The European Youth Orienteering Championships were held in Szczecin, Poland from 21-24 June 2024.
EYOC is the largest participated competition on the IOF calendar, with 34 nations competing in the European U16’s and U18’s championships. Each nation can have 4 runners in each of the M/W16’s and M/W18’s.
We first had Australians run in 2016 and have been competing ever since. Aston Key won M16 in 2016 and M18 in 2018, and it has served all those competing in it as a great first experience into International level racing. In 2024, we had 5 Australians compete.
2024 Australian participants
M18: Cooper Horley, Owen Radajewski and Hugo Taunton-Burnett
W18: Milla Key and Erika Enderby
Results
| LONG – 22 JUNE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| MEN 18 | |||
| 1 | Emil Husebye Aamodt | 54:29 | |
| 40 | Owen Radajewski | 1:05:34 | +11:05 |
| 81 | Cooper Horley | 1:17:19 | +22:50 |
| 108 | Hugo Taunton-Burnet | 1:52:58 | +58:29 |
| WOMEN 18 | |||
| 1 | Freja Hjerne | 53:50 | |
| 24 | Milla Key | 1:09:17 | +15:27 |
| MP | Erika Enderby |
| SPRINT – 23 JUNE | | | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MEN 18 | | | |
| 1 | Filip Jancik | 11:45 | |
| 39 | Cooper Horley | 13:30 | +1:45 |
| 71 | Owen Radajewski | 14:32 | +2:47 |
| 92 | Hugo Taunton-Burnet | 15:29 | +3:44 |
| WOMEN 18 | | | |
| 1 | Janka Mikes | 11:34 | |
| 2 | Milla Key | 12:05 | +0:31 |
| 49 | Erika Enderby | 14:04 | +2:30 |
Congratulations to Milla Key, who finished second overall in the W18’s sprint! Here’s what Milla had to say after her race:
“This is the third and last EYOC for me. Our family have been coming to EYOC since 2016, we think we are the first Australians to have competed and maybe the first non-Europeans.
The sprint area in the middle of town was picturesque but also technical. There were a couple of decisive route choices we needed to make. Near the end of the sprint race, I lost about 15 seconds on a bad route choice but otherwise I was happy with my race.
I think we should encourage more of our juniors to go to EYOC. It’s a great event, a great lead into JWOC and I always have a lot of fun!”
| RELAY – 24 JUNE | | | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MEN 18 | | | |
| 21 | Team Australia 1 | 2:38:28 | Place in leg |
| Owen Radajewski | 42:21 | 19 | |
| Hugo Taunton Burnet | 54:31 | 28 | |
| Cooper Horley | 1:01:36 | 27 | |
| WOMEN 18 | |||
| nc | Team MIX AUS/NZ | 2:23:36 | Place in leg |
| Milla Key | 50:58 | 29 | |
| Erika Enderby | 46:53 | 14 | |
| Anna Babington | 45:45 | 13 |
Congratulations to all our Aussie athletes for their great running over the weekend.
We would like to send thanks to the EYOC organisers for allowing us to join in their competition. Next year’s EYOC is in Czech Republic.
This event is a fantastic lead up to JWOC next week and we wish the team all the best!
All photos by: Jakub Kijak, Tomasz Krysiak, Kell Sønnichsen
