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30 October 2023
World Ranking TrailO competition amongst Etruscan Tombs in Italy
The final European World Ranking TrailO events for 2023 took place over the weekend in Italy. 8 competitors from GBR attended and participated in the events which used some unique terrain. Both the TempO on Saturday and the PreO on Sunday took place in and around the ancient Etruscan Necropolis of Cerveteri – a World Heritage Site. The competition area included numerous pre-Roman man-made tombs, caves and pits as well as intricate rocky crags.
Both the TempO and the larger section of a split PreO used a track through a gully with numerous caves carved out of the rocky sides. The map, at 1:3000, showed a very clear representation of the terrain and, with care and time, correct solutions could be determined. The TempO was though more challenging as the time pressure led to errors. The second shorter PreO section was a more open rocky hillside in which numerous caves and quarries were present and, with some more distant controls, this was trickier.
Tom Dobra in 11th had best result in the TempO making just 3 mistakes over the 7 stations. However, Graham Urquhart was the leading P Class competitor. In the PreO, 5 of the GBR competitors got all 26 controls correct leading to the performance in the two Time Controls giving the placings. Charles Bromley Gardner led the GBR field and was placed 10th.
For detailed results and maps, see the event website at: 28/29 october 2023 – Etrusk TrailO Weekend WRE - A.S.D. Orsa Maggiore (asdorsamaggiore.it). A full report will be provided in the November Newsletter.
Here Iain Phillips considers controls in the second part of the PreO event.
12 October 2023
Hungary and Slovakia to co-host WTOC 2025
At the recent IOF Council meeting (22 September), a decision was taken to confirm that Hungary and Slovakia will jointly host the World TrailO Championships in 2025. With the WTOC now being staged in alternate years, the 2025 event will be the next opportunity for competitors to seek the highest award in TrailO.
Although it had initially been thought that the event would be held between the 16th and 23rd August, it is now expected that the following dates/locations will be used:
It has not yet been discussed but is likely that GBR competitors' performances at next year's European Championships (ETOC) 2024, as well as other key TrailO events, will be used to select the team for WTOC 2025. Good luck everyone!
The IOF Eventor site shows Bratislava as the likely Event Centre
3 October 2023
Tom Dobra wins the 2023 British TrailO League
This year’s British TrailO League (BriTOL) results have now been finalised and congratulations to Tom Dobra who is the 2023 top performer.
There were 6 events in this year’s BriTOL – the 3 JK events, the British Championships (BTOC) and the events at the Scottish 6 Days and the White Rose. Problems with some times at the White Rose event in August delayed the completion of the League results – the final timed section was voided for the League scores. A competitor’s best 4 results are used to determine their League score.
Tom won this year’s BriTOL with 3 wins and a second place giving 396 points. Second was Ben Kyd with 2 wins and two second places giving 392 points. Charles Bromley Gardner is in third place on 362 points.
The image shows the top ten places. Full League results can be seen on the League website - see: British TrailO League 2023
The top ten positions in the 2023 BriTOL.
17 September 2023
'Nordic Match' completes the 2023 European Cup in TrailO
Comprising 10 events over 5 weekends, the European Cup in TrailO (ECTO) provides an opportunity for trail orienteers to test their skills against some of the best in Europe. This year’s annual Nordic Match was held in Denmark and, as well as providing a team competition for the Nordic countries, the two events (TempO and PreO) completed the 2023 ECTO series.
Two British competitors attended the Danish events. In the TempO, John Kewley of MDOC had a clear set of controls but, with several others also being clear, times needed to be quick to get a top position. He ultimately finished in 15th place. Iain Phillips (LEI), with 3 errors, finished in 29th place. In the PreO, John Kewley again had a full set of correct controls but so did 6 other competitors. All 7 had all their time control responses correct and John’s time of 23 seconds put him in an excellent 5th position. With 23 of the 27 PreO controls correct, Iain finished in 31st place.
Including scores from the Nordic Match events, results from the 2023 ECTO competition show John Kewley finishing in 10th place as the top GBR competitor with Ben Kyd next in 51st place. Iain's results have taken him above Charles Bromley Gardner and they are in 75th and 76th places, the 3rd and 4th placed GBR members.
For more details of the Nordic Match, see the event website: Nordic Match 2023.
John Kewley at one of the TempO stations (Photo: Nordic Match)
27 August 2023
TrailO at the White Rose Weekend in Yorkshire
Every August Bank Holiday weekend, the public holiday in England at the end of August, Eborienteers hold a series of events for orienteers in Yorkshire know as the White Rose Weekend. This has often included a TrailO event planned by Peter Roberts.
