Well, what a let down the Millennium Bug was. I was expecting disasters all over the place and nothing happened - I didn't even lose the ability to use my computer, meaning that I still have to write JPE. Not that I'm complaining or anything! Anyway, I hope that Christmas and New Year were celebrated successfully and happily by you all.
Orienteering-wise the Christmas period has been a quiet one. SOS held our annual New Year's Day Novelty event on 1st January but that was about the sum total of my orienteering between the middle of December and the middle of January. Since then we've had the EA Champs - well done to all those who won trophies - and an elite squad weekend - report next time. Back in the last century Helen Gardner ran for England in the Junior Home Internationals. She has reported on the event for JPE:
Last year I was selected to run for England in the JHI. For those of you who don't know anything about this event I will try and explain what it is like. The JHI (Junior Home International in full) is when the countries England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland come together to compete against each other. Each country is allowed to select four girls and four boys from each age group, although England is almost always the only country which manages to get a full squad.Recent news is that Suzy Robertson (SOS) has been selected for the England team for Interland 2000. Let's hope she enjoys the experience as much as Helen obviously did. Suzy has also been selected, along with Nicola Robertson and David West (both SOS) to represent Great Britain at the World Schools Championships in Israel in April. You are likely to see them around raising money, please support them. They have to raise £500 each and are looking for sponsorship as well as fundraising themselves. With any luck we might con an article out of them on their return!I got selected for this event as a W14 along with Alison O'Neil, Katie Breed and Sarah Dredge, after coming first at both days of the JK, fourth at BOC and third at the Junior Inter-Regionals, putting me into the top four. Although I knew I had an excellent chance of being selected for this event it was still quite shocking when the letter came; I had to give it to my mum to read as I was too overcome: I couldn't believe it! The event drew closer and closer and I actually managed to fit a bit of running into my fairly busy schedule.
On Thursday night (the actual event spanned Saturday and Sunday) I slept at Katie's house, so I wouldn't have to get up early the next morning. As it was, I didn't get to bed until 10 that night. The following morning we got up bright and early as we were looking forward to the daylong journey ahead. The journey basically went like this: short car trip to where we were going to meet the minibus, minibus, short stop, minibus, lunch stop, minibus, get to ferry port, wander round shops, ferry, minibus, get a bit lost, find campsite, get ready for bed, ZZZZZZZZZZZ.
The next morning we had to get up early, as the area was quite far away. We had our breakfast, then set off. The individual event was mostly on a moor-type area although, for a short while, all the courses went into a bit of wood. I managed to go completely wrong on the first and second controls, the first because of my misinterpretation of the map, the second because of the map being wrong and because of my already being worried about my position, after having messed up the first control. The rest of the course I managed to do generally well, ending up with a position of fifth, making me miss out on the lovely plates! The only thing that worried me was that my time sprinting into the finish was a good bit slower than everyone else's! Although I came fifth overall I was still third out of the four English competitors, putting me in the main relay team, not the AdHoc.
That night was the social part of the event, with first a dinner (the food wasn't excellent!), then the prize giving, and then a disco (in which Sarah managed to try to pair up a lot of girls with boys, and in which some people managed to somehow 'get lost', while wandering around with their boyfriend/girlfriend!). Although the disco was really fun, we eventually had to leave, or we wouldn't have been able to run in the morning!
The next day was the relays, and after an excellent run from our first runner it was my turn. To my great annoyance I managed to mess up the first control - again! Then, when running into the third control, I saw a rival team's runner just in front of me. For the rest of the course I never saw that girl again, so I lived in dread of having lost our lead, but on coming in to the finish I saw that I was coming in first!
I really enjoyed the event, and recommend all junior runners to try to get selected for it, as it was such good fun! As usual, England won most of the relays and individual competitions as well as the overall event. The only relay we lost was the AdHoc where, despite having the fastest time, Sarah managed to mis-punch!
Helen Gardner (WAOC)
WELL DONE THE EAST ANGLIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONS 2000!
W12 Joanne West (SOS)
W14 Helen Gardner (WAOC)
W16 Suzy Robertson (SOS)
W18 Eleanor West (SOS)
W20 Vicky Pap (WAOC)
M1O Philip Humphries (WAOC)
M12 Simon Gardner (WAOC)
M14 Laurence Ball (NOR)
M16 Chris Sellens (SOS)
M18 Neil Northrop (WAOC)
M20 Mark Bown (CUOC)
And particular congratulations to Eleanor West, who I believe won the Joan George Trophy for the best junior performance, and is also W18 Midland Night Champion! (Ed.)