JK'26 Day 3 - Orienteers 1 - Dave 0
The wilds of Rannoch Forest proved to be a happy hunting ground for FVO's finest, as a large contingent at the 2026 Jan Kjellstrom International Festival finished the weekend in possession of eight overall medals, following the Long race.
A further covering of winter greeted the volunteers who were on hand early to set up and the arena looked like something from the recent Winter Olympics. Thw medium range weather forecast was for blizzards (and blue skies!) but everything was licked into shape by a talented bunch, and action got underway on time and without a hitch.
Hannah Inman is one of a handful of athletes to have won all three of their races over the weekend, as she was unstoppable in W14A, posting a time of 47.17 for a lead of nearly 12 minutes over the 2nd placed athlete, and she's certainly in contention for the MVP award which will be made tomorrow. James Hammond also won his three events, but dropped out of MVP contention yesterday as he was beaten by an M18 on the same course. Just like Hannah, he was way out in front on his M20E course today, home in 70.27 for a 5th JK Long title in five attempts.
Hazel Dean moved up from 18th yesterday with a storming W60L performance on the Long course, as she opened a gap of five minutes over the pack to get round in 56.55. Alison Cunningham finished 2nd (61.35), still her best performance in the event to date, and was nearly seven minutes clear for the overall win. Kirsty Bryan_Jones was 3rd on the day in W55L in 69.40, but had enough in the bag to come away with the class silver, and Sarah Rollins notched a second consecutive 2nd place in W50L (67.10) to land another medal for her collection.
James Edward moved relentlessly up the ranking, and a 3rd today (60.16) earned him the M16A bronze, while Will Hensman took 3rd place in the M45A Long for the overall silver.
Jason Inman claimed the M55L Long 3rd place in 64.05, but was 50 seconds outside the overall prizes, as was Janine Inman, who took the W45L bronze today (77.49) but remained in 4th place. There were also six athletes on B class "podiums and a further 22 who have event PBs for placing, including Ben Finch, who had an uplift of 52 places on his previou best.