Over the February half term, I travelled to Fuerteventura for a triathlon training camp with the Yorkshire triathlon academy. The training camp involved around 25 hours of training including 270km of cycling, 23km of swimming, 35km of running and 3 strength and conditioning sessions. This camp was a great opportunity to complete a full week of training which was uninterrupted by external factors for example the weather or schoolwork. It was also useful to experience training like an elite athlete for a week which covered not only the specific run, bike and swim sessions but we also had time to reflect on the sessions and work on mental strategies for racing and training days. These mental strategies included reframing setbacks to make them positive learning opportunities and how to stay calm during races if something goes wrong. 

This camp also allowed me to increase my fitness before race season starts in March. Specifically, the long rides allowed me to make gains on my cycling endurance and learn fuelling strategies which work for me. The swim technique sessions allowed me to look at my stroke more carefully to make small adjustments which will increase my speed. The strength and conditioning classes allowed me to learn new exercises which will help me work on my weaknesses and prevent injury. 

Ethan Clarke, member of Yorkshire Dales Cross Country Ski Club, was selected to represent GB at the FISU Winter World University Games in Torino, Italy.

I was the flag bearer for GB at the opening ceremony, I had some good races on the skis, but not so good on the shooting side. However it was a great experience and I learnt lots!

I competed in 4 races, the individual and sprint were the two main races that I did, where the skiing was my best I had been all season, but the shooting not so good which led to not finishing as high as I could have.
I then did a relay race but unfortunately we got lapped in that race, plus in the pursuit race where I also got lapped but we started 4 minutes behind so unless I shot clear it was very likely to be lapped.

Thanks to the Jack Bloor Fund for helping me fund this trip.

This January I flew to Molveno, Italy to represent Great Britain in the Ice Swimming World Championships. Ice swimming is defined as swimming in under 5 degrees water in only a swimming costume (no neoprene!), 1 hat and goggles.

The water temperature in Italy ranged between 1.5 and 2 degrees through-out the week. On the first couple of days of competition racing was delayed by 30 minutes to allow the organisers to break and clear the ice that had formed over night on the pool.

I raced in 4 individual events throughout the week gained a 3rd in my age group in the 500m and 100m Freestyle and a 4th in the 250m and 50m Freestyle. I also was selected to race in one of the 4 x 50m Freestyle relay teams.

I am incredibly grateful to the Jack Bloor Fund for supporting me in getting to the Championship. I also feel proud to be supported by a fund that was created to carry on a legacy of Jack. I hope to have done both Jack and his legacy proud and in the future I hope I will also be able to support younger athletes achieve their potential.

Thank you again for supporting me and other young athletes who without your help may not be able to achieve high levels in sport.

Cover photo by Becca Harvey.

An Adventure in the Alps: My Jonathon Conville Alpine Course Experience

This July, thanks to the support of the Jack Bloor fund, I went on the Jonathon Conville Alpine Course in Chamonix. Over the course of three days,  it is designed to take you from a competent UK climber to a confident alpine mountaineer.

During this time, I learnt all the crucial skills needed to navigate the Alps. From glacial travel to crevasse rescue and moving together as a team, our brilliant guide ensured we were well-prepared for the challenges ahead. The experience was truly remarkable, not just because of the wealth of knowledge gained but also for the opportunity to meet with other young climbers at a similar stage in their mountaineering journey.

The highlight of my trip was undoubtedly putting my newly acquired skills to the test on the Cosmiques Arête. With perfect blue skies above, a small group of us took the first lift and set out to tackle this iconic route. It was an incredible day and the perfect culmination of the course.

A huge thanks to the Jack Bloor fund for their support in making this possible!

With the help of the Jack Bloor fund, I was able to go to the age group triathlon world championships in Torremolinos, Spain in October. I was selected to represent Great Britain in a qualifying race last year in Bournemouth which allowed me to race at the World Championships. The World Championships was a great opportunity to race against other countries competitively. I came 19^th out of about 50 and was the first Great British athlete.

New PB at the Copenhagen Half Marathon!

It wasn’t long ago that I was crying at the athletics track in Arzignano, Italy because I couldn’t walk, let alone run. So I enjoyed the experience today and smiled for nearly all of the 21km…

Thank you so much to everybody who has helped me to get here. Firstly, to the best coach and sister Shen Win-Turner for all the training, positive quotes and for inspiring me everyday. To Calli Hauger-Thackery and Nick Hauger (Two Worlds Run Coaching) for all of your coaching advice and support.

A special thank you to the Jack Bloor Fund for helping to fund my trip to Copenhagen and for all of the support you offer to Yorkshire athletes, it is hugely appreciated. 

To the wonderful physios for all your help (Flex and Flow UK, BJA Physiotherapy, Nottingham Sports Injury Clinic and Springvale Physiotherapy).

And of course to my Air BnB hosts who kept popping up every 4km to scream ‘TURNER GO TURNER’

I am incredibly grateful to the Jack Bloor Fund for their continued support that contributed to my travel expenses for a training camp to ensure I did not have to miss out on a crucial opportunity to prepare in the Italian mountains for the upcoming season!

