In October 2024, I, along with the rest selected, made the journey to East Anglia for the Junior Home International. This is the annual competition between Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales in junior orienteering.
On Friday the 11th of October we boarded a flight from Dublin to Stansted and met up with some more from the team there. After a short stop in McDonalds we were on our way again to Overstrand Hall, our accommodation for the weekend. That evening, exploring ensued before going to bed early after our Scottish roommates arrived.
The next morning we had breakfast and made our way to Sheringham forest, the location for both the individual and the relay. I warmed up shortly later and went to the start.
After a shaky first control I got into the swing of things before taking a wrong turn to 5. I was on my own to about 8 before I started running around an English guy and then on the way to 11, Finlay McLuckie. They dropped me at 11 but I managed to catch up with and pass the English guy at 15 and I caught up with Finlay at 16 before finishing in behind him. Our best result from the day was Aidan McKenna in 2nd on M16 and I was 6th in M16.
That evening we went down to the sea for a bit of a cold dip in while it was raining (rain that only started once we were in the water). After bangers and mash for dinner we went to the céilà for an hour and then the prizegiving. During the prizegiving we shouted for Aidan and then went to another hour of céilÃ. Another early night followed as we rested for the relay on Sunday.
Sunday morning we packed, cleaned up and then hopped in the cars to head to Sheringham again for the relay. The women’s relays started first, so we cheered them on and then went into the start box to begin our own race. After a tense wait the start horn blared and we were off, first racing to the start kite through a tight gate. The first two controls were gaffled but I executed them fairly well to be in 7-8 place at 4 but in a big pack that included all the way up to first. 6 and 7 were also gaffled and I got to 6 with an English guy but he went the wrong way to 7. So I was on my own then to 9 where I somehow caught up with a load of people and we were in a train that slowly spread out on the way to 12. Then I was in the same place pretty much all the way back to the finish which was 5th to hand over to Marcus.
My team ended up finishing in 10th with our highest team being 5th (we had a 3rd place but they mispunched). We applauded the other teams at the prizegiving before happily accepting the Judith Wingham trophy once more.
We then got into the cars and made our way back to Stansted before hopping on our flight home and saying farewell to the JHI for another year.
The routegadgets and results can be found here: https://www.noroc.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/Â
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