Thanks to a grant from the Jack Bloor Fund l was able to compete in my first Junior World Orienteering Championships in Romania. The highs and low of JWOC 2023.
All in all, a pretty good debut JWOC, 44th in the Sprint, 34th in the middle, and 20th in the long. Sprint was never the focus going in so a minute and a half down on the winner is something I was happy with and it got me into the second sprint relay team. The first half of the middle has to be technically one of the best performances I’ve had in a race as big as this, it was just unfortunate it unraveled slightly about halfway through but got it back together for what is still a respectable result. Thought I’d thrown it away immediately in the long a #3 but after a stable run I got caught by the eventual world champion who I managed to keep with the rest of the course to secure a top 20, so got to thank him. 7th is the 4th best result ever for GB in the relay so in the end we’re pretty happy with it but, as the last 2 photos show, I’m pretty gutted about how it happened. Having gone into the final part of the course in 4th I got caught and passed, less than 300m from the finish by a pack who’d run together the whole race and I had nothing left to give.
Jack Bloor Race & Fund 