West Cumberland Orienteering Club junior Joe Hudd made his Great Britain debut in the European Youth Orienteering Championships in Belarus.

The competition began with the long event, where many competitors struggled and Joe had to retire.

However, he bounced back in the forest relay event, running with other GB debutants, Jim Bailey and Rachel Brown. Joe was on the second leg, taking over in fifth and made up a place to hand over in fourth. Rachel did well, bringing the team home in an impressive seventh place.

The competition ended with the sprint event around the historic old town of Grodno; where Joe had the British performance of the day, storming around in 9:22, only 25 seconds behind the winner and 10th overall. Speaking to British Orienteering; Joe said; “Overall, I’ve had a really fun debut and learnt a lot’.

Senior Charlotte Watson did well in the Norwegian O Festival; maintaining her fifth place in the chasing-start long-distance event, through some tough terrain.

Club members attended the JOK chasing sprint in Callander, near Falkirk, covered live on TV on BBC Scotland. The event involved a prologue sprint; which gave the placings for the sprint final; where the fastest runners went off first, to be chased down by their rivals, starting at 10 second intervals behind. The event provided a special challenge, mixing urban terrain with fast park running and dense forest.

Caitlin Irving (W16) won her prologue sprint, meaning she went off first. She started strongly but was caught in the tricky forest terrain, eventually winning a sprint to the line to take third. Niamh Hunter (women’s open) went off third in the final, but fatigue set in and she dropped a place to finish fourth. Both were interviewed on TV. Alastair Thomas in the men’s open had a decent prologue, finishing 10th but a mistake in the forest meant he finished 11th in the final.

The club’s summer series continued at Latterbarrow. Sam Stead won the 4.8km long course in 38:04 from Daniel Spencer. Junior Charlie Rennie was third and Tamsin Moran (SOC) first lady in 10th. Alastair Thomas won the short course in 21:55 from Wilf Teasdale and Ian Teasdale. Daisy Rennie was fifth and Emma Crawford sixth. Hiromi Holmes won the novice course.

In the coming weeks there are events at Mosser Fell, Mowbray and Eycott Hill. For information visit www.wcoc.co.uk and the Adventure Show is available on BBC iplayer.