Will Gardner (L), Nathan Lawson (R), of Octavian Droobers (OD) after the Sprint Race in Armagh where they were 2nd and 1st respectively (photo: OD Twitter)
The 10 Day Emerald Isle Orienteering Festival culminated in the British Sprint Champs on Saturday 6th May, and the British Middle Distance Champs on Sunday 7th. The sprints were a qualifier and final pair of races, held in Armagh. The middles were at Drumkeeragh Forest, just inside the Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Thanks to the clubs of the Northern Ireland Orienteering Association, and indeed all the volunteers who put on the extensive programme of events.
Nathan Lawson won both men's titles, and Fiona Bunn, returned from international duty the previous weekend, won both Women's.
Full Results - British Sprint and Middle Champs
Links on the results page to Winsplits and Routegadget are not yet active (Tuesday evening) - check back later!
It was the same runners-up both days too. Nathan's clubmate Will Gardner was second behind Nathan on both days, and the Yorkshire based New Zealander Laura Robertson was second behind Fiona.
Sprints
There is an appreciation of the quality of the event on the chat forum Nopesport, which begins "For anyone who wasn't there."
W21
- Fiona Bunn (Edinburgh University)
- Laura Robertson (South Yorkshire)
- Mairi Eades (Edinburgh University)
- Alice Leake (Airienteers)
- Kirstin Maxwell (Roxburgh Reivers)
- Emma Wilson (Clyde)
Fiona's margin of victory was 26 seconds.
M21
- Nathan Lawson (Octavian Droobers)
- Will Gardner (Octavian Droobers)
- Josh O'Sullivan-Hourihan (Cork, IRL international)
- Paul Pruzina (Lagan Valley)
- Peter Hodkinson (Interlopers)
- Philip Vokes (Octavian Droobers)
Nathan's margin over his clubmate was just 4 seconds. The splits show the gap got as big as 9 seconds at one point. On his blog Nathan comments about holding a few mistakes to not more than 5 seconds and
<< Delighted to have won my first senior title, haven't won any domestically, (I think) except relays, since British sprints 2013. >>
Nathan's win in 2013 was the British Sprints at Loughborough University. He won M16A.
Paul Pruzina is a member of the club organizing the middle distance race the next day. He won the Irish Sprint Championships race the weekend before. Philip Vokes was quickest at the IOF standard length Classic Champs.
It was also Fiona's first senior title. She won the British Long W20E in 2019.
Middle Distance
W21
- Fiona Bunn (Edinburgh University)
- Laura Robertson (South Yorkshire)
- Alice Leake (Airienteers)
- Mairi Eades (Edinburgh University)
- Emma Wilson (Clyde)
- Helen Ockenden (DRONGO)
M21
- Nathan Lawson (Octavian Droobers)
- Will Gardner (Octavian Droobers)
- Peter Hodkinson (Interlopers)
- Ruari Short (Curragh Naas, IRL international)
- Paul Pruzina (Lagan Valley, IRL international)
- Alasdair Pedley (Auld Reekie)
Nathan's winning margin was over two minutes: Nathan caught Will after about two-thirds of the race. Peter was another two minutes down in third. Fourth placed Ruari Short won the Irish Classic and Middle distance races the weekend before.
Nathan comments on his blog:
<< Cool that after 10 years with no titles suddenly I have 2 in 2 days! Really chuffed to get my name on the trophy. >>
Nathan Lawson starts, just ahead of Laura Robertson, photo: Neil Harrison (Belfast), from British Orienteering Twitter
Fiona Bunn starts, photo: Neil Harrison