Juniors travel to Wales for the JHIs

This year it was the turn of Wales to host the Junior Home Internationals (JHIs) where the four home nations come together to compete for the glory. Having held aloft the Trophy at the Junior Home Internationals hopes were high on the long bus journey down that the double could be achieved like last year where on Jon Musgrave’s last year as Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad coach they raised both the Junior Inter Regional Championship (JIRCs) Trophy and the Junior Home International Trophy.

With four from each age category in M/W 14/16 and 18 this meant that twenty four juniors from across Scotland boarded the bus arriving late on Friday night in south Wales for the weekend event.

The event takes the normal format of individuals events on the Saturday and relays on the Sunday to give everyone the chance to travel home on the Sunday. The individuals were being held on Methyr Common South and the relay races were on Clydach Terrace which had been used for the JK in 2022.

The juniors were treated to a new map of Merthyr Common South which is an open limestone moorland with a lot of old quarries/ pits/ depressions and sinks as well as limestone pavements and plenty of rock features. So this meant the planner had provided a spectator control to lead all the juniors into some of the most technical areas meaning spectators were provided with the entertainment of spotting juniors popping up like meerkats amongst the spoil heaps and watching them decide test their route choice on the deep depressions – round or through.

The juniors as ever like to strain the nerves of the coaches and volunteers watching. Despite the dominance of the Scottish M/W 18s, England claimed the overnight lead and won the Individual event trophy leading by 6 points.

For the juniors though the best part of this event is catching up with the friends they have met through attendance of Junior Regional Orienteering Squad (JROS) summer camps or large events. The Welsh organisers had organised a Twmpath (Welsh Ceilidh) for all to enjoy on Saturday night and the juniors, as well as the coaches/ volunteers, were soon to be found clapping, skipping and hoping their way around the village hall.

All suitable exhausted after their dancing efforts and walking back to the accommodation by headtorch, they were up bright and breezy the next day to take on not only the relays but also ensuring the explosion of kit in the M/W 14 and 16s rooms made it back into the right bags and the rooms were hoovered and stripped before leaving the accommodation.

Despite a overcast start to the relays Scotland were determined they could overcome the 6 point overnight deficit to retain the overall JHI trophy. The face paints (war paint?) were out in force as usual and there was no doubting who was in the Scottish team. Despite their location the relay teams teams set off to the sound of bagpipes. The female teams were set off first and some storming runs saw the Scottish female teams run in to claim three of the four counting relay places in 1st , 2nd and 4th position. The male teams again had some great runs to take 2nd and 4th place to gain some more points for the overall total. As a result the Scottish Team claimed the Relay event trophy.

It was a valiant effort by the Scottish Juniors and they managed, despite starting the day on a 6 point deficit, to tie with England on points for the overall JHI Trophy. However, as is usual in these matters, a count back of the number of wins over the weekend by each country lead to England taking home the overall JHI Trophy.

The juniors however were smiling and happy after a great weekend’s efforts and there was plenty of quizzing, eating, singing and perhaps a bit of sleeping as they made the long journey home. As ever they brought home quite a lot of washing! If you want to know more about junior orienteering opportunities pop over to our Junior Orienteering page. Thanks to all the volunteers and parents who make all this possible.