Internationally Runnable Woodlands
JOK Chasing Sprint 2009
The JOK Chasing sprint has always been an iconic event in the British Calendar, made more famous over the last few years due to its inclusion into the Future Champions Cup and the UK Cup Events. The forest were runnable compared to the thick forests up north, and thanks to the snowfall, new growth hadn’t really started in the areas of bracken and heather.
The JOK was set in Whippendell Wood and it was a perfect place for short, sharp orienteering with plenty of contour detail in certain areas and not much to stop you not running in straight lines through the terrain. Visibility would be the main factor with trees being close together, you could stand 5m from the control and not see it! But still. Speed was excellent and the times were very quick.
Matt Halliday stamped an early leading time while the GB international Matt Crane took his glory half way through the afternoon. With plenty of young athletes at the event, due to FCC points available, the JOK became a source of youthful orienteering talent this weekend.
Grace Elson, the Australian international managed to get the win in the women’s race ahead of a weakened field, thanks to the Cross Country Race taking place on the Saturday near London.
The Chase was fast and furious, the leaders stayed ahead and the chasing packs fought to the death to get the UK and FCC points in the bag.
Results:
1 Matthew Crane SYO 37:20
2 Ralph Street SLOW 38:04
3 Matthew Halliday OD 38:12
4 Peter Hodkinson NOC 38:23
5 Duncan Archer CLOK 38:26
1 Grace Elson SYO 42:46
2 Anne Edwards TVOC 44:42
3 Alison Crocker OUOC 45:52
4 Charlotte Watson WCOC 45:59
5 Elizabeth Bridge OUOC 46:14
National Event 1 - Burnham Beeches
The Sunday brought more glorious sunshine and excellent runnable woodland in the shape of Burnham Beeches, possibly one of the oldest parts of the English woodland.
The event was also the Interland International Event, which invited clubs from Belgium and Germany to try to race against England on their own terrain. England were the victors again with 168 vs 111 for 2nd place.
| Nation | Runners | Scorers | Score |
| ENG | 42 | 28 | 168 |
| VVO | 39 | 28 | 111 |
| FRSO | 37 | 26 | 91 |
| NOLB | 21 | 17 |
37 |
The Mens Elite was 15km and stretched all the way across the areas of the forest from Egypt Woods in the north to the historic Burnham Beeches in the south.
A tough race, but winning times of under 85minutes show it was typically very fast!
M21E
1 131 Graham Gristwood ENG 1:13:53 501089
2 175 Fabien Pasquasy FRSO 1:15:12 782206
3 132 Matt Crane ENG 1:17:44 501062
4 14513 Duncan Archer 77 CLOK 1:18:03 501072
5 14813 Nick Barrable 74 ENG 1:18:43 501065
W21E
1 112 Sarah Rollins ENG 1:02:24 501066
2 13913 Helen Bridle 79 WIM 1:03:04 501067
3 111 Pippa Whitehouse ENG 1:03:11 503510
4 215 Kim Geypen VVO 1:08:39 8740
5 14356 Rachael Elder 80 CLOK 1:09:56 501058