The European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC) 2017 was held in Banska Bystrica, a region of Slovakia. After competing in six selection races earlier in spring, I was selected to represent Great Britain along with six other British athletes.

The team flew out on the 28^th June 2017, two days before the first race in order to attend the model event. The model event is on similar areas to the races which allows you to familiarise yourself with the terrain before competing.

Unfortunately, my last A level exam was on the 29^th. This meant I had to jump in a car to the airport as soon as my physics exam finished. Luckily my parents offered to come with me to hire a car and drive me to the accommodation from Warsaw airport. I managed to get a few hours sleep before waking up on the morning of the sprint race.

The sprint race was held in the town of Banska Stiavanca. My preparation for this race was not ideal however I tried to put that behind me and focus on the race. The start of the race was quite high up on one side of the valley so the first half of the race was mostly spent running downhill along dirt tracks and paths between people’s gardens. This meant the navigation was quite simple but because of the fast pace route choice had to be made very quickly.  The second half was on the other side of the valley which was very steep so there were several sets of old wooden stairs which made running tricky. I finished first female Brit though in 30^th position.

The next day was the long distance race. Having missed the model event, this was my first time in the terrain so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I felt the first part of my race was a little hesitant and I wasn’t finding the best lines through the terrain. This lead to several small time losses which added up. I settled into the race more for the second half. I finished in 30^th which was an improvement on last year’s performance however I still feel that with more time for better preparation I could have had a cleaner race.

The last day was the relay. I was running second leg. The area was the same as the previous day so I felt more confident. My first leg runner lost a lot of time to the leaders so I set off with the aim to have a clean run and climb up as many positions as possible. I ticked off the first few controls nicely then there was one leg straight up a very steep slope. I caught sight of the next girls just ahead so pushed up the hill to catch them. I kept focus for the next few legs and managed to get away from them. I climbed 5 positions and was 5^th fastest on 2^nd leg of the relay which I was happy with.

EYOC was another great opportunity to gain experience competing in foreign terrain against the best orienteers in my age group in Europe. I’d like to thank the John Taylor Foundation for financially supporting me so that I can continue my junior orienteering career.

Laura – back row, 3rd from right

Jessica Hudson

I would like to thank you for the money that the John Taylor Foundation has provided me with, it is very nice to receive support. It has been a busy year as I have concentrated my efforts on preparing for my second year in Triathlon. This year I have raced in the South West TRISTAR3 series which is longer distances compared to the races I did last year in TRISTAR2. The season has gone very well and I am currently 4th in the South West and I have been selected to be part of the South West Team to compete in the National Championships in Strathclyde in September.

The money you have provided has allowed me to attend a number of training sessions and will also help me prepare for the nationals by attending the South West residential camp. I feel my confidence and determination has grown to succeed has grown whilst allowing me to have great fun with the other children in the race series. Without your support I would not have been able to undertake all these training sessions and would not have achieved what I have and for this I am most grateful.

I will update you at the end of the season to tell you how I got on at Strathclyde. My focus will then change to the swimming competition season for the winter and my training for relay swimming the English channel with 4 of my swim team mates next year.

Once again thank you for the support this year.

Jess

Nathan ran at the World Mountain Running Championships and then won the U17 race at the JHI in Keswick in 2016.

Nathan’s report

Charlotte Ward won a Gold Medal in the Mixed Sprint Relay at the 2016 World University Orienteering Championships.  Her report and photos are shown below.

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Jake sent this report about his trip to the European Youth Orienteering Championships.

Jake’s letter

Firstly, I’d like to say a big thank you to the John Taylor foundation for the support. Your aid is so helpful as funding training is costly, with all the kit, travelling, physio sessions, race entry and accommodation. So far with the funding I have bought a pair of trainers and spikes.

Unfortunately in October 2015 I strained a tendon in my foot in a training session which prevented me from running for 2 months. This set back meant that I was unable to achieve the goals I wanted to this cross country season, like making the GB teams for European Cross Country championship and Great Edinburgh XC which was really disappointing and quite demoralising.

Despite the injury I was able to cross train most days. By either cycling, swimming or doing core and strengthening exercises, this has allowed me to maintain strength and fitness throughout. In late December I was able to return to training now after a month of easy running and gradually increasing my mileage, I have finally began doing sessions with my coach again, so hopefully now with help from the John Taylor Foundations generous support I can build to where I need to be to achieve the goals I want on the track this summer.

So despite the disappointing last few months I am confident that 2016 will be a successful year.

James Gormley