TioMila 28th-29th April
European Champs 5th-13th May
Latest News
Photo: Charlotte and Kirstin at the sprint weekend
The top GB sprinters gathered in York two weeks before the European Champs sprint races for a final group training weekend.
Graham Gristwood was the planner and he has put together a short video of the running giving a flavour of what went on. Several locations and several formats are evident.
Thanks to Steve Whitehead, Paul Murgatroyd, Peter and Christine Roberts, Bill Griffiths and EBOR Orienteers.
Photo: Tove Alexandersson wins for Stora Tuna in 2017, overtaking 11 other teams on the last leg - SVT sport.
One of the highlights of the orienteering calendar, TioMila, takes place near Stockholm next weekend. A lot of the GB Squad will take part, and they have written several articles. This item is a quick summary and an index to the articles.
For a taste of the TV pictures and a bit more on last year please see the SVT 2 minute video (It's in Swedish.)
A video view over the arena is recently available.
Photo: Alice Leake at JK2018, by Wendy Carlyle.
This post contains links to several stories On The Red Line has noticed over the weekend. By the way if you are a user of Twitter we now are too. We will tweet when we publish major news items.
Athletics Weekly reports on the English Road Running Association's National Relays.
The 6-stage Women's race was won by Leeds City AC including Alice Leake (fastest runner on leg 5). The 12-stage Men’s race was won by Tonbridge - with Swansea Harriers including Kris Jones (fastest runner on leg 9) third.
The Swedish test races are this weekend; three weeks before the European Championships (and two weeks before TioMila.) Friday 13th - Sprint. Saturday 14th - Long. Sunday 15th - Middle. All are World Ranking Events. This post will be updated with news and further links as the weekend progresses.
Monday morning: this post is now updated with results.
18th April: Updated with news of Swedish team.
The biennial European Championships (EOC) take place in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, 5th - 13th May 2018.
The British team was announced last Friday.
As test races complete other teams are being announced.
Cat Taylor has a tough start on a post-JK trip to the European Champs terrain.
She comments about her win in the Middle Distance race at the JK:
It helped me that the course only had a lot of short legs and I never got the chance to run too far off line. In the end I got away with the minimal preparation and took a narrow win. I was hugely relieved but also unaware that this was the last thing to go smoothly for a while…
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Featured Articles
Photo: Sasha Chepelin at the World Cup Final Meeting 2017
Like Hector, my excitement for the upcoming TioMila relay is building. Having recently moved club and location to Halden, this feeling is ever more noticeable. I'm now part of a club which has quite the record of orienteering relay success. Simply glancing into the Halden SK's central clubhut reveals a trove of mementos earned from consistent success at the big orienteering relays across their entire histories. But with these big overnight relays comes a very different style of orienteering.
Photo: Ralph Street in the colours of Södertälje-Nykvarn Orientering, JK Long race 2017, by Robert Lines.
TioMila2018, one of the best weekends of the year. is in commuting distance of Stockholm next weekend.
As you know participation in orienteering is much more club based in Scandinavia than it is here. There are many relays, and this one is arguably the most important. It is the one that Swedish orienteers all talk about through the winter. It's the one they all remember years afterwards.
Photo: Jess Tullie in Domnarvets GOIF colours
This year's TiomIla Women's race is in the afternoon of Saturday 28th April. It starts at 12:15 UK-time and the winning team will finish about a quarter to five. You can watch it on the internet, with English commentary from Boris Granovskiy and Graham Gristwood. There will be several hundred teams. Apart from the sprint specialists, most of the GB Squad women will be running, and they are looking forward to it.
Video showing the start of the 2016 race There wasn't English commentary in 2016 but you can see Jess lead off for the lowest numbered team.
Photo: Hector Haines in IFK Lidingö colours
To many, the name TioMila is very well-known. And those that have experienced it understand the excitement and the grandeur of the competition. But it takes living it to really get to the essence of the race.
It is all broadcast online. GPS tracking and many cameras (both setup in close co-operation with the planners) allow the broadcasters to show the story well, often with great drama as the races unfold. This year there's again an English language commentary option, with Boris Granovskiy and Graham Gristwood. It costs 150SEK. Order the broadcast at www.10mila.se.
As with watching all sport knowing a bit more about the teams and the athletes helps the appreciation.
This article is a summary of the timings and colours of some of the clubs who may well feature. There being more than 300 teams in each race suggests someone important is left out. I wonder who.
Photo: Graham Gristwood, at the British Sprint Relay Champs 2017, by Brian Ward.
So much of orienteering happens when a runner is on their own that international runners and analytical mental strength go hand-in-hand. Some of the athletes are quiet, some are chatty, some are in between, but they are, as a general rule, very strongly self-aware and determined. They subject themselves and their performances to merciless self-analysis.
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Videos
As the excitement for TioMila continues to build we have a couple of 2 minute videos. The start and finish of the 2016 race. The footage is from the live broadcast.