British Sprint and Middle Distance Championships 2016
A small flock of Sarum Orienteers headed east to compete in the 2016 British Sprint and Middle Distance Championships. The sprint races were held in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, an area of reclaimed wetlands in the Lea Valley that includes some of the iconic structures used in the 2012 Olympic Games together with numerous bridges, underpasses, overpasses and a river and canal to add a bit more interest.
In the open classes Harry Butt was 20th in MOB and Adam Walker 7th in MOC. Carolyn Dent came 15th, in W50A whilst Jeff Butt took a solid 6th place in M50C. Sarum had everyone surrounded in the M70B race with Ian Peirce in 1st place and Ricky Thornton sweeping up in 13th place with Freda Peirce in 3rd place in W75A.
The middle distance orienteering championships took place on Leith Hill, Dorking, in Surrey, a designated area of outstanding natural beauty that commands sweeping views towards London in the North and the English Channel in the South. The top of the prominent Leith Hill Tower is reputed to be the highest point in South-East England but was not visited by any of the courses.
By far the best Sarum Result of the weekend was achieved by Lucy Butt in W21A who continued her recent return to form to cover the 4.5km, 135m climb course with its 20 controls in 38:03 min to beat rivals Fanni Gyurko (39:21min) and Anastasia Trubkina (39:37), both from Forth Valley Orienteers, to the top step of the podium. More good results by the ladies came from Charlotte Thornton who took 3rd place in the W70 class and Freda Peirce 4th in W75 whilst husband Ian Peirce was 11th in the M70 race.
Full results for the sprints can be found here and for the middle distance here.