Thanks to the Jack Bloor Fund which helped me compete in the 2018/19 U23 World Cup series where l finished 8^thoverall including a 3^rdplace at Hoogerheide and 4^that Koksijde.

My big goal for the season was the World Championships which was held on the coast in Bogense, Denmark. I gained selection with a 2^ndplace in the Elite National Championships, 1^stplace went to Tom Pidcock who became U23 World Champion.

After the national championships in January I went on a training camp for 10 days with my team (Corendon Circus) in Spain to prepare for the worlds and last races of the season. We did a lot of good quality training and coming into Hoogerheide (the last World Cup) I was feeling tired due to the amount of training and travel, but managed to finish 3rd and was very close to the second.

Coming into the worlds I was feeling good and with the result at the last World Cup I had a lot of confidence, I had a good start and was in the front group the whole race, unfortunately I had a puncture with 3 laps to go which meant I lost a few places but managed to get 6th in the end which I am happy with and now looking forward to the final few races left of the season.

www.benturner.online

The Jack Bloor fund supported me to complete my Mountain Leader Summer Assessment. I spent much of my childhood walking in the Yorkshire Dales with my family. Then I found myself working in the outdoor guiding industry and it became clear that to progress my guiding opportunities I needed the relevant qualifications. Hiking guiding was my main area of interest so Mountain Leader was the perfect starting point, however it is a large financial and time commitment. I completed my training course in April 2018 and then I used the summer of 2018 to consolidate the skills I had learnt and to practice for the 5 day assessment. This involved getting Quality Mountain Days, practising wild camping, learning about flora, fauna and weather systems, and most of all practising navigation.

After a lot of hard work the week of the assessment came along in early September in the Lake District. After of a lovely hot summer in the UK, our assessment week had a mixture of fair weather and strong winds and rain, which tested us and our equipment.

Day 1 – We spent the first day starting with a day navigating, it was the day to get our heads in the game for the rest of the week. We also went through a home paper assessment we had done.

Day 2 – We spent the day out in a rocky area near Kirkstone Pass, here we were practising our rope work; belays, confidence roping and abseiling, as well as our movement in steep and rocky terrain. It was a really enjoyable day out on the hill. The evening was spent preparing for our expedition.

Day 3-5 – We spent on a 2 night expedition, where we navigated in the Langdale Valley for 3 days and wild camped in the mountains. We also spent one evening being assessed on night navigation until about 1am, this is tricky, but luckily we had a dry evening for it! We also broke up the hiking a little by doing presentations on topics to do with the mountains, I choose to talk about mountain birds and ecology of dry stone walls.

Finally we returned, a little damp and rather tired but after a warming cup of tea in a pub, I received the happy news that I had passed and was now a qualified summer mountain leader!

I am extremely grateful to the Jack Bloor Fund for supporting me to get this qualification, so I can pursue the career that interests me so much.

Alicante Training week report

After completing my final year of my degree at the University of Leeds I was looking forward to the opportunity to have a week to focus on my training with fellow athletes before returning home and starting full time work in July.

The training began before I even left British soil. Three cancelled trains resulted in a mad dash through Manchester airport, making my flight by seconds. As we arrived late on Monday night, our first training run was Tuesday morning. A few members of the group went for a steady run to stretch our legs, exploring the local area including some trails and the promenade. In the early evening we returned to the trails for another steady run to investigate the potential for a longer hill climb route the following day. On the Wednesday we headed out as a large group, ascending the local trails to gain a great view over the bay. After a fast and competitive descent, we returned back along the promenade before ascending the final hill back to our accommodation.

On Thursday we headed to the track for a speed session. The weather was overcast during the warmup which made for more comfortable conditions than the previous days. The session consisted of 10x300m with 100m slow jog recovery. Although the heavens opened during the session, it was nice to be able to complete a strong session with the group.

Friday morning consisted of a group circuits session followed by a steady recovery run, and Saturday was another steady run in preparation for a harder run the following day. On Sunday some of the group decided to do another track session, however I opted for a tempo on the roads near to the athletics track, which was better suited to my 5/10k based training.

Being able to dedicate a week to focus on my running and train with a strong group of athletes really helped me to prepare both physically and mentally for the summer races over the coming months.

