#JKMemories : 52 JK Events

By Clive Allen, Former Chairman of British Orienteering Federation

Well, we have to be careful here! 52 held, yes, but 54 planned - the 2001 edition, planned to be in the Forest of Dean, was cancelled because of Foot and Mouth Disease, and of course, this year’s in the North-East has fallen by the wayside too.

The first two JKs, both held in Surrey, were single-day individual events with an integral team competition. It was first in 1969 that a relay race was introduced, with the Open class run for the JK Trophy. From that year the JK has always been staged on Easter weekend, in the 1970s with a 4-day programme consisting of a training event (Good Friday), Individual – classic distance (Saturday), Relay (Sunday) and a ‘Run-down event’ on Easter Monday. From 1980 the Individual developed into a 2-day event and the Run-down (re-named Relaxation) event was dropped. The JK Sprint on Good Friday was introduced in 2006 and the weekend programme has remained the same ever since.

JK weekends have been held in all of British Orienteering’s constituent Associations, although only once in East Anglia and in Northern Ireland. Eight JKs have been held on SEOA’s territory and seven on SWOA’s. Sometimes two OAs have combined to stage a JK, and on one occasion (2007) it was organised centrally by British Orienteering Federation.  JK 74 in the South-West was notable as the first event in the UK to attract more than 1,000 competitors.

Association territory breakdown:

SEOA 8, SWOA 7 (+ 2001 cancelled), SCOA 6

NWOA, SOA, WMOA and YHOA 5

NEOA 4 (+ 2020 cancelled)

WOA 3, EMOA 2, EAOA and NIOA 1

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Memories of the JK Online
Have you got any old photos, maps, stories, snippets to share? Over the JK week, British Orienteering will publish as many as possible so we can share our experiences and understand more about this fantastic event together. Email to: info@britishorienteering.org.uk

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