HUNDREDS of orienteers were involved in the recent four-day annual JK Festival of Orienteering, held this year near Belfast – and West Anglia members were out in force.

HUNDREDS of orienteers were involved in the recent four-day annual JK Festival of Orienteering, held this year near Belfast – and West Anglia members were out in force.

The Sprint (Urban) race was staged at Stranmills University on day one, where Ursula Oxburgh picked up a silver certificate in her class, not far behind the winner.

The top juniors were creamed off for an Elite class, where Thomas Louth had a fast run into 11th spot (top quarter) and James Haynes finished 29th.

Also having excellent runs were Steve Hinshelwood 12th and Graham Louth 15th, both well within the top fifteen percent in M45 class.

William Louth finished 13th and Nicola Gardner 14th - both within the top third in their classes - and Louise Sime came 61st in hers.

Next up were the long distance events as racers took to the sand dunes - followed by a competition on Slieve Croob mountains - over two days.

Both these scores counted towards the overall titles and, whilst many did not complete both days, the best from West Anglia Orienteering Club came from Steve Hinshelwood who, in finishing 20th, came within the top quarter of his class.

Chris Morley finished eighth (top third) and Rachel Pocock, Nicola Gardner and William Louth all came in the top half in theirs.

Thomas Louth had a fantastic run in the mountains to finish fourth and pull himself up into the top half.

Others in the long classes were James Haynes 29th, Matthew Haynes 37th and Caroline Louth 43rd.

In the Short classes, Graham Louth finished fourth and Noreen Ives fifth.

On the non-championship junior courses, Alfie Pocock won the second day on the White course, matched by sister Molly who finished overall second on the Yellow course.

The fourth and final day saw the Relay competition.

Here, the male Louth family fielded a team in the Men’s Short class where at one stage they were up in fourth, falling back to an excellent eighth place.

The two Haynes brothers and Chris Morley finished 33rd in the same class.

Meanwhile for the ladies, Rachel Pocock, Caroline Louth and Nicola Gardner finished 15th in the Senior Women class.