The European Youth Orienteering Championships are an annual event for M/W16s and M/W18s from across Europe, with some competitors from New Zealand and Australia too. This year it was held in Szczecin, in northern Poland, at the end of June. It consists of a long distance event, sprint and relay, over 3 days.
After arriving late on the Wednesday night, we spent a few hours in the forest adjacent to the long and relay area, completing a model course, to practise in the terrain, which was fairly runnable beech forest, with many complex contours.The next day we did another model event, this time to practise not only in the forest but also for the sprint. We were able to experience the ‘superman’ finish and start boxes they would have at both races, ensuring there would be no confusion due to the lack of a finish control to punch.
For the long event we left the hotel early to reach quarantine in time for its closure. As I had an early start, I left after a short time to take a minibus to the start in the forest. The first part of the course was in the runnable, hilly woods with lots of difficult navigation relying on contours and vegetation boundaries. However, the last part was on an open hill with thick bushes and head high grass, where I managed to lose the path and therefore spent 5 minutes battling through the undergrowth trying to find a control hidden in the jungle. Although I didn’t have a winning run, James Hammond in the M18s won silver, and Finn Duguid was 6th in the M16s.
Next day, the sprint was held in the old part of Szczecin, filled with barriers and walls, making for difficult route choices and navigation, as well as creating a danger of mispunching (23 M16s mispunched!)
For the relay there are teams of three for each age group, so the fourth person runs in a mixed team. I ran with Barbora Stryckova from Czechia, and Ami McGowan from New Zealand, and finished first mixed team. It was great meeting orienteers from different countries, especially at the friendship party, where we made friends with the Slovakian W16 team.
It was an amazing experience for international racing, which will be useful in the future (I hope), and I would like to thank all of the coaches and organisers who helped to make the event happen and the team get there.
And a massive thanks to the Jack Bloor Fund in helping me get there
Jack Bloor Race & Fund 