This year's event was staged on Saturday and consisted of a PreO course with 20 controls. Congratulations to the winners :- Chris Smithard (FVO) and Margaret Parker (AIRE) shared the Open Class, Dick Keighley (WIM) and Graham Urquhart (OD) shared the P Class and Eliza-Blue Elliott (SYO) won the Junior Class.
Our thanks to Peter and the various helpers for staging the event. Full results, when finalised, will be available on the Eborienteers website at: https://eborienteers.org.uk/results/
Dick Keighley (l) and Graham Urquhart being awarded their commemorative cups
by Peter Roberts (r) for winning the P Class (Photo: Liz Urquhart)
3 August 2023
Sunshine enabled competitors to enjoy tackling the PreO at Moray 2023
As part of the Scottish 6 Days Orienteering, yesterday saw a PreO event staged in Roseisle Forest, on the shores of the Moray Firth in northern Scotland. Exactly 100 competitors took the challenge spending nearly two hours following the tracks around the forest. The forested sand dunes provided complex countours which allowed a range of varied challenges to be set.
There was an initial single timed control, with two controls to solve, followed by a 2 km PreO course with 19 controls. Overall winner was Tom Dobra (TVOC) with 18 correct on the PreO course and both timed control problems solved correctly in just 23 seconds. Second was Yang Ki Yuan (MDOC) who just beat Charles Bromley Gardner (BAOC) by 5 seconds at the timed control - both having 17 correct on the course. Best Junior was Ben Kyd (OUOC) with 16 correct controls and best P Class competitor was Graham Urquhart (OD) with 15 correct. Full results and access to the solutions map can be found on the Moray 2023 results page - see: TrailO Roseisle - Results.
The event was staged by Edinburgh Southern OC with the main officials being: Planner - Anne Hickling (ESOC), Controller - Rob Hickling (BASOC), and Organiser - Roger Scrutton (ESOC). Out thanks to them but also to their team of helpers without whom the event could not have been staged.
For a set of photos taken at the event, see the Flickr album: TrailO at Moray 2023 - Roseisle Forest.
Forested sand dunes provided complex challenges for all competitors at Roseisle.
8 July 2023
A successful World Championships for the GBR Team at WTOC 2023
The World TrailO Championships 2023 (WTOC 2023), staged in the Czech Republic, have been completed and it is time to briefly reflect on all that has happened over the last 7 days.
The event was preceded by the two World Ranking Events which acted as additional training in advance of WTOC. And Ben Kyd, coming first in the TempO event, has to be included in the overall performance – the first time we have had a winner in a WRE!
Turning to the British team performance at WTOC, it certainly could be seen to have met expectations and been a successful year for GBR. Yes, there were inevitably some individual disappointments, but the overall results showed some solid achievement.
In the PreO, our best performer in the Open Class was John Kewley in 25th position with his second day position of 4th (with all 32 controls correctly identified) being certainly a great result. With each day being used as a WRE event, this will surely enhance his World Ranking. In the PreO P Class, Graham Urquhart finished in 11th position after the two days with a 6th place on the second day – he should also get a good World Ranking score from this excellent result.
The Relays were held next and the combined team efforts provided Great Britain with 6th place in both the Open Relay and the PreO Relay. Although a team event, Ben Kyd’s performance on the final Open leg was significant and, in the P Class, Peter Roberts on first leg did well in both the PreO part and the TempO station. Getting both teams on the podium with Diplomas was certainly noteworthy.
The Championships ended with the TempO. The heats were very tense with the data coming in continuously from the 6 stations for each of the two heats. 18 competitors would qualify from each of the heats. For GBR, it was ultimately disappointing in that although for a long time it seemed likely that we might have 3 going through to the final, despite good peformances both John Kewley (19th in Heat A) and Tom Dobra (19th in Heat B) missed out by just a few seconds. Ben however completed his heat in 11th position and qualified for the final. This had eight stations with the final two being in an ‘English Park’ in full view of spectators – a huge challenge for all competitors. Ben’s final position was 16th which was shows clear improvement from his 21st position last year.
We have to also give recognition to all those involved in organising the Championships – delayed from 2022 due to Covid. They did a remarkable job and, as all are volunteers, they deserve our thanks and praise for a job exceptionally well done. At their head were Libor Forst (Event Organiser and Planner) and Jan Furucz (IOF Senior Event Advisor from Slovakia). However, there were countless other volunteers, many who had no real connection to TrailO, let alone orienteering. Superb and varied areas combined with excellent mapping and slick organisation. The use of ToePunch for recording competitors’ choices at controls enabled almost instant capture of data for conversion into appropriate results display.
