Fiona Bunn is one of five newcomers to the GB Senior Squad. Credit: JWOC2019 Denmark.

The GB 2020 Senior Squad was announced at the end of January, news somewhat buried by the departure of the UK from the European Union on the same day.

On The Red Line We add our congratulations to the newcomers, and we thank those leaving for their contribution in previous years.

There are 24 athletes. 18 are based in the UK and six in Scandinavia. 15 of them have run at a World Championships. Coincidentally, 24 was also the size of the initial squads announced for 2018 and 2019.

It is an achievement to be invited to join. It brings cachet. It doesn't of itself bring any financial benefit though; there is no official squad training, and it is not referenced in the selection policy. Membership may help provide evidence on the policy's additional criteria, such as commitment to a positive team environment, but it is not the only way to do that. The GB international teams can and often do select non-squad athletes. Graham Gristwood ran the long at last year's World Championships.

New to the squad this year are Adam Potter (Bristol O.K.), Ben Mitchell (Swansea Bay O.C.), Cecilie Andersen (Bristol O.K.) and Sarah Jones (Edinburgh Southern O.C.), all relatively young runners who ran in the later rounds of last year's World Cup. Another newcomer is first year senior Fiona Bunn (Thames Valley O.C.), who won two medals at last year's Junior World Championships (JWOC).

Image: Lonely Mountain Sprints location (image from the event website)

In this the first year of a sprints only World Orienteering Championship it seems that in January it has been the team's sprinters that have been making the news.

Peter Hodkinson, Jonny Crickmore and Chris Smithard were amongst other internationals taking part in the Lonely Mountain Sprint Series in New Zealand. There is a great report, with photos and maps, at orienteering NZ.

The Great Britain Sprint Relay Team for World Cup Round 1

Preview

The race starts at 17:57 Finnish Time (2 hours ahead of UK) on Tuesday 11th June. It can be watched on the internet for 6euro.

Live services.

Sasha Chepelin at the arena passage

Peter Bray, shortly after the race

Picture: Overhead shot of a GB Runner orienteering

Link to the "Get Up To Speed" Videos.

South London Orienteers have, with funding from Sport England, produced a series of eight short videos illustrating techniques used in orienteering. The videos are filmed in different locations and each is presented by a member of the GB Team. The aim of the series is to help juniors deal with more technically demanding courses, but these films can also be used to help newcomers to the sport. Each video focuses on a specific orienteering skill.

Videos are being released on Fridays (5 pm UK-time) in January and February.

Picture: Cat (GB top) and Hollie (Lakeland OC top)

The senior squad inaugural took place the weekend of the 1st-2nd December. This was a chance for the squad to get together, to celebrate the 2018 achievements, and to make plans for the coming year. Training started with some technical night-o in Haverthwaite on the Friday evening and then two forest sprints in Windermere on Saturday morning - one a mass start and one a chasing start to simulate the pressure and distractions of head to head relay running.

Photo: Southern Championships Forest, November 2018.

Dull November brings the blast; Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Sara Coleridge The Garden Year

Photo: Charlotte and Kirstin at the sprint weekend

The top GB sprinters gathered in York two weeks before the European Champs sprint races for a final group training weekend.

Graham Gristwood was the planner and he has put together a short video of the running giving a flavour of what went on. Several locations and several formats are evident.

Thanks to Steve Whitehead, Paul Murgatroyd, Peter and Christine Roberts, Bill Griffiths and EBOR Orienteers.

The "JK", the biggest annual festival in the UK orienteering calendar, held every year at Easter, is upon us. What a lovely prospect! This year the West Midlands Association are hosting. How's the training gone, have you got it all planned out and read through 28 pages of programme, how did you fare on your big weekends in February and March? Do you miss chatting to your friends at a model event before the real action - once upon a time that was the Friday entertainment. And will we have snow? (No is the latest I've heard).

On 27th November 2017 British Orienteering announced a squad of 24 athletes for 2018. New members are all from the Scottish Orienteering Association: Kirstin Maxwell of Roxburgh Reivers, and first-year seniors Jennifer Ricketts and Sasha Chepelin both of Edinburgh University.

The Squad's primary target is the World Championships. Membership of the squad does not offer any financial or service benefits.

We were prompted to set up a site to focus on the GB orienteering team and senior squad because of the interest we have developed in the athletes and the international programme. We knew there was a lot of material out on the internet and in social media but it wasn't easy to find it as it was so scattered. A chance meeting at Ralph's old school really brought home to us the difficulty of following the GB team.

Support

Author: Sarah Brown

The GB Orienteers are very grateful for the support they receive from clubs and regions.