Alana Invernon, a member of Ben Lairig Mountaineering mountaineering club was awarded a Jack Bloor grant towards her mountain leader award.

I’ve just come back from my mountain training course with Bryn Williams which was absolutely fantastic so thanks so much for helping me get towards that – with an eye on booking my assessment for May or June.

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.

Thank you so much for the support towards my warm weather training week in Fuerteventura, it was great fun!

Over the week we completed around 25 hours of training, 8 hours of swimming, 10 and half hours of cycling, 3 hours of running and 2 hours of s&c. The weather was really great throughout the week, (even if it was slightly windy on some of the rides ) which really helped for me to get a consistent block of training in before the race season starts beginning of April. There was a relatively large group of around 20, mostly from Yorkshire but a few athletes from else where. Again, thank you so much for the funding and support towards my camp, it was hugely helpful, and benifital. 

Helena is a member of @yorkshiretriathlonacademy

The Junior World Orienteering championships was held in Baia Mare, Romania between the 30th-8th July this year. I was selected for the Great Britain team off a series of selection races in the spring in the Lake District, as one of 6 girls in the W20 team. JWOC was an amazing week of races, getting to compete at a very high level amongst the best athletes in the world was good international racing experience for future years.
I competed in 5 disciplines: Sprint, Mixed Sprint Relay, Middle Distance, Long Distance and Forest Relay. I had mixed feelings on my results from the races and I was disappointed with some of my performances personally, but very pleased with others. I learnt so many skills surrounding racing in international technical terrains under pressure. As I was two years young in the age category, I will hopefully be able to use these skills for races in the future.

I am very grateful to the Jack Bloor Memorial fund for their support towards this competition, which made this racing experience possible.

After recovering from an operation last December and picking up an injury in the return to training, I was really happy to be able to get on the start line again, albeit much later in the season.
I qualified, and was selected to represent Great Britain at the Senior European Triathlon Cup in Alanya, Turkey, from a British Triathlon Supers Series race at Eton Dorney Lake. This is one race from the national series British Triathlon holds, and with the limited training volume and fitness I had behind me, I was thrilled with the selection.

My race in Alanya marked my debut in Senior ETU Cup racing, and it consisted of a 750m sea swim, followed by a 20km bike and a 5km run. It was an amazing experience being able to compete against some of the best U23 and senior triathletes across Europe.
I really was able to test my physical capabilities and skills with the format of the sea swim, the heat whilst racing, and the cobbles on the bike! Unfortunately, it was much more of a learning experience for me after a particularly rough swim and then crashing on the bike which took me out of contention.
However, I am so grateful to the Fund as they provided me with the opportunity to race and it was an important step forward after a difficult summer of rehab, which I can take many positives from going into my 2024 triathlon season.

I would like to say a massive thank you again to the Jack Bloor Fund, as their support covered much of the travel costs for the trip which was fundamental for me to even get on the start line!