Scottish athletes to the fore at the Junior World Orienteering Championships

The Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) took place in Czechia in early July, and 5 of the 12 athletes in the Great Britain team were Scots or members of Scottish clubs.

The first race was the Mixed Sprint Relay, with James Hammond (Forth Valley Orienteers), Euan Tryner (Edinburgh University Orienteering Club and South Yorkshire Orienteers), and Isobel Howard (Edinburgh University Orienteering Club and Moravian Orienteering Club) all in the first GB team. Unfortunately Imogen Pieters mispunched on leg 1, but the others ran well (especially James with the 3rd best time on leg 2). Daisy McNamara (Edinburgh University Orienteering Club and Ayrshire Orienteering Club) – in her first JWOC – was in the second GB team which finished as 18th nation.

Next was the Sprint race, with James and Euan just making it into the top 30, with 29th and 30th places respectively. Isobel was 44th, Daisy 62nd, and Ruth 90th (in her first JWOC race).

The standout performance in the Long distance was Euan’s 13th place – agonisingly close to a top 10. James was 53rd, Isobel 54th, Daisy 60th, and Ruth 62nd.

Euan again made the top 20 in the Middle distance, with a strong 19th place in a tight race. James was 42nd, Ruth 59th, Daisy 82nd, and Isobel was unfortunately one of a number of women who were disqualified at the 2nd last control.

The last race, as always, was the forest relay. Euan and James were both in the GB team that came 7th last year, but unfortunately they couldn’t match that this year. James ran an extremely strong second leg, with the 4th fastest leg time taking the team from 24th to 11th, and then Euan ran a solid last leg to bring the team up to 10th. Daisy and Isobel were in the GB first team, finishing 13th.

While the results were mixed, there was a lot of learning from the athletes, with all except Euan having at least one more JWOC left. James has 2 more years left, and Ruth has potentially 3 more JWOCs!

Euan Tryner, taking part in his 2nd JWOC, had this to say afterwards:

“This was my final JWOC and I was aiming to build on my 20th place result from the long last year. Another two top 20 results came from some very solid runs and I just lacked the speed to reach the top 10 missing out by 18 seconds on the long. Overall I was happy with my final JWOC and I’m looking forward to fighting for places in the senior team going forward.”

Isobel Howard, taking part in her 3rd JWOC, had this to say afterwards:

“This year’s JWOC offered an incredible experience in really technical clean forests full of large gullies and some mining remains. I didn’t perform as well as I hoped this year, but learnt some valuable lessons about the physical preparation required for these competitions.”