British Orienteering Championships 2026South Wales, 28 February-1 March
Credit: Sally Lindsay
It was a long journey to this year’s British Championships weekend, so there was a low turnout from ESOC, but competitors enjoyed the events and had some good results.
Report by Sally Lindsay:
The Individual event was at Carreg Goch, in the Fforest Fawr area NE of Swansea, part of the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park. The event parking was at Dan yr Ogof, the National Showcaves Centre for Wales, plus the adjoining campsite. There were over 1,000 competitors so every available piece of hard standing had cars packed onto it.
The weather forecast was for cold, wet weather, and the start was quite high (about 350m), with courses covering exposed terrain - carrying a cagoule was mandatory. To our surprise, we walked up to the start in warm sunny weather and I wondered if I was overdressed in a thermal and windproof, plus cagoule in a bumbag. But it turned out to be quite chilly up there, and a savage hail shower started while I was out, so I got very wet on the way down from the finish.
The area was open limestone terrain, typical of that part of South Wales, with literally hundreds of pits and depressions on the lower slopes, and stonier ground with crags on the highest parts, which were visited by the longer courses. Vegetation ranged from low bilberry, heather and tussocky grass, which was quite slow, to lovely runnable short grass around limestone outcrops. It’s a technical area demanding careful navigation, and there were lots of retirals.
ESOC results:
- M18E (34 competitors) – Calum Robertson 21st
- M60L (64) – David Robertson 56th
- M70L (38) – Crawford Lindsay 13th
- M80L (16) – Brian Yates 14th
- W14A (27) – Emma Daley 6th
- W18E (23) – Megan Brown 16th
- W50L (33) – Fran Daley 12th
- W55L (40) – Hanne Robertson 30th
- W55S (7) – Judy Bell 4th
- W60L (40) – Helena Nolan 5th
- W65L (31) – Alison Harding 3rd
- W70L (22) – Sally Lindsay 4th, Janice Nisbet 8th
- W75L (8) – Mary Williams 2nd
The Relays the next day were further south, at Margam Country Park, a few miles SE of Port Talbot, and the terrain was a complete contrast with the individual event. There were 3 distinct areas: marshy grazing land on the lowest part, with deep ditches, fenced enclosures and some thick rhododendrons; a steep escarpment with dead bracken, scattered rhododendron bushes and some blocks of plantation forest; an upper area of grazing land (visited by the longer courses), much drier with very fast running. The courses were relatively short and straightforward, and there were some fast times.
ESOC only had 2 teams, both in older classes, so none of us went up to the higher ground, and we all encountered a great deal of mud. There was a spectator control and a good atmosphere with commentary, club tents and flags. We’d been warned that the arena might be a bit boggy in places, and under the onslaught of hundreds of feet it became extremely muddy. Luckily there was a lake on the way back to the car park, where we could wash the thick mud off our feet.
ESOC results:
J – M60 (23 teams)
ESOC Allsorts (Kevin Harding, Fran Daley, Crawford Lindsay) unfortunately mispunched
K – W60 (11 teams)
ESOC Eclairs 4th (Alison Harding, Sally Lindsay, Helena Nolan)
Emma Daley ran in a multi-club team in class Q – W14 (5 teams), and they also mispunched.
Full results from both days, along with links to Routegadget and photos from the weekend, are on the British Orienteering Championships results page.
Further details about the weekend are currently available on the British Orienteering Championships website.
The Individual day was the 5th event in the 2026 UK Orienteering League. There are more details about the UKOL, including the updated league tables, on the UK Orienteering League page of the British Orienteering website. With the score for this event included, ESOC is lying 27th in the club league. The latest score for each club is calculated automatically from the 15 best club members' scores (across various age class groups) - so the club members whose scores are included may change as the year goes on and more events are included.
Specific links:
Results
Routegadget - Individual event
Routegadget - Relays
Photos – Individual event:
by Wendy Carlyle
by Robert Lines
Photos – Relays:
by Wendy Carlyle
by Robert Lines
by Edward Lines
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports