‘On Top of the World’ (nearly!) down-under – Mary Wilkinson 
The 2005 Mountain Running World Trophy in Wellington, New Zealand provided those involved with the opportunity to test their running skills against the best mountain runners in the world in an amazing country. Once the 30 plus hours of travel had been negotiated, the course in the heart of Wellington city (not your usual ‘back-of-beyond’ fell running destination!) proved to be a real challenge. The races were based on a 4.6km loop from the promenade to the summit of Mount Victoria and included some very tough climbs and equally fast descents. The senior ladies were required to scale to the summit twice to complete their 9.5km course. The men had the unenvious task of negotiating the lap three times!

The event was designed to be spectator friendly in an attempt to raise the profile of the sport and with an estimated 10,000 strong crowd it would appear to have achieved this aim. Personally, the deafening cheers of support we encountered all the way around was hugely motivating and something I will never forget. It really felt like I would expect running in a major stadium based championship to. Having arrived in Wellington two weeks prior to the race, with my team mate and great friend Victoria Wilkinson we were able to recover fully from the travel and become very familiar with the course, an advantage that would be hugely important due to the tight turns and insecure footing. Although preparing as well as possible for the championships was my primary goal while in New Zealand, being there for a period of time before also enabled us to see a bit of the country and what an amazing place it appeared to be. A paradise for anyone who loves the outdoors. Wellington city was, well, a city! The atmosphere was very laid back and cosmopolitan, with many distinctive areas to explore and discover. The coffee shop scene was also pretty good! However, the real enjoyment was derived when we escaped the city and made our way into the country. The scenery was amazingly beautiful and spectacular, ranging from exposed coastlines and rugged mountain ranges to rolling agricultural land filled with the infamous New Zealand sheep! The people were also very friendly and always welcoming. There were opportunities to explore by so many means, walking, cycling, kayaking and four-wheel drives to name but a few. I must go back!

The only down- side was the weather. Following an unseasonably warm and sunny first few days, the cold, wet and windy weather more familiar to the UK set in and I certainly learnt why Wellington is known as the ‘Windy City’…on several occasions I think I was actually going backwards rather than forwards as I attempted to train! Having said that, I had forgotten that it was in fact still their winter and underestimated the warm clothing I would require, perhaps being a bit too optimistic of a warm, sunny break! Luckily, on race day the sun shone and due to the majority of the course being in wooded areas, the wind had little effect. As the competing teams started to arrive in Wellington, the championship atmosphere began to build and the swaps of team colours wandering through the streets ensured that the focus returned to the main event and final preparations were undertaken. A final blast over the course, an analysis of the opposition, a preparatory massage and the most enjoyable carbo-loading and I was as ready as I ever would be. The rest of the England team were equally focused and the vibes in the accommodation were hugely positive and a great team sprit had developed. The opening ceremony involving the parade of nations through the city served as the final switch on to race mode and the Maori welcome and prayers proved to be hugely inspiring. Bring on the race!

England’s World Mountain Running 

Ladies Team (Mary Wilkinson, 

Victoria Wilkinson, Christine 

Howard, Natalie White) 

The ladies were in the unusual situation of being the last race of the day, meaning a long tense wait for the start at 3pm. It did however mean that we had the support of all the other team members who had already competed, which was great. Once the race started, all my pre-event nerves seemed to vanish and the racing instinct took over. Running in an England vest gave me a huge sense of pride and I wanted to make sure I did it justice. Feeling that I was moving strongly and was positioned well up the field increased my confidence and as I commenced the second lap I found that I was moving further towards the front. Commencing the final decent, the hard work had been done and it was a matter of letting it all go, in a now or never manner and ‘flying’ to the finish line. The British athletes certainly seemed to be much happier on the down hills than their European counterparts or perhaps its just that we have less common sense regarding the risks! Crossing the line in 4th place at the World Championships behind home town girl, Kate Mcilroy, Scotland’s surprise package, Tracey Brindley and former champion and pre-race favourite the Czech Republic’s Anna Pichtrova, was a result I could only have dreamt about at the beginning of the year, when I was ecstatic to have been selected to wear the blue and white of Yorkshire at the Fell Running Inter- Counties. With very solid performances from my team mates (Natalie White, 15th, Christine Howard, 29th and Victoria Wilkinson, 31st) the team was in the shake-up for a medal, and only missed out on count-back for the bronze which was claimed by the Czech Republic behind Italy and Scotland. Obviously an individual or team medal would have been a perfect finish to the day, but fourth place in both is still an amazing achievement and has just served to motivate me even more to get back to the hard training and build on the success of this year. 