Throughout the summer and autumn of 2018 I had a number of successful races. Shortly after returning from the trip, I gained first place female at the Caistor 10k, were the 30’C conditions were very similar to those I had experienced a few weeks previous, and definitely worked to my advantage.

I subsequently have had a number of successful races, with first female at Haltemprice 10k and second female at Deepdale Dash 10k. I was also part of a successful team at the Northern Road Relays, who finished in 6th position out of 97 teams overall.

Many thanks to the Jack Bloor fund for providing me with such a fantastic opportunity.

World University Orienteering Championships – Kuortane Finland 2018.

In 2018 my major orienteering goal was selection for the World University Championships which was being held in Finland. As this was my second year as a senior the World championships still seemed far out of reach and as such World Uni’s provided a perfect opportunity to get more international experience during my transition towards senior competitions. I worked harder than ever this winter and raced well at the JK finishing 9^th overall in M21 Elite and finishing 12^th at the British Long Championships. These are my best senior results to date and I felt that I had made a big step towards closing the gap to the very best British orienteers. These results also put me in the top 5 under 25’s good enough to secure a spot in the GB World University’s team.

Exploring Edinburgh before the British Long-Distance Championships at Balmoral.

From the high of selection, I found it a real battle to make it to the competition in my best shape. I was working super hard to complete my masters, with exams and coursework deadlines falling either side of the competition week. Non-the-less as the team gathered at Edinburgh Airport I was determined to perform as well as possible and enjoy the week to the max. I also kept in the back of my mind that this was all part of my development and I’d still be under 25 and eligible for World Uni’s in 2020, to be held in Russia. Whatever happened this week I would learn some valuable lessons and enjoy the experience!

I had been selected for the Middle, Long and Relay races. This meant that on the first day of competition I would be spectating the sprint relay and most importantly cheering on my team mates. The team consisted of Cecilie Andersen (Oxford), Johnny Crickmore (Herriot Watt), Alexander Cheplin (Edinburgh) and Megan Carter-Davies (Bristol). After Cecilie got off to a great start the team ran well to eventually finish in 4^th place, just a matter of seconds away from a medal! Everyone was tired including the enthusiastic spectators but so proud and motivated for the rest of the week! My first race was the middle distance, held at Lapua in scorching heat! Despite starting well, I lost map contact in vague flat terrain, making a parallel error on my way to the second control.

Error at 2: Having lost direction in the flat area of light green low visibility marsh (1.) I saw crag (2.) believing it to be crag (3.) and so ended up too far left with nothing to relocate off.

I hadn’t lost too much time, but I remember feeling like I’d already thrown away any chance of a good result. I made a few more micro-errors as I rushed on, hoping to salvage the poor start. Any orienteer will tell you that you must put such mistakes behind you, it is not possible to make up lost time. However, this is always a challenge when the stakes are high at an international race that means a lot to you! By about half way around the course I made the decision to retire. My reasoning was that I still had two races later in the week and in the intense heat I would do well to save myself for those races. Afterwards I felt terrible and wished I had persevered, if only for the experience.

The next day was the sprint race, I wasn’t racing so took the opportunity to relax and watch the online TV coverage. The best British results came from Alex Cheplin who came 5^th in the mens’ race and Katie Reynolds (Bangor) who came 11^th in the womens’ race. The final two days of competition were the Long and relay races. The long race was tough, with difficult navigation, energy sapping heather and steep climbs. I tried hard throughout the race, avoiding any large mistakes. It was a much better performance than the middle but far from perfect. I finished 51^st. Whilst this was a step in the right direction I knew I could still improve for the relay race! The best results for GB in the long came from Ben Mitchell (University of Western England) who was 30^th and Megan Carter-Davies who finished 15^th.

