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The existing officers and committee members were all relected. In addition Barrie Speake and Tony Udris were elected to join the committee, bringing it up to full strength.
This year's Betty Roberts Award was presented to Michel Johnson for his dedicated work over many years as Club Development Officer which has included mapping many school playing fields and developing a wide range of permanent orienteering courses.
It was proposed and agreed that club membership fees should rise by about 15% in 2005 to cover increased costs in newsletter production and distribution. (Membership fees will remain unchanged for the 3rd year in a row in 2004.)
Many thanks to those members who produced the substantial buffet which rounded off the evening.
Matthew Speake rounded off his junior orienteering career by winning the Best Junior International Performance 2003. His award was for his 1st place on the 1st leg of the Junior European Champs relay. At the same meeting he also gained 5th place in the Classic and 13th in the Sprint.
Heather Gardner finished 13th in the Long Race at the same championships.
A really good turn out of juniors, who all contributed to the points score, ensured qualification from the first round event qt the end of September in Scunthorpe to reach the final.
In the final, held at Kings Lynn in December, the juniors were placed 10th with AIRE being the winners.
On the Sunday night of the White Rose a good many of the club attended the annual Ebor barbeque which this year was followed by the Ebor prize giving. We decided to do the presentation jointly with the barbeque this year due to the poor attendance at last years prize giving evening.
Judging by the number of empty cans cleared up the next morning it was a success. We will be doing the same next year and hopefully will see more of you there. If you have won a trophy and haven't collected it yet please contact Steve Corrigan
For once the White Rose was blessed with gorgeous weather as competitors basked in the sunshine after their runs. Many had scoffed at the apparently short course distances. However the results showed that planner, Jeff Harris, had judged the difficult terrain well.
A large number of EBOR members collected prizes for achieving top 3 places in the combined Day1/Day2 badge results of the 2003 White Rose at Langdale. Congratulations to them all.
| Class | Posn | Name |
|---|---|---|
| M21S | 1 | Tony Udris |
| M50L | 1 | Steve Whitehead |
| M50S | 3 | Roger Smith |
| M60L | 1 | Barrie Speake |
| M70L | 1 | John Currey |
| W21L | 1 | Jenny Whitehead |
| W40S | 1 | Louise Dunn |
| 2 | Pauline Percy | |
| 3 | Janet Leake | |
| W45L | 3= | Christine Andrews |
| W45S | 1 | Karen Clark |
| W50L | 2 | Helen Gardner |
| W60S | 1 | Dawn Watson |
| W65L | 3 | Jillian Currey |
| JM1 | 2 | Thomas Clark |
| 3 | Robert Schmuck | |
| JM2 | 3 | Alastair Schmuck |
| JW2 | 3 | Charlotte Myers |
| JW3 | 1 | Alice Leake |
Mattie Speake and Heather Grdner have ensured that EBOR names head the BOF rankings in the 20L categories for both men and women. Congratulations both.
For the first time Jenny Whitehead has reached the No 1 spot in the BOF rankings based on UK national and badge events. She edges out Heather Monro and Sarah Rollins who last week both attained top 10 placings at the World Championships.
In the men's relay event Jamie Stephenson anchored the British home to a
bronze medal to add to the gold he won on the first day in the sprint
event.
Overall the British team obtained 6 top-20 finishes in the individual
events and Jenny Whitehead qualified for the finals in both her events. The
searing heat made every event a real physical challenge.
The women's events were totally dominated by Switzerland with Simone Luder picking up 4 gold medals. The men's events were much more open and with 1 gold & 1 bronze medal Britain was 3rd equal, with France, in the medals table.
Jenny Whitehead's 35th place in the World Championships long distance event was a new personal best, 19 places better than in 2001. She completed the epic course in 110 mins in the searing 38 degrees sunshine with just 2 small route choice errors. She said "I'm pleased with my result although I was aiming for a top 20 before hand. The hilly course with lots of track running couldn't have been designed to be worse for me and the heat didn't help."
In the middle distance race just two days later Jenny qualified 14th in the morning and was unfortunately too tired to take advantage of much more interesting terrain in the afternoon when she faded to finish 47th. "The forest was fantastic with really intricate contour and rock features but I hadn't had time to recover from the long race and didn't feel good running."
Afterwards she said "I’m really looking forward to next year in Sweden as it should suit me much better!!!!" But first she will be competing at the White Rose in Langdale, returning to the area where her solo orienteering career began at the White Rose of 1987, aged 9.
Jenny Whitehead gained 35th place today in the first of her 2 events in
the world championships at Rapperswil, Switzerland. We wish her every success
in the Middle Distance event on Friday.
There was no surprise about the
winner, Simone Luder, who has dominated the World Cup over the last year,
competing this time on home territory. Other British placings were Heather
Monro (14) and Hannah Wooton (23) in the womens' and Daniel Martin (14), Jon
Duncan (25) in the mens' event.
Jamie Stevenson won a gold medal for Britain today in Switzerland when he won the Sprint Event in Switzerland by 19sec, capping the 5th place he achieved in 2001. It is the first ever gold medal won by Britain in a men's event and comes close behind Yvette Baker's first ever gold for Britain 2 years ago.
Jenny Whitehead goes in the 'Long' final at midday, Wednesday. She also competes in the middle distance event. Both the qualification and final take place on Fri 8/8/03.
As last minute preparation Jenny travelled up to Forres last week to take part in the 2nd and 3rd days of the Scottish Six days, where 54 Ebor members were competing with over 3000 other orienteers. Jenny ran in the women's elite class taking victory by over 5 minutes on day 2 on the forested dunes of Roseisle and finishing less than a minute down on Swede Annika Lindstrom on day 3's race at Loch Vaa, Aviemore.
'I am delighted with how my preparation is going, although I was disappointed not to win on Loch Vaa - Annika is a classy orienteer and had a very good run on the day. It was nice to do some racing before I head off to Switzerland although the terrain there will be very different - much steeper! I am confident I can make a step up in international orienteering this summer.'
Today Jenny Whitehead qualified for the final of the 'Long' event at the World Championships in Switzerland. She came 12th in heat 2 and joins the 51 competitors in Wednesday's final. Check here http://www.olwm2003.ch/?lang=en to see how she does. All the other British competitors also qualified.
In the recent GB squad selection races in Switzerland Jenny Whitehead
finished 5th Sprint, 5th Middle, and 2nd Classic and has been picked to run for
Britain in the Long and Middle distance events at the forthcoming World Champs
(August 1st to 10th Rapperswil, Switzerland). She is also reserve for the relay
team.
You can check her results as they happen by following this link:
http://www.olwm2003.ch/?lang=en
Four of the eleven in the British team run for Yorkshire clubs. Matt Crane (Sheffield University) makes his World Champs debut in the Middle, Oli Johnson of South Yorkshire Orienteers will run Middle and Long and his club mate Helen Winskill is reserve for those two disciplines
Heather Gardner and Matthew Speake have been representing Great Britain at the Junior World Orienteering Championships held in Estonia this week. Both reached the Finals of the Short Competition on 9th July. Heather was the 2nd Briton and the first English woman home. This is her first appearance at JWOC and her 31st place is only 1 down on Jennie Whitehead's best ever result. Matt was not able to regain the dizzy heights he achieved in last year's Short Race coming home in 42nd place but he was the only British competitor to reach the final. In the Classic Race the tables were turned and Matt moved up to 33rd and Heather drop down to 41st place.
The relays follow on Saturday.
Meanwhile Jenny Whitehead, Aislinn Austin and Nick Morgan are in Switzerland competing for places in the British senior team for the World Championships to be held there in August.
EBOR duo Matt Speake, 19, and Jenny Whitehead, 24, both won their classes in the premier event in the British Orienteering calendar on Sunday 8th June by convincing margins. The British Elite Classic race was held on the tough, technical terrain of High Dam, west of Lake Windermere, in Sunday's pouring rain.
The Women's British Elite classic race saw a strong field despite the fact that World no.9 Heather Monro decided not to fly over from her home in Norway to compete. Whitehead led the race from start to finish taking the title by over 3 minutes from British teammate Kim Buckley. Sarah Rollins, 25, running for the British Army took the bronze medal, disappointed to finish 8 minutes down on Whitehead in a race that could have seen her take all 4 British titles this year.
The previous day had seen Rollins add to her British Sprint and Night race Championship victories by winning the British Elite Short Race by a margin of just 19 seconds from Whitehead. The race was held in woods at Haverthwaite near Newby Bridge in some of the trickiest orienteering terrain in the UK. Whitehead was in the lead as the race left the forest but was very hesitant on the last few 'easier' legs through the open to the finish.
Whitehead was delighted with her performances over the weekend and especially on Sunday. 'This is my first senior British win' she remarked 'and I'm delighted as I was getting pretty sick of Sarah just pipping me to the titles! I felt strong in my running right from the start of the race and ignored the nerves that had made me hesitant the day before. I've only got another 6 titles to go to catch up Yvette Hague (Britain's World Champion in 1999)!!'
The Men's Elite Races were hard fought affairs with South Yorkshire's Oli Johnson, York City Trophy Champion from this year, winning the Short race on Saturday and Ed Nash, Lakeland, taking the Classic title on Sunday.
Matt Speake went into Saturday's Junior Elite Short race as reigning champion but made a few mistakes and finished 2nd behind fellow Junior World Championships team member David Hodkinson. With a point to prove on Sunday Speake ran hard and fast to victory by over 4 minutes despite making a 5 minute mistake at the 7th control (of 18).
The victories of Speake and Whitehead on Sunday also gave them the Northern Champion titles. Another good result for Eborienteers over the weekend came from new signing Vesa-Matti Routsi, Finland, who is currently working in Scarborough. Routsi won the M21L Twin Peaks event, held in parallel to the British Elite Championships on the same terrain, by 16 minutes over the 2 days.
EBOR will be competing in the Harvester Relay next weekend in Derbyshire. The club are hoping to follow up last year's victory in the B class and will this year enter a team in the A Class with Routsi bringing the team home on last leg in the absence of Speake and Whitehead who will be competing for their Swedish clubs in the massive Jukola relay in Finland. The Jukola has over 1200 men's teams and 700 women's teams entered.
EBOR members scooped several prizes at this weekends' British Orienteering Championships. The club can now boast 4 British Champions as members with Charlotte Myers winning the W12B class, Jonathon Kendall retaining his M20 Long title, Tim Bean winning M20 Short, and Celia Wells winning the W65 Long Trophy by over 4 minutes to ad to her JK title.
Alice Leake was unlucky in the W12A class to finish 2nd just 40 seconds down on winner Catherine Bushnell of Walton Chasers. Both girls ran the 3km course in an impressive 7 minutes per kilometre through the brambly, rocky, forest of Wharnecliffe, leaving the third placed girl almost 4 minutes down! In fact Alice's time of 21.01 would have seen her take the silver medal in the M12A class also!
York City Race Champions Oli Johnson and Jenny Whitehead (EBOR) presented the prizes on Saturday (in between downpours) alongside Sheffield MP Helen Jackson.
Other impressive results for Eborienteers came from Emily Andrews 3rd W16B, Janet Leake 3rd W40 Short, Steve Willis 3rd M50 Short, Helen Gardner 3rd W50 Long, and Barrie Speake 2nd M60 Long. And ex-Eborienteer, Amy Willis, now running for SLOW won W21L.
EBOR's elite contingent weren't racing, as the British Elite Championships is a separate competition to be held on June 7th/8th in the Lake District.