The team is now mostly back in the UK with just Peter Roberts being driven home by his wife Christine – expected back on Monday. Some additional pictures are shown here, taken by the official event photographer, Dan Dvoracek. For more, see the official Flick page, WTOC2023 Media at Flickr.
Look out for longer reports and some detailed analysis in the September issue of the British TrailO Newsletter.
Peter Roberts at a TempO station at the WTOC Model Event.
2 July 2023
Final Preparations for WTOC 2023
Today saw the first activity at the World TrailO Championships (WTOC) in Czechia. All competitors had an opportunity to tackle a ‘model’ course which included 14 PreO controls and 2 TempO stations. All the British competitors were started from about 12.40 and, on finishing the course, were able to walk back and review their answers against the solutions map. There was much discussion!
The day concluded with a short opening ceremony attended by all the world teams giving an opportunity for a group photo. There is an official photographer so there are likely to be many more photos available in due course.
The team has had a final briefing in advance of tomorrow’s start of the PreO. The event is split over two days with the total results being used to declare the World Champion in PreO. Good luck all the GBR competitors: Charles Bromley Gardner, Ian Ditchfield, Tom Dobra, John Kewley and Ben Kyd in the Open Class; Colin Duckworth, Peter Roberts and Graham Urquhart in the P Class.
For all the details, see: WORLD TRAIL ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023
1 July 2023
World Ranking Event Win for Ben Kyd at the PreWTOC TempO Event
Subject to final checking, it is likely that Ben Kyd (MDOC) has achieved a first for GBR TrailO with a clear win at today’s WRE TempO event at the PreWTOC TrailO Adventure weekend in the Cech Republic. As a World Ranking Event (WRE), his win is an outstanding achievement as no British competitor has previously won a TrailO WRE event. The result demonstrates his rapid development as a world class trail orienteer.
As with yesterday’s PreO event, the terrain consisted of sandstone crags and related features set some distance above the competitors. There were 6 stations each with 5 controls. A 7th station (intended to be the second on the course) was abandoned due to the height of the annual vegetation. Of the 30 controls, Ben got them all correct in a total time of 199 seconds. In second place was a Swedish competitor with a total time of 223 seconds and, in third, an Italian with 282 seconds.
John Kewley (also of MDOC) was our second-best competitor in 20th with a total time of 385 seconds (including 30 second penalties for each wrong control). He was closely followed by Tom Dobra (TVOC) in 24th with a total time of 402 seconds. Next was Peter Roberts (EBOR) in 93rd and David Jukes (BKO) in 100th place.
Peter Roberts' performance made him the best GBR competitor in the P Class with a time of 590 seconds putting him in 10th position in the class. Our other P Class competitors were Graham Urquhart (OD) (13th) and Colin Duckworth (TVOC) (27th).
Ben’s result, when combined with his PreO result, put him in second place overall in the Junior competition and the picture shows Ben with his prize at the closing ceremony.
The team have now moved on to prepare for the WTOC which starts with the model event tomorrow.
Ben Kyd with his second place overall prize at the closing ceremony.
30 June 2023
GBR Team warms up at the 2-day PreWTOC TrailO Adventure
Today the members of the British TrailO team were participating in the ‘PreWTOC TrailO Adventure’ being held in the Czech Republic as a prelude to the 2023 World TrailO Championships (WTOC). Today there was a PreO competition with 27 controls to the north and south of the main track. The track, along the bottom of a forested valley, had sandstone outcrops at the top of slopes set back from the track and most of the controls required competitors to analyse the various crags and boulders to determine which, if any, flag was in the correct location for each control. An extract of the solution map is shown below.
There were a total of 176 competitors in all classes and, of these, 19 got all 27 controls correct. There was a single time control (with three controls to solve) at the start of the course which provided the tie break – the top two competitors were local Czech competitors who correctly solved the time control in 13 and 18 seconds respectively. Top British performer was Junior Ben Kyd with 25 correct and a position of 56th. Unfortunately he had an error at the time control which, with a 60 second penalty, cost him 6 places. With the field including most of the top international trail orienteers, any errors were always going to be costly. Both Ian Ditchfield (57th) and Charles Bromley Gardner (62nd) also had 25 controls correct.
In the P Class, Colin Duckworth was the best British performer with a position of 14th out of the 36 in the class. Colin had 23 correct and was followed by Graham Urquhart (15th with 22 correct) and Peter Roberts (28th with 17 correct). It can be noted that in the Junior class, Ben’s result puts him in 4th position out of the 24 Juniors participating.
