British Middle Distance & Midland Championships 2026Brown Clee Hill, 18/19th April 2026
The ESOC ladies made the club proud with Emma, Megan and Helena achieving Championship times in the middle distance race on Saturday and all the competing ladies achieving the highest Gold standard times on Sunday, including an excellent 1st place for Helena Nolan in the W60L race.
On the 18th – 19th April, a few keen ESOC members travelled south for a full weekend of racing at the British Middle Orienteering Championships, hosted by Harlequins Orienteering Club, and the Midland Orienteering Championships, hosted by Octavian Droobers, both at Brown Clee Hill, Shropshire.
Fran Daley reports:
On Saturday (British Middles), we arrived to what can only be described as a revelation in parking logistics. A road of access mats led up the hill, where cars were turned and parked in neat downhill-facing columns, like waiting for a ferry.
The orienteering didn’t disappoint either. The TD5 courses first took us into a very technical open area - marshy, with lots of pits gorse bushes and intricate contour details from old workings. There was also some lovely deciduous woodland on the side of the hill where we were warned of the following: 'The streams (watercourse symbol 305) that flow down from the summit have eroded deep gullies (2 - 3 meters in depth) which should only be crossed with great care or avoided if possible. One such deep gully has been mapped with the trench symbol (215) to indicate the depth and steepness of the side walls.' It was quite a challenge to get over. Those with longer legs just jumped over the gap, but as I wasn’t confident that I would make it, I had to run down the gulley to find a suitable spot to cross.
The standout performances came from the women’s classes, with three top-6 finishes. Emma (W14) ran strongly to take 5th, while Helena (W60) also secured 5th in her class, and Megan (W18) added another excellent result with 6th place.
ESOC results:
- W14 (24) - Emma Daley 5th
- W18 (21) - Megan Brown 6th
- W50 (42) - Fran Daley 7th
- W55 (42) - Judy Bell 28th
- W60 (39) - Helena Nolan 5th
- W70 (26) - Janice Nisbet 8th
Sunday (Midland Championships), was another warm day (if in the sun) and we were able to run without thermals or waterproof jacket. All courses made it out onto the moorland on the southern end of the map. Conditions there proved tough going, including a particularly challenging 400m leg through a steep, boggy section. Despite that, I was quite pleased with my run, finishing only 9 minutes behind the winner. The standout result came from Helena Nolan, who took 1st place in W60, securing the class title in an excellent run. There were also strong performances across the women’s classes, with all the ESOC runners achieving gold medal standard times.
Overall, it was an enjoyable and memorable weekend of orienteering in a very different style of terrain from what we are used to in Scotland.
ESOC results:
- W14A (22) - Emma Daley 9th
- W18E (14) - Megan Brown 4th
- W50L (24) - Fran Daley 8th
- W60L (31) - Helena Nolan 1st
- W70L (22) - Janice Nisbet 5th
- M80L (18) - Brian Yates 18th
Full results for both days can be found here. There are also photos and routegadget for the British Middles at the same link.
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