Night-time drama for competitors
Season ends with local wins
Two local orienteers were amongst the medals at the delayed British Night Championships in Gloucestershire, as the 2021 championship season drew to a close.
Will Hensman started strongly, and had a two minute lead at the halfway point. However, there was in-course drama, as his headlamp failed, and, in switching to the back-up lamp allowed defending champion Anthony Squire (NOC) through to the leading position.
Will dug in, and had the quickest split time on seven of the remaining ten legs, but Squire kept his nose in front to claim back-to-back victories, as Will finished out in 68.12, an agonising 12 seconds behind
Jason Inman was prominent throughout in a competitive M50 race, which was run in the wake of Storm Arwen in filthy conditions, and came through in silver medal position (51.58). There was more drama, as half of the field, including Jason, was then disqualified for missing a control. The race jury was convened, and found that the control unit had failed in the storm, so decided to reinstate all the disqualified competitors.
There was no eight consecutive Men’s Elite title for Graham Gristwood, as he elected to miss the championships for the first time since 2014, breaking one of the longest winning sequences in world orienteering.
The final results for the 2021 Scottish Orienteering League were published this week, and there are 26 locals in podium positions, including six league champions.
Youngsters Hannah Inman (W10A) and Eilidh Connor (W12A) added the league title to their Junior Cup successes of earlier in the year, and there were wins too for Will Hensman (M40L), who was the second highest scorer in the entire competition. Rona Molloy (W50L), leading an all FVO podium, Hazel Dean (W21L) and Pierre
Lardet (M21S)
Silver medals were won by Janine Inman (W40L), Beccy Osborn (W45L), Heather Fellbaum (W50L), Matthew Inman (M12A), Adrien Chapoy (M14B), James Hammond (M16A), Paul Hammond (M45L), Jason Inman (M50L), and Brad Connor (M50S).
Bronze went to Katie Hensman (W14A), Lizzie Stansfield (W20L), Eloise Lardet (W21S), Fiona Berrow (W35L), Vicky Thornton (W40L), Rachel Kirkland (W50L), Jennifer Leonard (W50S), Louis Chapoy (M16B), Steve Feltbower (M40L), Fraser Purves (M50L), and Mark Holliday (M65L).