This week a number of juniors from West Cumberland Orienteering Club took part in the Junior Home Internationals, where juniors from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales compete in individual races and then relays for the overall trophy.

The competition took place on rough, open terrain near Dolgellau in Wales. The racing is always close, especially between England and Scotland and it was tighter than ever this year.

WCOC had four juniors selected: Niamh Hunter W18; Alastair Thomas M18; Caitlin Irving W14 and Joe Hudd M14.

They all gave a very good account of themselves with Niamh and Joe winning their individual races and Alastair taking second and Caitlin third.

With all results in, England led Scotland with a margin of only four points after the individual races.

In the relays the WCOC quartet again had strong runs, with the team that included Alastair and Joe coming in a close second to Scotland and the team which included Niamh and Caitlin coming in third, behind Scotland and another England team.

After a nail-biting wait, the points were tallied and England had retained the trophy from last year, taking the win by only three points from Scotland.

This week’s Thursday night event followed a different format to usual, a micro-sprint, with lots of controls in the very small area of Castle Park in Whitehaven.

Speed was all important but care had to be taken as controls were tightly packed and time penalties were awarded for mis-punching.

Taking wins were Matthew Smith Jackson, Joe Sunley, Daniel Spencer, Joe Hudd and Ben Breeze.

There will be a special Halloween themed event on Thursday, October 26, when the annual Spook-O takes place in Whinlatter woods. See www.wcoc.co.uk