NEWS
British Relays Mens Premier Winners 2026, Edinburgh University, photo: Edward Lines
Edinburgh University took both relay trophies at the British Relays on Sunday. Sort of, it was the Alumni club Auld Reekie (AROS) who took the win in the Womens race.
The place was Margam Country Park, South Wales, and it was St David's Day. The racing was organised by South Wales OC, led by Laurence Snowden, the planner was Mark Saunders and the controller Simon Thompson.
Daisy May McNamara and Euan Tryner, British Champs Winners 2026, photo: Rob Lines
First year senior Daisy May McNamara and second year senior Euan Tryner are the winners of the British Orienteering Championships for the classic long distance. The racing was on Saturday on Carreg Goch, South Wales moorland, put on by Swansea Bay OC. The organiser was Niall Reynolds and the planner Megan Mitchell. Ben Mitchell was the mapper (and a few other jobs too.) The controller was Alan Rosen, with his brother David the IOF Event Advisor.
A section of the M21 course from the British Night Champs 2026
Graham Gristwood (Forth Valley) and Megan Mitchell (Swansea Bay) won the open classes at the British Nights in Egypt Woods west of London on Saturday 7th February.
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Competition Reports
Freddie Carcas in the Sprint Qualification Race, photo: Clare Lines
The 2025 European Championships were in Belgium at the end of August. It was the turn of the three sprint disciplines, the first time at World Cup Level since the World Championships in Edinburgh 13 months ago. The cities of Hasselt, Geel and Lier hosted, and all races were accessible by train. There were accompanying spectator races called the "EOC Tour". The build up and lead-in events had been successful and it all went very well.
At the end the team of France were exuberant with their best ever results. The final day was the individual sprint, the show taking over the Market Square in Lier. Mathias Barros Vallet won, complementing Cecile Calandry's win in the knockout sprint two days earlier. Pia Young Vik of Norway took the women's sprint, and both Mathias and Pia were first time winners at this level. In fact for both, although they had strong results from lower level races and had shown well in knockout sprint (Pia won silver behind Cecile), it was their first finish in the top-10 of a World Cup individual sprint race, and of course it meant gold medals and a national anthem playing for them.
Grace Molloy in the Middle Distance Final, photo: IOF / Kristina Lindgren
The 2025 World Championships were in Finland, at Kuopio in the middle of the country. It was a forest only World Champs. The build up and lead in events had been successful and it all went very well.
By the end the big nations had taken all of the medals: Sweden 7, Norway 6, Switzerland 4, and the home country Finland won bronze in the last race .
Grace Molloy was the British athlete getting top-20 results: 18th in the Middle and 14th in the Long. The GBR relay teams were 7th in the Women's and 10th in the Men's..
Chloe Potter in the European Long Championships race 18th August 2024, photo:Rob Lines
The European Championships in 2024 were in the forest formats in Hungary. The event centre was in Várgesztes, 100km west of Budapest and the races were in continental terrain of the Vértes Hills. It was also Round 3 of the World Cup, the first two rounds having been sprint only formats, and it came barely a few weeks after the World Champs in Ediburgh, which were also sprint only races. For some of the athletes tuning their forest orienteering after a long period of sprint focus was a challenge.
The Men's Relay, with three Sweden teams near the front but only the first one to count, ended Norway - Sweden - Switzerland. GBR were 14th. The Women's Relay finished Switzerland - Norway - Sweden, with GBR 9th.