Gaining experience in technical descents has not only improved my confidence and racing ability but has also set me up well for future international races on this unique terrain! I look forward to more races here soon! 

We traveled to Milano Cortina, the location of the 2026 Olympic Games as our base, and explored the local trails – it was beautiful (and very challenging!)

I gained invaluable experiences from this trip, and I enjoyed testing my physical capabilities while gaining fitness as we move into the racing season!

A massive thank you again to the Jack Bloor Fund for their support

In September I had the great pleasure of competing at the FISU University Climbing World Champions in Koper, Slovenia; a competition I had been selected for after coming second at the BUCS climbing championships in February. As a youth climber I had previously spent a large amount of my time between the ages of 10-18 training in order to be able to compete on the world stage, representing team GB. Whilst I have been partially successful with this, having competed at European competitions in 2018, I have been unable to compete internationally, after being dropped from the GB team for one year only to get re-selected for the team and then have my competitions cancelled due to COVID. Following from this I have been unsuccessful in getting selected from the Senior GB team and was unsure if I would get the chance to compete at a world championships. Getting selected for the FISU World Championships was very exciting for me after many years of working towards this goal. Whilst exciting this competition did come with a hefty price tag of £1500, and I am therefore very grateful for the financial support provided by the Jack Bloor Fund to help me deal with this cost.

Having been selected for the competition, I then began a rigorous training cycle with the aim of making semi-finals and potentially finals at this competition. Although I fell short of this goal, I was still relatively pleased with how I climbed during the competition and can report that I placed 32nd out of 58 people in the lead event and 41st out of 67 in the boulder. Whilst not quite achieving the high standards I had set for myself I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to compete at a World Championships representing Great Britain and competing against many other amazing and talented climbers from all over the world. An additional joy of this competition was the opportunity it presented to meet and talk to other climbers from all over the world, some of whom I have had the pleasure of climbing with since the competition. Thank you so much to the Jack Bloor Fund for supporting me and helping to provide me with this once in a lifetime opportunity.

 Near to the end of this summer I attended a 10 day training camp hosted by JROS in Czechia. 22 Orienteers from the M/W16 category (born in 2008) had been selected from all across the UK and I was lucky enough to be one of the last selected for the camp.

 The trip started with a very late night due to an hour delay with flights and then straight into the terrain in the morning. Our training was split between the 2 types of forest which are most commonly found in Czech. Sandstone forests which were very runnable and included valleys with high sandstone pillars and cliffs. And a less rocky more gradual terrain which had complex boulder fields.

 The first few days of training involved morning sessions on the boulder field terrain and then a more relaxed activity in the afternoon. This training style allowed me to enjoy the terrain while also doing good training without a risk of getting too tired. After a few days we swapped over to the sandstone terrain which was a lot more physical as the courses contained a lot more climbing. This area was more interesting though, as the big sandstone features created more route choice.

   After a rest day spent swimming and relaxing we did a morning training activity which consisted of a 2by2 relay and then set off to the first day of a 3 day event called The Pekne Prazdniny. The first day was a middle distance course in Sandstone terrain(probably the best area of the week) and consisted of many complex legs in and out of a “rock city” area with many different passages. I made a few mistakes inside the harder areas but overall had a decent race for my first ever event on non British terrain. 

 After the middle distance we headed back to the house had a debreif on the event and relaxed. 

The next day(day 2 of the event) was a long distance on the same terrain as the first day, with an extra area added. The longer legs(such as 9-10) provided a new challenge of route choice aswell as navigation through the difficult rocky terrain. For this leg in particular there was 2 main choices: To run on the path west of the line(grey) or run on the paths East. I took the first option which was thought to be slower after the debreif. I felt my navigation was good in this event though with only a few small mistakes. Then on the final day we had another middle distance in a more “British” terrain over the other side of the hill. This area was less interesting but still provided good orienteering training.

 After this we packed up and got in the cars for the long drive to Prague where we walked around the city exploring some of its attractions. After this we headed back to our accommodation on public transport and headed to bed.

The next day we woke up early and made the final journey to the airport before everyone went their separate ways. In all the camp was a great experience. I learnt a lot and saw some amazing places, balancing difficult training with relaxing and enjoying the country of Czechia with an amazing group of people.

 Finally I would like to thank both my orienteering club: Aire and The Jack Bloor Fund for providing funds to help me go on this camp and providing me with this amazing opportunity. 

Links to the Livelox of the event can be found here: day 1, day 2, day 3.

The Orienteering Junior European Cup took place in Vienna at the end of September and offered me an amazing experience of racing against the best competition in beautiful forests, whilst exploring Venice and it’s culture.

There were three races a sprint distance on the Friday, middle on the Saturday and a relay on the Sunday. The terrain varied greatly with a steep ridge for the middle and a sloping visible forest for the relay which made for the ideal fast and tight race. My best race was in the sprint with fast paced navigation and quick decisions and with only a few wrong route choices I came 22nd with only 5 seconds splitting 5 places showing the level of competition at this event. These 5 days were amazing in terms of the opportunity to compete against the best nations and runners in an amazing environment!

Thanks to the Jack Bloor Fund for helping me fund this trip.