JK International Festival of Orienteering 2009
Northumbrian Hills || 10th-13th April
Two Gold, one Silver & one Bronze in the Sprint Races, a Bronze in the two-day Classic and a Bronze in the Relays. Additionally, new recruit Helen Bridle missed Gold by only 2 seconds in the Women’s Open Sprint and was placed 8th overall in the JK Women’s Elite Class.
Northumbrian Hills || 10th-13th April
The Jan Kjellström International Orienteering Festival 2009, incorporating two World Ranking Events, three UK Cup rounds, three Future Champions Cup rounds, a UK Relay League competition and trail orienteering was held in the North East of England over the Easter holiday. The programme included:
· Friday 10th April 2009 - Sprint - Newcastle city
· Saturday 11th April 2009 - Middle/Long - Kyloe Woods
· Sunday 12th April 2009 - Long - Detchant, Shiellow & Cockenheugh
· Monday 13th April 2009 - Relays - Dipton, nr Hexham
Day 1: Sprint - Newcastle
The early stages were around the buildings of Newcastle University but courses also included a series of short legs in Exhibition Park, some long legs with tricky route choices involving crossing points under/over major roads bisecting the area, a section around quiet urban streets and then the final sprint for home in front of the Civic Centre.
Recent sprint training & competitions in Edinburgh, Stirling and Forres clearly paid dividends as ESOC finished the day with two age class champions (Helena Nolan in W40 and Ian Pyrah M65), one Silver medal (Rona Lindsay W16) and one Bronze (Craig Nolan M14).
Additionally, new recruit Helen Bridle came second on the Women’s Elite course only 2 seconds behind fellow GB Squad member Pippa Whitehouse from Cleveland Orienteering Club. It all came down to the sprint finish with Helen and Pippa on exactly the same time at the last control.
Day 2: Middle/Long - Kyloe
For Days 2 & 3 the competition moved north to the woods just inland from Holy Island. The sun shone all day - a far cry from the snow of last year’s JK in the south east of England - and the organisers had created a great race arena for another exciting day of competition.
The tough forest on Day 2 looked like it was taking its toll with some long times posted from early finishers but leading times, e.g. on the Elite middle distance races, were slowly edged down as the seeded runners started to come into the finish.
Day 3: Long - Detchant, Shiellow, Greensheen Hill & Cockenheugh
Once again there was beautiful sunshine and the planners had weaved the courses through a variety of terrain including woods, open hillside and some spectacular rock features.
The JK championships are based on the combined times for Days 2 & 3. Helen Bridle finished 8th overall on the Women’s Elite and there was further success in the Age Class competition with Janice Nisbet winning Bronze in W55L.
Day 4: Relays - Dipton Woods, nr Hexham
Day 4 and the climax of the competition. For the first time in many years ESOC had a team in one of the Open Classes but unfortunately illness prevented Claire Ward from taking part. A quick re-jig of the team, with Sarah O’Neil moving from lap 2 to lap 1, Helena Nolan coming in to run the short second lap and Helen Bridle running the last lap meant the team were up-and-running. The racing was fast and furious with the courses passing through open but sapping bilberry forest for the most part, culminating in a stiff 50m climb in the final 500m on each lap. The team finished an excellent 7th.
Once again ESOC achieved a podium position in the age class competition where one of our W165 teams (average age class W55) finishing in Bronze medal position. Well done to Janice Nisbet, Eleanor Pyrah & Chris McLeod who maintained a position of third throughout all three laps.
There were many other good performances over the weekend and there were many happy, but tired, people heading back to Scotland after 4 excellent days of competition. Thanks to the North East Orienteering Association for all their hard work.
Full results are available on the JK 2009 website with selected results below.
Selected Results
Day 1 : Sprint Races
Class M14
Pos Name Club Country Time (min:secs)
1. Aidan Smith SYO GBR 18:42
2. Christopher Nash SROC GBR 19:04
3. Craig Nolan ESOC GBR 19:20
Class W16
1. Florence Haines AIRE GBR 17:18
2. Rona Lindsay ESOC GBR 17:21
3. Zoe Harding SROC GBR 17:34
W21E
1. Pippa Whitehouse CLOK GBR 17:18
2 . Helen Bridle WIM GBR 17:20
3. Sarah Rollins BAOC GBR 17:28
Class W40
1. Helena Nolan ESOC GBR 17:27
2. Lesley Ross OD GBR 17:28
3. Sara Campbell DEE GBR 17:49
Class M65
1. Ian Pyrah ESOC GBR 14:49
2. Mike Perry SAX GBR 15:28
3. Barrie Speake EBOR GBR 15:46
Days 2 & 3 overall
Class W55L
Pos Name Club JK Day 2 JK Day 3 Total
1. Inara Gipsle TVOC GBR 45:58 (1) 43:27 (2) 89:25
2. Ruth Lynam CNOC IRL 48:30 (2) 44:23 (3) 92:53
3. Janice Nisbet ESOC GBR 50:11 (3) 44:57 (4) 95:08
Day 4 Relays
Class Veteran Women (W165+)
Pos Time Club Country Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3
(long) (short) (long)
1. 80:42 BL GBR 31:47 (4) 22:53 (1) 26:02 (1)
Judy Johnson/Di Mitchell/Stella Lewsley
2. 83:06 WCH GBR 24:52 (1) 24:01 (2) 34:13 (10)
Beth Clayton/Jane Christopher/Hazel Waters
3. 84:13 ESOC GBR 30:05 (3) 27:14 (7) 26:54 (3)
Janice Nisbet/Eleanor Pyrah/Chris McLeod
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports