Bath University report from British champs
Last year we made an award to Bath University Mountaineering Club (BUMC) to prepare for and take a team to the British Orienteering Champs (see award). This is there report from a successful weekend away.
On 28th February, nine BUMC orienteers travelled over to South Wales to compete in the 2026 British Orienteering Championships. The Individual event was held at Carreg Goch, with this being many of our members' first experience of a national level orienteering competition. The team delivered a number of strong results across multiple classes, including first place on the M20L course and several other top 10 finishes.
BUMC Individual Results:
- M20E - Harry Bratcher-Howard 8th
- M20L - Tom Woodrow 1st
- M21E - Joel Taylor 41st
- M21L - Adam Parsons 6th
- M21S - James Cockrill 3rd
- W20E - Katie Lake 10th (this result also placed Katie Lake 2nd in the W20 Welsh Championships!)
The relay event was held at Margam Country Park where BUMC fielded two teams in the Men's Premier class and one team in the Women's Premier class. The muddy terrain underfoot made challenging conditions for running but the race was enjoyed by everyone. For several members, this was their first experience of a mass start format, allowing head to head racing amongst some of the best orienteers in the country. This provided a different competitive dynamic compared to the individual races the team more commonly experiences.
The Men’s Premier teams finished 20th and 21st, whilst the Women’s Premier team finished 14th. More importantly, the relay presented an excellent development opportunity for our members, helping build confidence in a high pressure racing environment, further developing their technical orienteering skills. As such, it provided great relay training before the 2026 BUCS weekend.
A selection of comments from the team:
"It was great to be able to attend my first large orienteering event. I enjoyed running the challenging terrain and think I learnt a lot about how to deal with getting lost!”
"The weekend was a great opportunity to orienteer on some top quality Welsh hills, it was lovely to see all of my recent training come together"
"The British Relays was excellent training for BUCS and increased my confidence in mass starts"
With orienteering continuing to grow within BUMC, the British Champs weekend provided an excellent opportunity for our members to experience a high level competition on top quality terrain, providing long lasting skills for future progression within the sport of orienteering. We would like to thank the Orienteering Foundation for their support in making this opportunity accessible to our student orienteers, enabling participation for many in a national level competition!
Photo credits: Robert Lines, Edward Lines, BUMC