Forth Valley Orienteers claim four titles at British Championships

FVO's James Hammond was on-form again, lifting his fourth championship from just five outings (Photo: Contributed)

There was a mix of perennial winners and new faces on top of the podium as Forth Valley athletes claimed four national titles in the British Championships.

Rona Molloy and Jason Inman made the ultimate step-up to top the podium in their classes, Jason winning M50 in 66.50 for his first title in over 30 years, while Rona's time of 60.04 in W55 represents her first-ever British title.

The British Championships have been a happy hunting ground for Will Hensman since he moved into the age-group classes, with eight podium places in nine years, and he secured another top spot with his first title since 2016 in M40L (78.59). James Hammond, meanwhile, lifted his 4th championship from five outings, as he won M18E in 70.56, in a quicker time than anyone on the M20E class which shared the course.

There were silver medals for both Hannah Inman (W12A - 47.44) and Beccy Osborn (W50L - 73.35), in Beccy's case her best-ever performance at this level, while Lizzie Horsler scooped a fine silver medal in W20E (73.11) which may have caught the eye of the national junior team selectors.

Five more medals were gathered in the Short classes, as Brad Connor won M50S in 78.11, while Mark Wood made his championship debut and collected the top honour in M55S (59.00) two places ahead of Simon Hunt (66.50). A 2nd place for Lucy Hensman in W18L (81.40) and a 3rd for Kathy Marsden in W35S (134.48) completed a memorable day for the club.

The Relays on the second day at Henley brought more glory, with two titles secured. The M40 team was defending its 2022 title, and was never really threatened, as Steve Feltbower opened up with the quickest opening leg (28.33) allowing Roger Goddard and Will Hensman to stay on the front for a finish in 91.04.

The W50 squad was amongst the pre-race favourites, and lived up to billing, as Heather Fellbaum came back 48 seconds off the lead from the first leg. Beccy Osborn soon had the team back in front with the fastest middle split, and Rona Molly was able to run on, again with the fastest time, to seal the win in 87.36.

The Mens Elite squad was involved in the closest finish in many years, with four seconds separating the top three after 20km of racing. Chris Smithard backed up strong runs from Andy Llewellyn and James Hammond, who posted the fastest time on the course to come home three seconds behind champions Octavian Droobers, but one second ahead of South Yorkshire (93.48).

The fourth medal of the day came for the W14 squad of Eilidh Connor, Hannah Inman and Esme Kelly, who went toe to toe with two strong South Yorkshire teams, and ended up in the bronze medal position, seven seconds (57.00) off 2nd.