical challenge in thick forest, with many of the favourites losing a lot of time.
Simon Harden had a great run, finishing in the lead which earnt him a spell on the leader’s chair. He ended up 28th, his highest World Cup position so far. Simon commented he enjoyed his race and is looking forward to spending more time in the leader’s chair in the future!
For many of the Brits it was a story of good racing for large parts of the course, but mistakes proving costly. They are looking to clean up their runs for the relay tomorrow.
Results
Men’s A Final
- 28th Simon Harden
- 33rd Ralph Street
- 60th Matthew Gooch
- 64th Joshua Dudley
Women’s A Final
- 56th Grace Molloy
- 70th Imogen Pieters
Men’s B Final
- 10th Charlie Rennie
- 11th Euan Tryner
Women’s B Final
- 13th Niamh Hunter
- 55th Daisy McNamara
Images below: Simon Harden & Charlie Rennie in the Middle Final; Credit: Rob Lines & Eglė Jasiukaitytė.
Relay
In the final day of racing the teams performed well, finishing 11th nation in both the women’s and men’s relays, but the athletes felt they had more to give.
Niamh Hunter, Simon Harden, and Matthew Gooch, running the final legs, had to fight all the way to the line to keep their places, with Niamh and Matthew edging out other teams by a matter of seconds!
There was a great atmosphere in the arena to round off the week and the competition season. The organisers put on a fantastic set of races and British Orienteering would like to thank Emil Wingstedt, Jo Stevenson, and Pete Tryner for supporting the athletes at the championships.
Images below: Matthew Gooch and Grace Molloy in the Relay; Credit: Rob Lines.
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