Tiomila

High hopes again this year for Lidingö, with many talking of us challenging the 'big 3'. Well it didn't quite work out that way, and 4 of the team will feel a little disappointed with their performances. We failed to get to the front early on, were not in the leading pack on long night, and from then on it was all chasing and overtaking the other teams dropping off. I ran the 8th leg, and went out in 14th place, a long way behind the leaders but with lots of teams not too far in front to chase. I ran really aggressively from the start, and picked up a number of teams. My orienteering wasn't quite clean enough, and I wasn't quite strong enough to pull away from the other runners though, and I ended up running in a bit of a pack with about 5 other teams. At the end though, I managed to get a small gap with the gaffling and managed to change over in 7th place, and I had the 3rd fastest time on my leg which was pretty satisfying. The last 2 boys held on to 7th, but it was a big ask to take any more places. The potential is there, and one day we will have a good team performance and the result will come.

UK Cup

Thanks to various people doing various things like not entering races, I managed to retain the UK Cup without running the final races :)

British sprint champion

Photo Dave Rollins

On Sunday I retook the British Sprint title in Chorley. Scott Fraser wasn't there to defend his title, so I won by a big margin from Murray Strain and Matt Crane.

Really nice couple of races with fast but difficult orienteering in the qualifier, and then really fast high concentration orienteering in the afternoon.

Routegadget and results

On Saturday I was 2nd in the middle champs behind Oli Johnson. Good course on a great area, I threw it away on 2 controls.

Routegadget and results

Wheally nice mini o-tour taking in Devon, Cornwall, London and Nottingham

So after the JK I went on a little tour round the south west, taking in Lynton, Lynmouth, Barnstaple, Lands End, Penzance among others.

I took part in a really fun race at Wheal Florence (map extract below) - an old tin mining strip. I enjoyed it so much I ran two courses.

Wheal Florence results 1, results 2

The next day there was a race at the Eden Project near St Austell. Part of the race was in the Biomes (bio-domes), so we were running through rainforest and 35 degree heat!

Eden project results

Then it was back to Surrey to finish off the map of Guildford that I am making for a city race there. Saturday I took part in the South East sprint championships, which turned out to be really fun! Maps below, I also took in a lap of Richmond Park which is one of my favourite places to run.

Race 1 results and routegadget

Race 2 results and routegadget

Yesterday to complete the tour, I took in the Nottingham City Race on my way back to Sheffield.

Nottingham city race results and routegadget

Selections have been released - I am selected for European Championships, Nordic World Cup Tour and World University Championships - it is going to be a busy summer!

Fun in the sun (and the mud)

Pictures speak louder than words....

JK festival, Easter weekend, Devon.

3 races, 3 victories

Maps, results and routegadget below

Photo credits - Peter Guillaume, Wendy Carlyle, Christine Robinson

Sprint results and routegadget

Middle results and routegadget

Relay results

Disappointing season start

The first elite races of the year were held up in Scotland, and I had high hopes after a good winter training. Unfortunately things did not go to plan, and I felt heavy legged before they even began - perhaps indicative of the the tough nature of the terrain and the quantity of training I have been doing. The middle distance was no disaster, finished 4th, 1 minute down on Scott, but I was disappointed with how I felt and how many small mistakes I made.

Touch routegadget and results

The classic never got going for me really. I made bad route choices and was scrappy, and I was off the pace from the start. Tough motivationally at the start of a long season, and only 4 days to pick myself up before the JK

Trossachs routegadget and results