Celebrating 4th place. 

I am very proud of the achievements I have attained this year and would really like to acknowledge the support I have received from the Jack Bloor Fund which enabled me to participate in the World Mountain Running Championships. Without the contribution from funds such as this it would be very difficult to fund trips to this type of event, involvement in which is crucial if athletes are to make an impact and progress at an international level. It has taken me many years to reach the level of performance I have demonstrated recently. Having only returned to running seriously 18 months ago, I previously dabbled with many other activities and really enjoyed these without gaining any real success. I hope that other people and especially the younger athletes who will be applying to the fund in the future can take inspiration from this and encourages and motivates them to continue working towards achieving their personal best. Finally, I hope that I can build on the success of this year and continue to positively represent the involvement of the Jack Bloor Fund in my attainment of this.

I’m pleased to say the trip to Portugal went really well. This is the first time I have been warm weather training and it was so good to train with a group of quality athletes.
I managed to stick to my programme, but modified some of the sessions to enable me to do some track work with other groups under the watchful eye of two experienced coaches. I did at least two sessions each day, including steady runs, tempo runs, speed sessions on the track, technical work using hurdles, gym work and swimming. I am very happy with my progress and the feedback I got from the coaches was very positive.
Thank you so much for helping with the financial burden it is greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards
Mark Buckingham

Thank you for the £25 you gave me towards my summer training tour for orienteering. The tour was very good – we trained hard every day and did a lot of practice in compass work and contour reading. I competed in the scottish 6 day event after the tour and came 2nd overall, winning on 2 days.

Yours sincerely
George Stevens

 

Thankyou very much for the money that you donated towards my lagganlia trip.It was a great week of training and I felt it benefited my orienteering skills. We did training exercises 3-4 times a day in and around lagganlia. The areas were very technical and made us work hard. At the end of the week we had some tour champs. I came 3rd in the classic race, 5th in the sprint but I’m not sure what I came in the middle. I liked the 1 man relay because we got to race against the coaches and it was helpful in the way of improving concentration when in a gaffed relay. We also got to jump in the river afterwards. Overall a great week and I really enjoyed it.
I have attached a picture of everyone that was at lagganlia- coaches included.

Thanks again
Chloe Haines

 

I am writing to thank you for your generous donation toward my O-ringen finances.
The O-ringen went very well and I finished in 29th overall out of 250. I managed to improve my racing over the week, peaking on the final day to do the 15th fastest time on the course. This managed to pull me up from 33rd to my final position of 29th. I was pleased with my result and I am glad I was able to take part in this amazing international event where you can compete against the worlds best orienteers.
The experience granted to me by the O-ringen has helped me to greatly improve my orienteering and my running.
Please give my thanks to the other committee members.

Yours sincerely,
Hector Haines

Dear Trustees, Below is a brief report of my recent trip to Austria which was supported by the Jack Bloor Fund;

“Unfortunately my trip did not have the smoothest of starts due to the tragic events in London on the 7th July. I was due to travel to London on this day where I would spend the night at my parents house before going on to Stansted the next morning from where I was flying to Klagenfurt. After a very drawn out journey which involved catching trains that went half way around the country I finally arrived home where I snatched a few hours sleep before making my way to the airport in the morning.

