The Jan Kjellström Event, also known as the JK, is an annual event held over the Easter weekend in memory of Jan Kjellström, a Swedish Orienteer who was important in the early days British orienteering and sadly died in his mid-twenties. He was part of the family behind SILVA compasses, and you can find the full story through the BO website.
The main focus of the event was originally an inter-club relay which, to this day, is still the most prestigious relay in British Orienteering with international teams coming to compete against the best British clubs. Over the years the event has evolved and is now a 4-day holiday weekend comprising a short urban sprint on Good Friday, a two-event combined competition on Saturday and Sunday with the JK Trophy relay held on Easter Monday.
JK2023 was based in the southern Lake District: the sprint at Lancaster University, individual days on High Dam then the Bigland Estate. The final venue for the relays was Dale Park.
As I wasn’t there I can only report what the maps, areas and results looked like – check out the results on RouteGadget to see for yourself.
The Lancaster University sprint looked like a fast race which needed quick decisions about the which route to take. There seemed to be many legs in which returning out of the control the way you came in was the best option and others in which the speed of your decision might make more difference than actual route you took. The results show that times were very similar so it seemed that every split second counted. Three WREKIN members ran well enough to achieve Championship standard: on M40 Krzysztof Nowicki finished in the medals with a fine third place. Our top W55 duo of Sarah Bayliss (13th) and Di Jacks(18th) continued their recent run of good form.
Both the middle distance race on High Dam and classic distance on Bigland were technically and physically challenging. Finishing times on both were very spread out with leaders well ahead of the chasing pack. For a set of the medium long courses (M40, M45, W21) some winning times were over 90 minutes. Krzysztof continued his good form finishing 7th overall with another 3rd place and a 10th on the long day. Congratulations to him on achieving championship standard on all three days and for the year as well. Our W55s stayed close to each other and swapped positions from one day to the next- Sarah was 18th then 14th, to finish 15th while Di in 15th and 20th finished 19th overall.
Best overall places went collectively to the Lewis family (who may report on that separately) with a 4th place for both Katie (W35S) and Tom (M35S) but both were behind 8 year old Annie who finished an excellent 3rd on W10B.
Our other runners Clive Richardson, Mark Tipuric, Jenni Nowicki, Mary Bayliss, Edward Lewis, Rich Pay, Mike Goldthorpe and Amelie Pay have their own stories to tell about hard controls and tough terrain at what seems to have been a truly memorable event.
The most memorable thing for WREKIN was achieved in the Mixed Ad-hoc relay class on Easter Monday. Krzysztof Nowicki came in first on the first leg, handing over to Di Jacks who held on for 4th place leaving a glory leg for Clive Richardson to pull the team up to 2nd behind a visiting team from Norway. So they came home with JK Medals – well done to all three!
Di Jacks wrote some notes about her experience (below) which sounds nerve racking and exciting at the same time.
Next year’s JK is being organised by the West Midlands so we will have the opportunity to compete and organise without travelling too far.
Adrian Pickles
Wrekin Club Captain
Day 4 JK 2023 Relay Races
A great arena with views of the Dale Park the competition area. The start was a very steep uphill climb. Courses then went down a little then back up the hill.
Krzysztof ran the first leg. Spectators watching from the top of the hill couldn’t see the start pen, but when the runners appeared over the brow of the hill Krzysztof was leading the pack and flew up the second hill as well. He had a great run came back into changeover in first place.
I took over, there was some pressure on, so I had to try really hard up the hill. With very tired legs, my course seemed to keep going up for ages. But I pushed to keep going and was very glad to get some downhill, holding on to come back in fourth place.
Clive was waiting in the pen for me and made light work of the first hill on the way out. You can’t really tell what is going on in a relay and the ad-hoc teams can have good runners on any leg, so it was a nervous wait as I watched for Clive to appear back.
The commentary team announced that the runner from the winning Ad Hoc team from Norway was on their way in. Then there was no more mention of the Ad Hoc class until I saw Clive coming across the field to the final two controls. He had a great run and was overtaking competitors on his way in, but when you don’t know who is in what race, it’s best to pass as many as you can! As he approached the finish the commentary confirmed we had finished 2nd.
What a great result with silver medals for us, and a prize from the company Trees not Tees, of a tree each; these have been planted in a new forest to the west of Glasgow. We have a what3words location for our trees so perhaps we’ll pay them a visit one day, maybe when the JK is next in Scotland.
Di Jacks
The Amazing JK!
The JK was on Easter weekend, it was a lovely sunny day in the Lake District. I was a bit nervous because it was my first JK and my first time running on my own. I didn’t need to worry as it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. They put tape out to help us on one control. The best part was when they say your name as you punch the finish, “here comes Annie Lewis doing the W10B from Wrekin Orienteers.”
If you are scared of doing it, just do it, it was great fun!
Annie Lewis
Photo: Wendy Carlyle
Photo: Wendy Carlyle
