The British Orienteering Championships took place over the weekend of 10th/11th May in South Lakeland with a good number Border Liners competing. The individual race was held on Saturday in Grizedale Forest which was as rough and tough as they come. Densely planted plantation made for hard going and poor visibility with just the occasional path providing some respite. Border Liners had two Gold medalists – Karen Parker in W60 and Keith Tonkin in M65. Karen had a steady start, though never more than 30 seconds down, before taking the lead at checkpoint 6. After this she never looked back and ended up winning by a phenomenal 9 minutes in a time of 60:55. Keith led at checkpoint 1 before arch rival John Embrey (SROC) snuck in front. However Keith’s speed and reliability saw him retake the lead at checkpoint 6, eventually winning by over 4 minutes in a time of 69:46. There were also two Silver medals for Border Liners with Stella Lewsley narrowly missing out in W70 after leading for much of the race and Chris Lates in M85 steadying the ship after an erratic start. Other top 10 finishes in the long courses were Jeff Powell-Davies 10th in M45, Dan Parker 5th in M60, Isabel Berry 8th in W40, Natalie Hawkrigg 8th in W50, Christine Goulding 10th in W60, Carol Edwards 8th in W65, Christine Kiddier 8th in W70 and Jenny Wren 8th in W75.
The relay race took place on Sunday at Bigland, which was faster going than the previous day, but even more technically challenging. Border Liners had 6 teams of 3 competing and half of them finished on the podium. Pride of place goes to the W60 team of Christine Goulding, Karen Parker and Carol Edwards who took Silver in the W60 class. Christine finished just 30 seconds down on the first leg with Karen reducing the deficit to 5 seconds on leg 2. Carol was up against Bristol speed merchant Alice Bedwell who quickly pulled away. But Carol kept her cool and easily stayed in front on the chasing pack for a great second place. The M60 team of Keith Tonkin, John Ferris-Worth and Dan Parker took a fine Bronze. After a brilliant run by John Ferris-Worth on leg 2 Border Liners were 4 seconds in the lead, but Dan Parker was up against the top two from the previous days individual and couldn’t hold on, coming in 3rd, under a minute behind silver. In the M/W70+ race Andy Lewsley had a steady run on leg 1 coming back 5th, before Christine Kiddier sparkled, pulling BL up to 2nd. Stephen Eastley was quickly overhauled by the eventual winners but held on to take a fine Bronze for BL. The W40 team of Natalie Hawkrigg, Isabel Berry and Stella Lewsley, and the M40 team of Alan Hartley, Jeff Powell-Davies and Ian Cumpstey were also both in the mix for medals ending up 4th and 5th respectively.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend of challenging orienteering, made even better by the fine weather, with Border Liners really punching above their weight for a relatively small club.
Border Liners Orienteering Club 