The East Anglian Orienteering Association welcomed the four nation teams of Scotland, Wales,
England and all Ireland to Norfolk for the 2024 Junior Home Internationals.
Organiser's comments
The Junior Home Internationals take place every year in early October. The top 12 male and 12 females in each of the age groups M/W14, M/W16 and
M/W18 from all the home nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland compete in a 2-day orienteering event with an Individual Day and a Relay Day.
There are four trophies awarded at the JHIs:
The Water Technology Ireland Perpetual Cup - awarded to the country with the highest overall points total.
The Ultrasport Junior Trophy - awarded to the country with the most points in the Individual race.
The Cranstoun Cup - awarded to the country with the most points in the Relay.
The Judith Wingham Platter - awarded to the winner between Ireland and Wales.
This year the JHI was hosted by the East Anglia Orienteering Association on 12- 13th October 2024 with Norfolk Orienteering Club organising the
Individual Day and Relays. Sheringham Park in North Norfolk was the venue with residential accommodation at Overstrand Hall, Kingswood Learning Centre.
In total 91 competitors took part supported by team managers and helpers from each of the home nations.
Ben Bethel and Glen Richardson planned some challenging courses for the individual and relay races respectively, overseen by
Paul Beckett from HAVOC and Sarah Mansel from SUFFOC who controlled the respective days. Sarah was assisted by Michael Chopping
on the relay day as she was recovering from a hip operation the previous week. Kim and I organised both days, supported by a
great team of helpers. Thanks to Peter Woods from WAOC who as Event Co-ordinator put everything together and kept us all focused on the various tasks that needed to be done.
Luckily the weather stayed dry for both days during the competition, although the rain did come on the Saturday afternoon while we
were still setting up for the relays. It was quite cold on both days although the sun did come out later on. The teams were entertained on
Saturday night with a Ceilidh and live music from Whirligig Norfolk Ceilidh Band, all the juniors took part in the Ceilidh.
The competition was very close with Scotland winning the individual day, and going into the relay day, holding a slender four-point lead over England for the Overall Trophy.
The total points for the relay day were: ENG 54; SCO 50; IRE 26; WAL 12, making England the winners of the relay trophy.
The overall scores were: ENG 126; SCO 126; IRE 71; WAL 34, making a tie for the overall winners. However, Scotland were awarded the
Water Technology Ireland Perpetual Cup, due to them having more 1st places from the individual and relay than England. The Ireland team
were awarded the Judith Wingham Platter as the winners between Ireland and Wales.
The full results and photos courtesy of JP Carraud are available at the top of this page.
A very big thank you to all the helpers and officials. We are truly lucky to have such a great band of helpers within EAOA and NOR,
to call on for these major events, and to give up so much of their
time. Thanks go to everyone who helped make sure that the event was both challenging and enjoyable.