The Jan Kjellström International
Orienteering Festival or "JK" is the premier domestic orienteering competition in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
along with the
British Orienteering Championships, usually held over the Easter Weekend.
1967 saw the first JK event, held in memory of
Jan Kjellström. The annual JK moved to Easter in 1969, and now regularly attracts a field of four thousand or more. The 1974 JK was the first British race to attract more than one thousand entrants.
[http://www.athleticscholarships.net/other-sports-orienteering-3.htm]
(Retrieved on 14 October 2008)
The JK Trophy is awarded to the winning team in the Men's Premier relay class.
[http://owiki.nopeindustries.com/index.php?title=JK]
Retrieved on 17 October 2008)
Races
Race footnotes
*JK69. The race was held in NEOA but organised by NWOA.
*JK69. The Relay was to have been held at Slaley but had to be cancelled due to snow. The race was moved to
Kielder Forest
Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority o ...
, Lewisburn Area.
*JK74. This race was the first British race to attract more than one thousand competitors.
*JK81. For this year only, the Relay was held on the Sunday i.e. between the two individual days.
*JK89. At this race there were two deaths. On the Saturday Swedish visitor Stig Gorman (58) of Mariestad died within sight of the finishing line; and on the Sunday Martin Cochrane (81) of Sarum Orienteers died shortly after starting the Orange colour-coded course.
*JK98. On the Sunday the courses using the Red start were cancelled due to snow. This decision led to a controversy which was discussed in ''Compass Sport & The Orienteer'' and also at
British Orienteering Federation (BOF) National Office.
[''Compass Sport & The Orienteer'', 1998, Vol. 19 No. 2.]
*JK2001. The whole weekend of races was cancelled due to an outbreak of
foot and mouth disease
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, follow ...
.
*JK2006. A sprint race was introduced at this competition on the Friday, in addition to the usual Training opportunity. This was an attempt to make the sport more 'spectator friendly' and was part of the
International Orienteering Federation's proposal to make the sport an Olympic sport.
*JK2020 & 2021. The whole weekend of races was cancelled due to an outbreak of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
. Races were to be held by NEOA for 2020 & SWOA for 2021 before cancellation. See
COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom for more details.
Champions
References
External links
The Official JK Site for 2008The Official JK Site for 2009The Official JK Site for 2010The Official JK Site for 2011The Official JK Site for 2012The Official JK Site for 2013The Official JK Site for 2014The Official JK Site for 2015The Official JK Site for 2016British Orienteering Historical Championship Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jan Kjellstrom International Festival of Orienteering
Orienteering in the United Kingdom
Orienteering competitions