British Sprint & Middle Distance Championships 2018University of Bath/Stockhill Woods, 1/2 September
There were mixed fortunes for the handful of ESOC members who made the long journey to Somerset, including a podium place at both events.
The British Sprint Championships event on Saturday was held at Bath University, with the event centre in the Sports Training Village, offering good indoor facilities including a café, as well as a large balcony with great views of the finish on the athletics track. The weather was fine, with afternoon sun, and there was a good atmosphere with crowds of spectators.
The university campus is on a slope and includes an interesting mix of buildings, set in pleasant parkland. The central buildings have many staircases and a service level below the main terrace, and special notes had been provided to explain how this had been mapped, offering very challenging route choices. Many orienteers were to be seen afterwards exploring the area and working out where they should have gone (and indeed where they had gone).
There were parallel heats in most classes. The courses set off northwards amongst accommodation blocks with many paths and courtyards, before heading into the complex multi-level area in the centre of the campus. The last few controls were in parkland, looping round to the south side of the athletics track. The finals were in the same area, but went the other way round, starting in the parkland, then criss-crossed the complicated central area, and finished in the accommodation blocks, approaching the finish from the north.
Results were often very close, and a few seconds lost could mean competing in a lower final, or a result several places further down. Laura Robertson achieved ESOC’s best result, winning the silver medal in the Women’s Open class.
Other ESOC results were as follows:
M50C - Terry Johnstone 4th
M70B - Brian Yates 18th
W60A - Sally Lindsay 6th
Janice Nisbet unfortunately mispunched in her heat, so was non-competitive in the W65B final, but took the shortest time.
Crawford Lindsay sadly missed out a control in the M60B final.
Further details about the event can be found in the final details document here.
The British Middle Distance Championships event took place at Stockhill Woods, SW of Bath, on Sunday 2 September. Stockhill is a working Forestry Commission wood on the Mendip Hills, mostly coniferous, and has a long history of lead mining. As a result, the whole wood is full of pits, depressions and gullies, with very complex contour detail. The last few controls were in a rough sloping field, giving good views for spectators. The weather was dull at first, brighter later, and underfoot conditions were generally dry with some long-lasting puddles in the rides.
The best ESOC result again came from Laura Robertson, who won her second silver medal of the weekend in W21.
Other ESOC results were as follows:
M50 (63 competitors) – Terry Johnstone 54th
M60 (66) – Crawford Lindsay 25th
M70 (39) – Brian Yates 30th
W60 (29) – Sally Lindsay 11th
W65 (29) – Janice Nisbet 6th
The final details document for this event is available here.
Full results from both races are available on the SPORTident British Sprint & Middle 2018 results page.
These events were the 19th and 20th in the 2018 UK Orienteering League. There are more details about the UKOL, including the league tables, on the UK Orienteering League page of the British Orienteering website. ESOC is now lying 22nd in the club league. The score for each club is calculated automatically from the 15 best club members' scores (across various age class groups).
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