A thrilling international year in the sport of orienteering for former Forres Academy pupil Isobel Howard, helped by Moravian Orienteering Club and Berryburn Community Grant Fund

An "incredible" opportunity at the Junior World Orienteering Championships and Junior European Cup have capped Moray teenager Isobel Howard's sporting year.

Isobel (18), from Rafford, a former Forres Academy pupil who now studies at university in Edinburgh, first took up the outdoor adventure sport at the age of five and has prospered through the ranks of the Moravian Orienteering Club.

She represented Britain at world level in Romania and was one spot away from a team podium place, while the contrasting challenges of the European Cup in Belgium offered her a fascinating experience.

With two years still to compete as a junior orienteer, Isobel hopes to continue testing herself against the best in the world at her age group.

She is grateful for support from the Berryburn Community Grant Fund and her Moravian club for financially supporting her travel this year.

Isobel considers herself to be "lucky" to experience both major competitions in 2023, including her second shot at the junior world championships.

"The JWOC this year offered terrain and challenges that were completely contrasting to those faced the year before," she said.

"My best individual result came in the middle, placing 37th, with a steady clean run. In the forest relay however the Great British first team, including myself, placed seventh, just a single spot from the podium.

"(The championships) offered an incredible experience and learning moving forwards, especially as the competition is for those two-years my senior."

Isobel said tougher challenges lay ahead in the Junior European Championships, based near Virton in the south of Belgium.

"(The event) comprised solely of forest races which offered none of the runnability and complex contours found in Romania, instead having thick vegetation coverage and large and smooth contours," she said.

"I found these areas, although less technical, more challenging, especially when the ideal summer conditions had caused the vegetation to grow significantly, rendering the vegetation mapping almost useless. This proved very tricky, but an excellent experience in choosing the best navigational features.

In addition to the world and European events, Isobel also competed in the JROS (Junior Relay Orienteering Squads) competition for male and female orienteers aged 18-19, held at the SAIK-Stugan Club Hut in Gothenburg, Sweden.

"This tour was excellent, giving more freedom, with athletes planning and hanging the training. Thus, allowing me to focus and work on the techniques I had highlighted over the rest of the summer.

"The tour itself runs on a very self-sufficient basis, we travelled solely by public transport and catered between ourselves, but also allowed plenty of time for a dip in a lake.

When Isobel first started orienteering along with her mother, Nikki, the sport was widely promoted by then-regional development officer Mike Rodgers. She remembers attending just local events along with her younger siblings until the age of 12, when she started to compete further afield.

She explained how training to take part in international orienteering involves two main components; physical and technical ability.

"The physical training, for improving speed and endurance in terrain, I train throughout the week through various running and strength sessions," she said.

"Technical training focuses more on choosing and executing routes between controls. This generally involves combining compass work, reading contours and visualising the expected terrain.

"Generally I utilise local events to focus on these skills, but also attend various training camps throughout the year, through the university orienteering club, as well as Scottish and British squads, to travel and orienteer in forests and urban areas throughout the country.

"University doesn't often allow me a chance, but when I find the time I play a bit of tennis, and it is always nice to return back to Forres and help with the local tennis club coaching."

Moravian Orienteering Club continues to thrive on the national scene, with athletes over a wide range of ages gaining success up and down the country.

"I find Moravian a lovely atmosphere and a wonderful club to be part of," Isobel said.

"They are incredibly supportive and even if limited in numbers make up for it in team spirit.

"The sport as a whole is very sociable, most orienteers post-race will stop to discuss their course - many generally complaining about how many of mistakes they made!.

"The club is definitely an excellent example of a friendly social atmosphere. It's also always incredible how inclusive the sport is for all ages, the club has members under five and in their 80s, including everywhere in between

"And I can definitely say I have made many good friends through the club, with the sport also allowing me to develop a friend network throughout the country as well."

Isobel says setting goals in her sport is no easy process but she hopes to continue competing at the highest level.

"For the last two years I have been very lucky to be able to compete in the Junior World Orienteering Championships, and I have two years remaining as a junior, so aim to continue to represent GB at this level for the remainder of my junior 'career'.

"Orienteering is a very mentally challenging sport, so it is quite hard to quantify aims I would have for these competitions, but I strive to have fairly clean (mistake-free) performances throughout these two competitions, and just continue to improve upon my results from previous years.

"As a sport the main competition is often not against others - although you still try to beat them - but against yourself, with the holy grail being a perfectly clean race - probably impossible to achieve.

"So my goals lie more to the side of winning the mental game, then quantifying a position I would like to achieve.

"I would like to say that I feel the sport as a whole is pretty special. I have been incredibly lucky to run in forests across Europe, especially in beautiful places well off the beaten track, but even in Scotland, or even as local as Moray, the sport really allows you to explore and appreciate places you would never knew existed.

"I believe this is the beauty of the sport, alongside the fact that the sport occurs entirely at your own pace, whether you walk or run."