Orienteering - Junior teams do battle at Leeds (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Orienteering - Junior teams do battle at Leeds

9:44am Saturday 13th September 2008 in Sport By Gazette Sports

LOCAL honour was at stakes when teams from Lakeland OC and Barrow and District Orienteering Club had a ding-dong battle in the Peter Palmer Junior Relays on Sunday.

The annual six-leg relay, for teams of 12-18 year olds, was staged this year in Middleton Park, Leeds - a wooded area with a complex path network and lots of depressions from previous mining works.

First-leg runners started in the dark at 5am and the lead between the two local teams changed constantly, with BARRO finally beating LOC by just five minutes after over four hours of running.

Overall they finished 11th and 12th out of 31 teams from across the country.

The BARRO team consisted of Marcus Weatherburn, Liam Carswell, Carl Edmonds, Laura and Sarah Jones and Simon Austin.

The LOC team was Ali Fryer, Tom Lawson, Andy Cheung, Becca McKenny, James Allison and Phil Metcalfe.

Juniors were also well to the fore in a big turn-out of local orienteers at Lakeland OC's colour- coded event on Sunday.

The colour-coded courses were set on the Bannisdale fells, starting from High Borrow Bridge.

The 4km technical Green course attracted most competitors and was won by Mike Hobson with junior Jack Perry in second place. Mother and daughter Rebekah and Carrie Beadle were fourth and fifth. Mike Isherwood was sixth with Warrior OC's Andrew Whitehead tenth.

Junior Jack Wright won the 6km Blue course, ahead of Richard Lecky-Thompson third, junior Martin McIver sixth, Conan Harrod seventh and Patrick Isherwood eighth.

Another junior, Mike McIver, was third in the 8km Brown course with Chris Hepponstall fifth and Nick Howlett ninth.

Paul Johnson won the less technical Light Green course, Simon Lewis was second, juniors Nathan Metcalfe and Malachy Buck fifth and sixth, Jo Cleary eighth and Charles Flanagan ninth.

LOC juniors dominated the Orange course with William Rigg first, Angus Dobson second, Natalie Beadle third, Patrick Rigg fourth, Jonathan Crabbe fifth, Robin Lawn-Tee sixth, Matt Edge seventh, Kirsten Bell eighth, Ben Hewson ninth and Mandy Jefferson tenth.