The British Sprint Championships Weekend proved to be worth the wait!

Fourteen months later than planned, the British Sprint Relays Championships and the British Sprint Championships finally took place in Skelmersdale in Lancashire.  The weekend competition terrain was made up of complex housing with numerous cut throughs and included part of the Tawd Valley Park.

The Relay took place in showery conditions but that did not dampen the spirits of the competitors. Competition was fierce and saw the South Yorkshire Orienteers (SYO) team of Kim Baxter, Euan Tryner, Jonathan Crickmore, and Laura Robertson take an unassailable led in the elite class by producing the fastest laps for Legs 3 and 4 to produce an eventual victory.

Elite - Top 3 results

Veteran (40+)

Super Veteran (55+) 

Ultra Veteran (65+) 

Junior (16-) 

Young Juniors (12-)

Ad Hoc (Mixed age classes) (Not a championship class. Non-competitive teams from combined clubs allowed).

Congratulations to all the champions in these Sprint Relay classes. 

Thanks to West Lancashire Borough Council who gave their permissions and support for the running of this event. A huge thank you also to the members of Deeside Orienteering Club and other Northwest clubs whose willingness to give their help made the event possible. 

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The weekend continued on the Sunday with the British Individual Sprints.  With better weather for the individual sprints, the unique setting of a new town housing estate made keeping contact with the map essential as there were many twists and turns to negotiate with many alley options and dead ends to catch out the unwary. 

Jonathan Crickmore (SYO) took the Men’s Open title by just 22 seconds over Chris Smithard (FVO) and Nathan Lawson (OD), who tied for second place, while Alice Leake (AIRE) took the Women’s Open title with a 58 seconds victory over Charlotte Ward (HALO) and Laura Robertson (SYO).

Congratulations to Jonathan Crickmore (SYO) and Alice Leake (AIRE) on their winning performances.  

Full results are on the British Sprint Championships results page.

Sadly, this was to be the last event that Andy Munro and Chris Poole would provide commentary for as they have now done what they have been threatening to do for some time by retiring from commentating after 19 years and a huge number of major events. We can only applaud their dedication and thank them for such sterling work.

Thank you to all those who travelled to compete at the British Sprint Championships Weekend making it a great competitive weekend. 

British Orienteering would like to take this opportunity to thank Norman Hall (Deeside Orienteering Club) and all his organising team.  Thank you also to West Lancashire Borough Council who gave their permissions and support for the running of this event and to Delph Side School for use of their facilities.  Thank you to all the volunteers and other support from all the Northwest Orienteering Association Clubs for all their hard work which made this a great competitive orienteering weekend to remember.  Thank you.

Photo credits:  Wendy Carlyle (Airienteers)