Tomorrow sees the TempO competition and results from the combined PreO and TempO are used to determine an overall event winner. After the TempO, the team moves on to the WTOC event centre for final registration.
Full event details, including links to the results and maps, can be found on the event website: PreWTOC TrailO Adventure
10 May 2023
2023 British Champions determined at BTOC in Northern Ireland
This year’s British TrailO Championships (BTOC) were organised by Lagan Valley Orienteers (LVO) and held on Saturday in Armagh, Northern Ireland. The grounds of Armagh Palace Demesne provided Wilbert Hollinger (as event Planner) with opportunities for a range of challenges. There were open parkland sections with scattered trees, areas of woodland with small glades and, towards the end of the course, some formal gardens.
This year’s results saw success for two members of Thames Valley Orienteering Club (TVOC). The Open Class was won by Tom Dobra who correctly identified all 19 controls. Second was Ben Kyd (MDOC) with 17 correct who took the award of Best Junior. Ben was also incredibly fast on the 2 time control challenges taking only a combined 13 seconds. This enabled him to beat Nick Barrable (SYO) who took third place, also with 17 correct. Tom had previously been the Open Champion in 2017 and 2019.
The other TVOC success was with Colin Duckworth who won the P Class (Physically challenged) with 15 correct controls. Graham Urquhart (OD) and Peter Roberts (EBOR) were second and third respectively, both with 12 correct answers. It was also not Colin’s first occasion as P Class Champion – he had won it in 2019.
The event was staged in the late afternoon following the completion of the British Sprint Championships. Despite being the BTOC organiser and planner, Wilbert competed in the Sprints and successfully won the M75 Class. Our thanks to Wilbert for an enjoyable and challenging event and to his team of local LVO helpers who supported him.
For more details of the event including results and map files and a link to photos, see the British TrailO Championship page.
Wibert Hollinger, event Planner and Organiser
1 May 2023
British competitors tackle courses in Lithuania
Several British TrailO members have been in Lithuania for the annual Falco Cup TrailO weekend. The activity started on Friday afternoon with a 2-hour PreO event. On Saturday there were both a World Ranking Event (WRE) TempO with 6 stations and, immediately after, a 22-minutes PreO Sprint involving 20 A-Z controls. The weekend concluded with a WRE PreO on Sunday lasting 135 minutes. All the events took place in the wooded parkland around a series of reservoirs in the town of Jonava, to the north of Kaunas.
Based on a points system, results for the 4 events are used to identify the winners of the Falco Cup. With over 100 entries, the overall winner was Arno Gronhovd (NOR) with Serhii Kyrychenko (UKR) winning the P Class. Top British competitors were John Kewley who finished in 10th place overall and Graham Urquhart who was 5th in the P Class.
Medals were also awarded for performance in each individual event. Graham received the first place medal for his result in the P Class in Saturday's TempO event but it was close with his lead being only 11 seconds. Graham also collected a 3rd place medal for his result in the PreO Sprint.
Results of all events can be accessed from Trail Open Project - Falco Cup. A full report will appear in the next Newsletter due in early June.
Discussion between John Keeley and Iain Phillips from GBR,
two top Norwegians and the Lithuanian organiser after the first event.
TrailO events can generate a lot of discussion!
11 April 2023
An Overview of the Results at the 2023 JK Weekend
With the end of the Jan Kjellström (JK) International Festival of Orienteering and with the results having been checked and finalised, time for an overview of the weekend.
The 2023 JK was held in the southern Lake District over the Easter holiday weekend. Alongside the main 4 days of orienteering, John Kewley managed to put together an exciting combination of TrailO events. He acted as the planner and organiser for all 3 of them.
Friday saw competitors tackle a ‘Combined TrailO’ event which included a shortened PreO around a complex local park in Lancaster followed by 2 TempO controls in an adjacent complex campus. Results were based on a formula (similar to that used in TrailO relays) with the top 3 places on the Elite Open course going to Ben Kyd, Kieran Marsh and Peter Dobra. Ben’s calculated time was less than half that of Kieran's – a very impressive performance. Top performer in the P Class was Colin Duckworth with Peter Roberts second.
Saturday was a full PreO course following a track through a combination of rough pasture and a technical Lakeland hillside. John’s courses were very demanding and provided a great technical challenge with some quite distant controls needing careful consideration. To provide a tie-break, the main PreO was followed by a very short timed section with 4 additional kites providing A-Z challenges with the number correct being considered initially and then the time taken. Once again Ben Kyd took first place in the Elite Open class with 27 correct controls (out of 28) followed by Katja Engelhardt and Tom Dobra (both with 26 correct controls on the main section). Colin Duckworth again led the field in the P Class with Grahm Urquhart coming in second with a one less correct control.
