JK 2022South Wales, 15 - 18 April
The 2022 Jan Kjellström Festival of Orienteering was held in South Wales, on good areas in glorious weather.
Although very few ESOC members travelled to this year’s JK, everyone enjoyed the events, which were well-organised on great technical terrain, and there were some excellent results.
The JK Sprint was on Friday 15 April (Day 1) at Swansea University, close to the beach of Swansea Bay. The University campus has complex modern and older buildings, separated by roads, paths, grassed open spaces, and steps. The competition area included the adjacent Singleton Park, with a mix of sloping open grass, mature trees and ornamental gardens. The weather was sunny and warm.
Rachel Brown (running as EUOC) won W20E by a convincing margin.
Other ESOC results:
M14 (45 competitors) – Calum Robertson 16th
M60 (79) – Keith Brown 8th, David Robertson 73rd
M65 (64) – Crawford Lindsay 55th
M75 (36) – Brian Yates 27th
W14 (36) – Megan Brown 21st
W50 (80) – Hanne Robertson 28th, Judy Bell 47th
W65 (44) – Janice Nisbet 9th, Sally Lindsay 14th
The JK Individual competition consists of 2 days (Days 2 and 3), and the times are added together for the overall results.
Day 2, on Saturday 16 April, was a Middle Distance race at Clydach Terrace, near Brynmawr. This is the site of abandoned 19th Century ironstone workings, and the area has very complex terrain with many fan-shaped tips, knolls and depressions, mostly covered in rough grassland with some heathery ground and many small unmapped paths. The Event Arena was at Brynmawr Foundation School, with parking some distance away, and an efficient bus service transported competitors to and fro. The Start and Finish were about 20 minutes’ walk from the Event Arena. Fortunately the weather was still sunny and warm.
Day 3, on Easter Sunday, was at Pwll Du, near Blaenavon. This is also old mining terrain, and has many complex features, steep spoil heaps and scree slopes. Much of the area is very rough, with heather and tussock, but there was faster going on bare mining spoil or the tracks that snaked through the terrain. Courses were long, and there were some very long times and retirals.
The weather was still fine, though cooler than the previous days, with a breeze.
Rachel Brown won W20E on both Day 2 and Day 3, therefore winning W20E in the overall competition.
Other ESOC results:
M14A (44 competitors) – Calum Robertson 32nd
M60L (80) – Keith Brown 24th, David Robertson 71st
M65L (70) – Crawford Lindsay 16th
W14A (35) – Megan Brown 17th
W21E (51) – Rona Lindsay 27th
W50L (59) – Hanne Robertson 42nd
W50S (21) – Judy Bell 1st
W65L (36) – Sally Lindsay 4th, Janice Nisbet 14th
Brian Yates (M75L) ran Day 3 only.
On Easter Monday (Day 4), the JK Relays were held at Caerwent Military Training Area. This has an interesting network of roads, ditches, old railway lines and dilapidated buildings, often surrounded by large blast banks, with dense woodland in the northern part of the map. Much of the area is close-cropped grass, but with many small bumps to trip the unwary.
The weather continued dry and bright.
ESOC had 3 teams, in classes D and P.
ESOC “Lost and Found” (Rona Lindsay, Sally Lindsay, Hanne Robertson) came 9th out of 25 teams in the Women’s Short class.
ESOC “Long Lost Family” (Keith Brown, Megan Brown, Judy Bell) came 11th out of 48 teams in the Mixed Ad Hoc class.
ESOC “Lost the Plot” (Crawford Lindsay, Calum Robertson, Mary Williams) also competed in Mixed Ad Hoc but unfortunately mispunched.
Roger Scrutton ran 3rd leg in an AROS team with Robin & Sheila Strain, in class J (Ultraveteran) - they came 19th out of 33 teams.
At the Relay Prizegiving, The JK Performance trophies were awarded, for the best individual overall performance. Rachel Brown won the Women’s trophy after such brilliant results.
Full results are here.
And Routegadget is here:
Day 1 - Swansea University
Day 2 - Clydach Terrace
Day 3 - Pwll Du
Day 4 - Caerwent
Days 1, 2 and 3 were the 14th, 15th and 16th events in the 2022 UK Orienteering League – more details about this league are on the UK Orienteering League page of the British Orienteering website. ESOC is now lying 33rd in the club competition. 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.
Days 1, 2 and 3 were also part of the UK Elite Orienteering League – see the UK Elite Orienteering League website for full details. All three days were World Ranking Events for elite runners.
Next year, the JK will be in the North West of England, from 7 to 10 April 2023, with events at Lancaster University and the southern Lake District.
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports