Saxons at the British Long Distance & Relay Orienteering Championships
Superb weekend of top quality orienteering in Berkshire, with 3 podium positions in the individual races and plenty of great racing and fun at the team relays.
On Saturday 25 March 2023, 22 Saxons travelled to Cold Ash in Berkshire to contest the 2023 British Individual Long Distance Championships. The area was last used for the 2019 JK Long Distance and was known to be a tough test of endurance and navigation. Thankfully conditions were good with the rain holding off and spirits were high.
Fantastic podium results for Jeremy Oldershaw who came second in M85, Doug Deeks who came 3rd in M85, and Alison Howe who came 3rd in W50L, but there were also notable and strong performances from Peter Martin, (4th on M70L), Sarah Howes, (4th on W60L) and Beryl Pring, (5th on W75).
On the Sunday, 3 teams represented the club in Hambleden for the British Team Relay Championships. The SAXons Attack team of Austin Howe, David Thomas and Peter Dobra were entered in the Men's Premier Relay and put in a consistent performance to finish 20th - although they were in the lead for the first 100m as Austin Howe sprinted off the start line! The first time Saxons have fielded a Men's Premier team in quite a long time. SAXons Go Berserk were in the M50 relay and comprised of Alan Hickling, Mel Taylor and Brendon Howe. All had good runs with Mel gaining a place on leg 2 and arriving in the arena to find Brendon not quite ready! Brendon also gained a place and the team finished 12th overall. Graham Thomas, Sarah Howes and David Kingdon made up SAXons Fury in the M60 category with Sarah having a great middle leg leaving Graham and David having a close battle for second fastest - David just pipped Graham in the end bring the team in to finish in 23rd place.
The stage is now set for the JK in just 2 weeks time! Lakes - here we come!
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