Nopesport

It was a double for SYO today as it was both Kim Buckley and World Champion Jamie Stevenson™ who took the honours at the British Sprint Championships. Stevenson won by the somewhat comfortable margin of 14 seconds from GBR relay teammate Dan Marston but it wasn't until the final 4 controls that Stevenson managed to take the lead. In 3rd place by just 3 seconds, keeping Murray Strain off the podium after one of his best performances of the year, was Oli Johnson with a time of 13:29. UK Cup leader Ed Nash picked up more good points with 5th place while 9th place went to Nope Young Team member Dickie Wren. Top Junior in this race once again was Graham Gristwood in 15th, unable however to match his 6th place from last year.

The womens race was closer over the 1.92km course with Buckley taking top spot with a time of 14:11, 5 seconds clear from Helen Bridle with Clare Ward in 3rd a further 9 seconds down in a time of 14:25. It was Bridle, and in particular Ward, who led for the whole race - at least until the 2nd last control. It was this control that cost a number of runners but Ward lost as much as a minute here, which cost her the race. Bridle also lost about 20 seconds which, when coupled with a further 5 second loss on the last control, saw Buckley victorious having had none of the fastest splits. Helen Palmer returned from Sweden to take 4th place while Heather Monro showed signs of coming back well from injury with 5th place. Top junior went to Mhairi Mackenzie with a time of 14:45 giving her 7th place, she too lost perhaps 30 seconds on the 2nd last control.

Men's Results:

1 Stevenson, Jamie SYO 13:04
2 Marston, Daniel INT 13:18
3 Johnson, Oliver SYO 13:29
4 Strain, Murray INT 13:32
5 Nash, Ed KNOBOC 13:53
6 Speake, Matthew EBOR 14:10
7 Walder, Patrick CLYDE 14:13
8 Crane, Matthew WCH 14:14
9 Wren, Richard EPOC 14:16
10 Duncan, Jonathan GRAMP 14:19

Women's Results:

1 Buckley, Kim SYO 14:11
2 Bridle, Helen WIM 14:16
3 Ward, Claire INT 14:25
4 Palmer, Helen NOC 14:29
5 Monro, Heather SLOW 14:42
6 Winskill, Helen SYO 14:43
7 MacKenzie, Mhairi EUOC 14:45
8 Elder, Rachael SHUOC 14:56
9 Rollins, Sarah BAOC 15:11
10 Hensman, Janine INT 15:17
Rocky edit:
The courses were fast and furious, and many runners lost the race on the trickier controls. They started and finished in an area of semi-open, where careful navigation to avoid dense gorse thickets was the key. The middle section was over a white forest covered hillock, which mixed up slope orienteering with more complex contour interpretation. It seems it was the mix in leg lengths and the switch between the two terrain types which caught most people out, since much time was lost on (in the mens) control 4, a long leg through the semiopen, and control 14, the first control in the open after leaving the white.

Credit has to be given to the organisers for an exciting race, a great course on a great area. The finish arena was excellant as well, with the run in down a steep reentrant while all runners sat on the spurs by the sides. Informed commentary by MC Pooley was as we've come to expect, the only thing missing perhaps was a race clock, which would have made the race easier to follow for Joe with his start list in hand.

Full results are available from here while we hope for a full report. Map of Mens course is available in the gallery.