After our arrival in Austria, we were driven to the village of Heiligenblut, which was the main base for the weekends activities. Our accommodation was a four star hotel less than a minutes walk from the race start. After a jog and a stroll around the village it was time to register and eat. Lunch and dinner was served in a large hall close to the hotel, and meals were a large buffet of excellent quality food of which we could have as much as we could eat, as well as free beer and wine (a temptation I managed to resist until after the race). Initial impressions from those who were old hands at these events were that it was one of the best event organisations they had ever seen.

Saturday involved a trip to the finish of the course at 2500m, watching the finish of the open race. There was a group of us who came up in the bus but none of us were too keen to hang around long as we were all feeling some altitude effects so it was back to the village for some lunch and relaxation.

The evening involved the European trophy opening ceremony, with a procession of the teams from the town square to the race area led by an Austrian folk group, however by the end most people seemed to be more interested in getting to the event hall for there dinner. Unfortunately for those competing on Sunday there was a party starting after the food for those who had raced the open event on the Saturday. Most people did manage to pull themselves away ready for the next day’s events however. Sunday morning bought with it rain. Having been assured that the course would be fine to race in flats the majority of people set of with these on there feet. After leaving good tracks after about five kilometres of racing I began to regret this decision, although most people seemed to be in the same boat, with people slipping and sliding around. The course was a tough one, and although mainly uphill did have some small technical descents, on which I generally made good ground on people (more as a result of there bad descending than good descending from me). The last kilometre was a nightmare, involving approximately 350m of climb at altitude which left me gasping for breath and with burning quads, but allowed me to overtake quite a few other runners and bought me in 37th. I was slightly disappointed with this result, having wished to finish in the top 30 somewhere, although I think this was probably due to my start being too steady.

Although slightly disappointed the race was a fantastic, and slightly humbling, experience running against some of the very best mountain runners in Europe, and was definitely worth the effort of getting there. The experience of running in such a stunning environment has given me a definite desire to want to travel to these European races again. After the race was more eating, both at the finish and then when our bus arrived back at the race venue where lunch was just starting. This was followed by a few hours to relax before the presentations and closing ceremony, again though by the time this was ending people were again more concerned with dinner and the subsequent party.

After the food the party was ready to begin (with the free drink being appreciated by now). A dodgy Austrian pop group were left to entertain us until about midnight at about which time I gave up and went to bed.

The morning bought with the trip back to England and the end of an excellent weekend marked by an excellent race in some stunning scenery and with fantastic organisation. As I mentioned previously I found the weekend to be an excellent experience and I am extremely gratefully to the Jack Bloor Fund for helping me to take part”.

Many thanks

John Heneghan

My Trip to Ireland 

I am writing this letter to send my thanks for giving me the opportunity to  go to Ireland and compete in the home international it was a fantastic  experience.  The journey was a very long one but I still enjoyed it. We travelled to Wales  from Penrith which took quite a while; once we got there we went on a ferry  that took us to Dublin. Whilst on the ferry I felt a bit sick but we had fun  playing on the dance stage so it took my mind off it.

After arriving in Dublin we got on the coach once again for a shorter  journey to our accommodation which wasn’t as nice as we had hoped but we  all coped.  The next morning after a decent nights sleep we made our way to the  course which looked quite nice as it wasn’t too steep (perfect for me!)

I  started to get a little nervous after I had seen all the girls I would have to run  against.  By the time it came to running I felt very excited and couldn’t wait to start,  once we had set off I began feeling confident about how I could do. After a  tough ascent I was more than ready to try and catch up on the lead that  Rosie Stuart in 1st place had gained. Slowly I caught up but as I was getting  within metres of her she kicked again and I found that there was just too  much for me to try to do in the final stages.  Once I had finished- even though I was quite sick,- I was so happy with  my result, although I would have liked to win (as most people would) I was  very proud that I had managed 2nd as I had set myself the aim of top 5.

The journey back was just as enjoyable as the rest of the trip, the whole  experience had been very beneficial but most of all extremely FUN!  Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity I think what you have  done for me and many other people is fantastic.

Thanks again

Love

Amy McGivern.