Gristwood and Rollins on top of the podium again
Graham Gristwood wins the latest UK Cup Race combined with the British Championships 2009.
He has started this season like a rocket and has dominated all races so far with impressive wins in the south of England over the past two weekends.
He, along side Sarah Rollins in the women's races has been outstanding notching up another win on the orienteering bedpost.
Missing out on the British Championships this year due to minor injury is annoying for myself but looking at the times it was super fast and running 4.9mins/km this weekend means that Gristwood's orienteering (and the other top runners too) was completely accurate and the running speed more like that of a cross country race than typical orienteering in English forests.
Popping up in the top of the results are the M18 juniors Peter Hodkinson and Kristian Jones once again. After their last week's results at the JOK Chasing Sprint and National Event at Burnham Beeches, they have bought these performances one step further by finishing 3rd and 4th respectively behind the times of Graham and Duncan Archer.
Kristian Jones, the EYOC 2008 Sprint Champion has had a great start to the season and is currently in 1st place ahead of Matt Halliday and Peter Hodkinson. The M20s are also in the top 10 this weekend with Ralph Street picking up 8th place.
The W20s are also in good form with Victoria Stevens and Anwen Darlington picking up the scalps of Lizzie Adams and Abi Weeds to make it to 6th and 7th positions respectively.
With all of the fast paced action out of the way for the next few weeks, we will be able to see the season unfold as the next UK Cup race is in April at the Jan Kjellstrom Orienteering Festival in the north east of England.
Mens UK Cup Race
1 Graham Gristwood (M21) OD 54:50 4.9 m/km
2 Duncan Archer (M21) CLOK 56:22 5.0
3 Kristian Jones (M18) SBOC 57:40 5.1
4 Peter Hodkinson (M18) NOC 57:46 5.1
5 Matthew Speake (M21) EBOR 58:42 5.2
6 Ian Nixon (M21) AIRE 58:58 5.2
7 Anthony Squire (M21) INT 59:55 5.3
8 Ralph Street (M20) SLOW 60:15 5.3
9 Matthew Halliday (M18) OD 60:41 5.4
10 Edgars Bertuks (M21) TVOC 60:57 5.4
Womens UK Cup Race
1 Sarah Rollins (W21) BAOC 45:02 5.6 m/km
2 Pippa Whitehouse (W21) CLOK 46:24 5.8
3 Rachael Elder (W21) CLOK 48:46 6.1
4 Alison Crocker (W21) OUOC 51:08 6.4
5 Karen Poole (W21) CLOK 51:13 6.4
6 Victoria Stevens (W20) AIRE 53:48 6.7
7 Anwen Darlington (W20) ERYRI 53:49 6.7
8 Lizzie Adams (W21) EBOR 54:26 6.8
9 Abi Weeds (W21) SLOW 55:02 6.9
10 Rachel Majumdar (W21) UNOC 55:53 7.0
See more British Orienteering Championships 2009 results here.
See the current UK Cup Standings here.
See the Future Champions Cup results here.