Sunday May 18th saw the British Relay Championships in Grenoside Woods. The EBOR Women's Premier Team were hoping to match their achievements in the JK at Easter and be crowned British Champions. However it wasn't to be. Aislinn Austin unfortunately missed the trip due to a family bereavement and so former British Squad member Cath Ashton, Huntington, was drafted in to run first leg. A steady run from Ashton brought her home in 6th place but left Heather Gardner and Jenny Whitehead with some work to do after Interlopers (Edinburgh) had a flier on their first leg. Unfortunately Gardner couldn't match the brilliance of her JK runs but still picked up to 4th position. Whitehead had a strong run to take the fastest time of the day by 1 minute to bring EBOR home to the Silver medal. Team captain Whitehead announced 'we are slightly disappointed as we've now been 2nd for 3 years in a row! But on the whole we're delighted especially with how well Cath ran after only getting the call up on Thursday night.'
In the Men's Premier Matt Speake came home 1st on 1st leg but the team finished 19th after steady runs from Tim Bean and Tony Udris. In the mixed Junior relay Alice Leake ran the 5th fastest time overall, and fastest from a girl, to finish 3rd on 1st leg. Harriet Andrews ran well to leave them 4th after 2nd leg and then Charlotte Myers brought them home in 9th - 3rd placed girl's team.
EBORIENTEERS Women's Team won the JK International Women's Relay Trophy for the first time in their history on Easter Monday in Hambledon Hills, near Henley-on-Thames. The youthful team consisting of Ireland international Aislinn Austin, GB junior Heather Gardner and GB senior Jenny Whitehead won by over a minute from nearest rivals Interlopers (Edinburgh) and South Yorkshire who had a sprint for 2nd and 3rd positions respectively. They will be hoping to repeat their success at the British Championships in Sheffield on 18th May.
EBOR were one of the favourites for the race with Whitehead placed 4th in the Women's Elite class over the weekend (won by World no.9 Heather Monro) and Gardner champion in the Junior Women's Elite Class.
Gardner fulfilled the potential she has shown in recent years to take the JK title by just 4 seconds over the 2 days of racing, from Rachel Majumdar of Leeds University. Austin had a strong and steady run on first leg with a small mistake near the end leaving her in 8th position but under a minute down on Interlopers. Gardner then had a fast run making good route choices to send Whitehead out with a 14 second lead over Interlopers, South Yorkshire a further minute down. Whitehead ran well stretching the lead to 1 minute 14 with the chasing runners, British Squad members Gillian Godfree and Helen Winskill, not even catching sight of her on the 7.1km course.
EBOR had two other JK Champions this year with Danny Adams making a strong comeback to the form that saw him become a member of the Yorkshire Junior Squad as a junior to win the M20 Long course and Celia Wells winning the W65 Long.
Gardner was thrilled to be double champion over the weekend and has since backed this up by winning both the Short and Long courses in the Future Champions Cup Final in Scotland last weekend by clear margins to take the Future Champions league victory overall. This ensures she will be making her Junior World Championships debut in Estonia this July.
Club-mate Matt Speake also ran well in the selection races to consolidate his position in the team - he will be hoping to improve on his 9th place at last year's Junior World Championships in Spain.
Heather, Jenny and Matt will all be competing in the British Elite Championships in June.
| Class | Pos | Name | Class | Pos | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W12B | 2 | Charlotte Myers | M10B | 4 | Robert Schmuck | |
| W12A | 3 | Alice Leake | M14B | 6 | Stephen Clark | |
| W16B | 5 | Emily Andrews | M20S | 3 | Tim Bean | |
| W20E | 1 | Heather Gardner | M20L | 1 | Daniel Adams | |
| W21E | 4 | Jenny Whitehead | M20E | 4 | Matt Speake | |
| W55L | 8 | Ann Smith | M50S | 6 | Steve Willis | |
| W65L | 1 | Celia Wells | M60L | 6 | Barrie Speake |
Jenny Whitehead has been selected for the British Orienteering Team to compete in the Nordic Open Orienteering Championships to be held in Flen, Sweden from May 1st to May 4th.
Following on from her fine form in last weekend's British Sprint Championship she went one step better by winning Saturday's Selection race held at Brantwood in the Lake District. Jenny ran the tough 3.5km course in just 20.30 winning by a clear 1 minute 14 seconds from Newcastle University's Hannah Wootton. The following day Wootton won the longer race at Bishops Wood with Whitehead in 3rd place (just 7 seconds down on Sarah Rollins the British Sprint Champion this time!).
