The 2019 Nokian Tyres World Orienteering Championships (WOC) took place in Østfold, Norway from 13th - 17th August. Østfold is the county of the south-east part of Norway, between Oslo and Sweden. The event centre was the city of Sarpsborg. The Championships were very well organised, and the accompanying spectator races were also well attended.
The nine athletes of the Great Britain Team for the 2019 World Champs. Credits: Matt Speake by Karl Orud, Jo Shepherd by WOC2018 Latvia, Charlotte Watson and Megan Carter-Davies by South London Orienteers (from the "Get up to Speed" videos), others by On The Red Line.
It was a forest only World Championships. All three finals, long, middle and relay, were held from a specially constructed arena at Mørk Golf Club, in the middle of the previously unmapped forest. Long and middle used an arena start, and all courses had an arena passage.
Great Britain took a team of nine athletes, supported by Team Manager Ed Nicholas, Coach Liz Campbell and Physio Jane Ashbrook. Of the nine, four are based in Britain (two of whom have spent several years in Sweden), four in Norway and one in Sweden. All had run at least two World Champs before.
Full results are in IOF Eventor - WOC2019.
British Champs Podium, Kilnsey May 5th 2019, credit: On The Red Line
The British Champions 2019 are Alasdair McLeod and Megan Carter-Davies. The Championships were held on the open moorland of Arncliffe and Kilnsey North on May 5th 2019.
The Sprint Relay champions are Edinburgh University.
The Forest Relay champions are
- Men: Airienteers
- Women: South Yorkshire.
JK2019 Middle Distance Prizewinners, credit: Iain Shepherd
The 2019 took place in central Southern England from April 19th - 22nd.
- Friday was a World Ranking Sprint Race at Aldershot Garrison
- Saturday was a World Ranking Middle Distance Race at Old Windmill Hill
- Sunday was a Long Distance Race at Cold Ash
- Monday was the JK Relays, the biggest UK relays competition, at Minley.
The weather was exceptionally warm and dry, and everything about the competition was very good, except the results service and timing which were not up to it.
(It's late Tuesday evening now, and "All results are now under review and will be published as soon as they are validated.")
Top three in the Women's Overall enjoying the weather, credit: Iain Shepherd
Dave Rollins and Heather Monro
There was no prizegiving for the the racing at Cold Ash today but there was a presentation by past members of the British team, represented by Heather Monro (ran at 8 x WOC, and a bronze medal in 2005) to former manager Dave Rollins who led many GB international trips.
The provisional results - today only (not the two days combined)
Women:
- Megan Carter-Davies
- Cecilie Andersen
- Lizzie Ingham
Men:
- Chris Smithard
- Will Gardner
- Peter Bray
Photo: Kris Jones in last year's World Champs Forest Relay, by Janis Ligats for WOC2018 Latvia.
(This is a republication of a post inadvertently deleted, although given how Kris's predictions turned out - not entirely Kris's fault with both tipped men not starting - we perhaps need not have bothered )
Kris Jones is not running the JK this year. He is currently recovering and training in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Kris wrote about his injury for "Fast Running".
Kris provides his thoughts about the racing, and bravely predicts which of his fellow GB athletes might take the wins.
The 2018 World Championships took place in Latvia (celebrating 100 years) from 4th - 11th August. The event was based in Riga and Sigulda. The Championships were supported by Nokian Tyres.
This was the last all-disciplines World Championships. Next year it will be the Forest races (Norway), in 2020 the Sprint races (Denmark.)
Britain sent a team of 14 athletes. They achieved one podium place, in the men's relay.
Full results are in IOF Eventor - WOC2018 and results and photographs are also at the Latvia World Champs site. An index of our news reports and a summary of British results follows below.
See also the virtual arena (with links to many GB photos) at Maprunner WOC 2018
Continue reading...
Photo: Alan Cherry finishes in the Long Race WOC2018, credit Janis Ligats / WOC2018 Latvia
Women
- Tove Alexandersson, Sweden
- Maja Alm, Denmark ,
- Sabine Hauswirth, Switzerland
British runners:
> 25. Jessica Tullie,
> 28. Charlotte Watson,
> 31. Jo Shepherd.
Kris Jones wins Sprint Bronze
Photo: Kris Jones on the run through the arena (On The Red Line)
Photo: GB team; athletes, manager and support staff, Hollie Orr not present (Source: Kirstin Maxwell Twitter)
Jo Shepherd of Inverness O.C. and Halden SK won the British Champs race at Balmoral on Saturday 19th.
The men's champion is Peter Hodkinson of Nottinghamshire O.C. and Lillomarka OL.
For both Jo and Peter it is a first win of the British Long or Classic distance champs.
Sunday's British Champs relays were both won by Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO).
Continue reading...The 2017 World Championships took place in Estonia from 1st - 7th July. The event was based in Tartu. The Championships were supported by Nokian Tyres.
Britain sent a team of 16 athletes. They achieved one podium place, in the sprint relay.
Full results are at the Estonian World Champs site. A summary of British results follows below.
Continue reading...