The set of events was completed with a PreO Sprint on Easter Sunday in a small area of woodland with complex knolls, small hills, boulders and small crags. 20 A-Z controls were provided and results were based on the number correct with the time taken acting as tie-break. This time Tom Dobra took top place in the Elite Open class with 19 correct followed by Ben Kyd (also with 19 but in a time nearly 2 minutes longer) and Charles Bromley Gardner was third with 18 correct. For the P Class, the second day positions were reversed - Graham Urquhart was first and Colin Duckworth second with, once again, a single control separating them.
1 March 2023
March 2023 Newsletter published
The first issue of the new regular Newsletter is now available on this site. Use the menu item 'Newsletters' and you will be able to download the pdf version. Included are updates on the national TrailO Steering Group and IOF matters, changes to the World Ranking List, a 'Know your fellow TrailO competitors' section and reports on TrailO at the national orienteering coaching conference, the PreO event at the Edinburgh Big Weekend and the PreO event at the Portuguese O-Meeting.
20 February 2023
Success for Graham Urquhart in Portugal
As part of the 4-day Portuguese O-Meeting, a high quality PreO event was staged today in one of the cork oak forests in south-east Portugal. 'Forest' doesn't really indicate the nature of the terrain - the trees were mostly mature and widely spaced. The area contained some complex rocky outcrops and boulders and these were used for many of the controls. As a Portuguese selection event, there was a high quality field.
With 18 correct (out of 19), Graham Urquhart took second place in the P Class competition and received a commemorative award. David Jukes and Elizabeth Urquhart competed in the Open class with David having a score of 17 correct.
The pictures shows Graham (left) with his award [Photo: Lyn West] and a section of the solution map.
7 February 2023
The UK's 2023 TrailO Season commenced in Edinburgh
As part of the 'Big Weekend' staged by Edinburgh University OC (EUOC) over the weekend of 28/29 January, Edinburgh Southern OC (ESOC) put on a PreO event in the grounds of the Pollock Halls of Residence. The event was an A-Z PreO with 16 controls on the Long Course and 10 controls on the Short Course. With views out to Arthur's Seat, competitors followed a meandering path through the Halls.
The Long Course was won by Zoltan Mihaczi from Hungary with second place going to Samuel Drinkwater (MDOC). Both competitors scored the maximum points but Zoltan completed the course a minute faster than Samuel. The Robertson Family (ESOC) won the Short Course, also with no errors.
With thanks to Anne Hickling & Roger Scrutton of ESOC for staging the event. Details of the event can be seen on the EUOC site. See: EUOC - Big Weekend.
31 December 2022
Two TORUS trophy overall wins for Ben Kyd
Absolutely phenomenal! Huge congratulations go to Ben Kyd (MDOC), who has firmed up his claim to be World no. 1 in virtual TempO with overall victories in both the Hungarian TORUS Trophy, held once a month throughout 2022, and the TORUS Christmas Trophy, 12 events held 3 days a week during December. Ben achieved the best-ever TempO Final by a British athlete, 21st, at the World TrailO Championships in July.
In both events, the best 9 results from the 12 competitions count. Ben won the Hungarian Trophy for the second year running, this time by the big margin of almost 26 points over the German Ralph Kørner. The Christmas Trophy result was a lot closer; 4.33 points separated Ben from second-placed Italian Marcello Lambertini.
Tom Dobra (TVOC) in 23rd place was the second Brit. in the final Hungarian results, whilst it was Robert Finch (NGOC) who took the second-Brit. honours in the Christmas Trophy, finishing 38th.
Other British orienteers in the top 100 (out of over 900 in the Hungarian Trophy and 750 in the Christmas event):
TORUS stands for TempO Online Races Ultimate Series. Participants come from all around the world providing a unique opportunity for all TrailO enthusiasts to compete in an international event whilst sitting at home. For more details, see: TempO Online Races Ultimate Series
20 October 2022
John Kewley best Brit. in ECTO 2022
The European Cup in Trail Orienteering (ECTO), 2022 version, is over and the final overall results have been published. Best from Great Britain is John Kewley who finished in a very commendable 17th place. Charles Bromley Gardner was 58th and Tom Dobra 60th. In an active year for British participation, 12 British Trail Orienteers, amongst a total of 291, took part in one or more of the competitions.
Full results: European Cup in TrailO