Long Distance race at Kuortane. Photo: Janna Nousiainen

After the long race all attentions turned to the relay. My team consisted of Nathan Lawson on first leg, then myself before Matt Elkington on the anchor leg. Nathan and I were current Sheffield University students and Matt was alumni; Sheffield Uni were taking on the world! Nathan fought hard on the first leg, coming back in 18^th place just behind the main pack, a solid start. I felt none of the pressure I had experienced before the individual races and as soon as I started, my orienteering began to flow and I could push hard. I was smooth and able to ignore the other runners in the forest around me. My race was almost perfect, I felt like I had finally mastered the Finnish terrain! I handed over to Matt in 13^th having made up 5 places and so relieved to have finally put together a good race. Matt was in a small group of runners from 8^th to 15^th place with all to play for. He raced so well, holding his own in the field of world class orienteers, eventually finishing in 10^th. With each country allowed two teams but with only one counting, 10^th place translated to 7^th Nation overall for our GB/Sheffield Uni team!   

Three happy team mates after the relay.

In typical student fashion the week ended with an awesome beer race and a great party for all the teams. The week hadn’t turned out exactly as I’d hoped but on reflection and based on my preparation I couldn’t be too disappointed. I had struggled to interpret the Finnish maps which use 2.5-meter contour intervals meaning all features on the map are much smaller on the ground than expected for those of us used to 5m intervals, standard in Britain and most of Europe. I was glad to have proved to myself, albeit at the last opportunity, that when things go right I can compete with the best orienteers. At 22 I was one of the younger runners at the competition and I’ll have the opportunity to compete in Russia in 2020. I plan to return fitter, stronger and more prepared to handle the navigational challenges that a new region can present!

I’d like to thank the entire British team who made this an incredible week. There was always a laid-back atmosphere in the squad with no one taking themselves too seriously, we looked out for one another and everyone spent the week laughing! Our accommodation at the Kuortane Olympic training village was incredible and we spent many great afternoons swimming in the lake and chilling out on the beach. Thanks to our coaches Mark and Alice who do an amazing job, they are always enthusiastic about orienteering and looking after their team. I’d also like to thank Sheffield University, Airienteers and the Jack Bloor fund whom I once again turned to for financial support. None of this would be possible without your continued support!

The Future

This has been a much belated report on what was an amazing week in Finland. Upon my immediate return I was quickly under the cosh as I attempted to finish my Masters. Thankfully it went smooth enough! The next big change in my life was moving to Australia, Melbourne to be precise! I am under-taking a 6-month scholarship as the Coach in Residence for Orienteering Victoria. This is a great opportunity for me to experience another part of the world and try to deliver a coaching plan for local orienteers. Not only is this a chance to improve others, but also myself. This may be the closest I will every come to being a full-time athlete. I have so much time to train hard, look after my body and race in new terrains, all whilst avoiding the British Winter! I’ll be back in time for our domestic races in April and look forward to another competitive season of orienteering and fell running! I hope I can end the year even closer to the ultimate goal of World Championships Selection.

Pre-JWOC Camp Report- Lucy Haines

This August, I headed to Silkeborg in Denmark with the British orienteering team, to run in the Junior World Orienteering Championship 2019 terrain ahead of next year.  It was an invaluable experience as I learnt the different skills needed to tackle this terrain. We spent the week in a hostel which was situated near all of the areas for training (and lakes for swimming!)

The day after we arrived, we got stuck into the Danish forests. The woodland consisted of large rolling spurs and re-entrants, with patches of light green, which was usually easy to get through. Some of the flat open forest plateaus reminded me of southern areas in the South Downs, whilst the areas of spurs and steep re-entrants were similar to areas of Cannock Chase.

Throughout the week we completed three long, two middle, one sprint and two relay style sessions. All these training sessions involved various exercises and different techniques to focus on which were important in tackling the challenges of this type of terrain. One of my favourite sessions was on the final day, where we ran long legs in groups, each taking different routes (or slight variations in routes) and matching the running intensity. This allowed us to compare paths options to forest options and options of going around the top of a re-entrant compared to running straight, often down a steep gully and up the other side. Often, if the forest was white, it was quicker to go straight.

Another good training session was the relay training as there were other national teams taking part too, like Sweden, Norway and even some of the Danish senior squad who had just returned from the World Champs. The training was set up like a mass start, with over 40 runners on each of the boy’s and girls’ course. This training turned out to be almost as competitive as a JWOC relay! Overall, it was a great week with some great people and I’m grateful for the opportunity to go to Denmark for a Pre-JWOC camp. Thank you to the Jack Bloor fund for their support.