These results saw Jenny selected to the 6 strong British Women's Team and placed in the first relay team in next month's championships, which are seen as the dress rehearsal for the World Championships in the summer. 'I am very pleased to be in the first relay team as we have a strong chance of a medal this year - last year the British men's team won the gold at the Nordic Champs and it would be nice to match that!' said Jenny, who will be preparing for the Championships by competing in Britain's annual international event the Jan Kjellstrom Trophy over Easter weekend, near Sandhurst, along with a total of 53 other Eborienteers. She will then fly out to Sweden to run for Vasteras Orienteering Club in the Tio Mila Relay (where there will be over 300 women's teams!) before joining up with the British team in Flen on April 27th.
Nick Morgan, who is in his first year as a senior, had a strong run to finish 5th in the men's race on Sunday. This has seen him selected for the British team to compete in a B-International in Germany over the weekend of May 10th/11th.
While Nick is competing for the Great Britain senior team for the first time many other orienteers will be racing around the streets of York on Sunday May 11th in the 3rd Annual York City Orienteering Trophy. The race is part of National Outdoor Week and gives beginners a chance to try orienteering in a more familiar setting. Both of last years winners: Jenny Whitehead (EBOR) and Oli Johnson (South Yorkshire Orienteers and British Team member) will be defending their titles and offering advice to beginners.
Jenny Whitehead almost snatched her first British title in Saturday's race at Ham Hill near Yeovil. But she finished 2nd, just 2 second behind the winner!
The first official British Sprint Orienteering Championships saw the closest ever race in British women's orienteering. The top 6 were separated by under 30 seconds.
Last year's champion (in an unofficial championships!) Sarah Rollins of British Army Orienteering Club won in a time of 16.29 for the 2.5km course, Whitehead was 2nd with a time of 16.31 despite taking 3 seconds out of Rollins on the run-in. This meant British no.1 Heather Monro, ranked 9th in the world, was pushed into 3rd place with a time of 16.38. Aislinn Austin also of EBOR finished 11th with sister Fionne in 29th.
Nick Morgan finished top Eborienteer in the Men's Championship in 19th position. The course was won by British no.1 and favourite Jamie Stevenson running for South Yorkshire Orienteers.
The weekend was part of a series of selection races to run in the British Team at the Nordic Championships in Sweden in early May. Jenny strengthened her position further with 5th place in Sunday's World Ranking Event despite making several small mistakes. 'All in all I'm pleased with how the weekend went and especially with my fitness at the moment' she said 'however I'm sure there are plenty of places that I lost those 2 seconds on Saturday and I am very disappointed not to have won my first senior national championships!'
Jenny will be showing her fine sprint race form around the streets of York on Sunday May 11th when she attempts to retain her crown in the 3rd Annual York City Orienteering Trophy. The race gives beginners a chance to try orienteering in a more familiar setting and EBOR are hoping for a good local turnout. Jenny will be available, along with other international orienteers, to offer advice and sign posters. Further information on the York Race and orienteering in general is available at www.eborienteers.org.uk
Jenny is recently back from a trip to Vasteras, Sweden, where she trained and raced in preparation for the Nordic Championships, with her new Swedish Club Vasteras Ski and Orienteering Club. EBOR member Matt Speake has also been out in Scandinavia with his new club OK Tisaren based in Hallsberg, Sweden. Matt (who was 9th in the Junior (U21) World Championships last year) finished in a classy 5th position in the Junior Men's Class at the Spring Cup in Denmark last weekend - orienteering's first major international of the season.
Running for a Scandinavian Club in the major relays is seen as a necessary part of a British runner's development. Jenny and Matt will be running for their respective Swedish clubs in these relays this year whilst Aislinn Austin will be competing for one of the world's best orienteering clubs Halden SK of Norway. Aislinn and Jenny will be teaming up with Heather Gardner for the domestic relays hoping to build on EBOR's 3rd place in the British Championships last year. This year's British Championships are in Sheffield, May 18th.