ESOC at the 2025 Home Internationals
ESOC members were involved in the Scotland teams for all of this year’s Home International competitions.
The Home Internationals are annual competitions between selected teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with an individual event and a relay over a weekend, plus a social event on the Saturday evening. There are 3 different competitions: the Junior Home International (JHI) for M/W14-18, the Senior Home International (SHI) for M/W20-21, and the Veteran Home International (VHI) for M/W40-70.
The 2025 SHI took place on 27/28 September in the southern Lake District, alongside the Junior Inter-Regional Championships. ESOC’s Rachel Brown was in the Scotland team. The individual event was at Torver Back Common, in deciduous woodland on slopes above Coniston Water, and detailed open fell on the higher ground. The relays were in the complex sand dunes at Haverigg, on the coast further south.
England had a very narrow lead over Scotland after the individual event, and increased this lead slightly in the relays to win the overall competition.
Full results, along with Routegadget and Planner’s comments, are available on the Lakeland Orienteers website:
Individual
Relay plus overall scores
There are also reports from the weekend on the Lakeland Orienteers website, and on the Scottish Orienteering website.
The VHI was on 4/5 October in Aberfoyle, in conjunction with the Junior European Cup. The individual event was at Loch Ard, a challenging technical area of predominantly spruce forest, and the relays were held at Fairy Knowe and Doon Hill, mixed, hilly woodland. ESOC members Kevin Harding and Alison Harding were in the Scotland team, and Janice Nisbet is the Veterans Team Manager.
England were leading after the individual event, then Scotland won both the MWM and WMW relays, which equalised the score. In the event of a tie, the nation with the most first places across all 16 classes (including the 2 relays) wins. Scotland won the overall competition, for the first time since 2012.
Full results, along with Routegadget and team scores, are available on the VHI 2025 results page of the Scottish Orienteering website.
There’s also a report from the competition on the Forth Valley Orienteers website.
The JHI was on 11/12 October in South Wales. The individual event was at Merthyr Common, high limestone moorland with many pits and depressions, and the relays were at Clydach Terrace, old ironstone workings with very complex terrain. There were no ESOC members running in the Scotland team this year, but Judy Bell is ScotJOS Team Manager.
England were leading at the end of the individual event. After the relays, England and Scotland had the same number of points, and England were declared the overall winners because they had more 1st places across the eight classes (2 relay and 6 individual).
Full results are on the JHI 2025 results page of the South Wales Orienteering Club website.
Other entries categorised under: Juniors