The pandemic restrictions were finally lifted mostly in December 2022, enabling Hongkongers to travel again. JK 2023 was the first overseas orienteering event, apart from the IOF major events which are entered by delegations, with significant Hongkongers’ participation.
JK, which stands for Jan Kjellström, was the Swedish man who brought orienteering into the UK, and now the event is held every year on the Easter weekend which consists of 4 days of FootO (sprint, middle, long and relay, with all individual races having WRE status), and in recent years TrailO has been added to the programme as well. The event this year was held in Lancaster and South Lakes, with 3 TrailO races on the first 3 days of the event, in the order of one-man relay, PreO and PreO sprint, however they are not WRE races unlike the FootO counterpart.
There were 29 Hongkongers participating in the FootO races and 7 Hongkongers participating in the TrailO races.
All results, maps and solutions can be viewed on the British Orienteering website.
Day 1
The one-man relay (combined PreO + TempO scored using the relay rule) was held in University of Cumbria in Lancaster.
4 Hongkongers participate in the TrailO elite class out of 46 in total, with Wang Ki Yuen the best Hongkonger, achieving a strong 6th in race (165 seconds for 15 PreO controls + 10 TempO controls), beating GB team members such as Charles Bromley Gardner. Other Hongkongers results include Ting Ho Gilbert Lee the 22nd (356 seconds), Chi Kin Chau the 23rd (357 seconds) and Michael Tsang the 26th (405 seconds).
Io Pan Wong, Yin Wan Chan and Cheung Hi Chau participated in the standard class.
Day 2
The PreO race was held in Rydal Park, Ambleside. A short timed section was used in lieu of time controls as the tie breaker, with the ranking determined by the points on the main course, then the points on the timed section, and finally the time used in the timed section.
In the elite class, Michael Tsang performed the best among all Hongkongers, achieving the 12th with 24 points out of 28 controls, and 4 out of 4 and 1 minute 56 seconds out of 2 minutes 20 seconds in the timed section. The other Hongkongers’ results were Wang Ki Yuen the 20th (22 points), Chi Kin Chau the 22nd (21 points) and Ting Ho Gilbert Lee the 28th (20 points).
Cheung Hi Chau and Yin Wan Chan participated in the standard class.
Day 3
The PreO sprint was held in Great Tower Scout Camp.
PreO sprint is a non-IOF format which is similar to traditional PreO, however with the course length much shorter, the density of control much higher, and with only A or Z (i.e. if there is a flag placed in the location described by the map) the possible answers. The time used on the course is the tie breaker.
In the elite class, Ting Ho Gilbert Lee performed the best among all Hongkongers, getting the 7th place out of 40 participants with 18 points in 20 controls. The remaining Hongkongers’ results were Michael Tsang the 14th (17 points), Chi Kin Chau the 20th (16 points) and Wang Ki Yuen the 24th (15 points)
Cheung Hi Chau and Yin Wan Chan participated in the standard class.
After the race was completed, the scouts camping there were invited to try out the standard course.