Jenna Tidswell delighted with winning gold at World Championships

The winning Havelock North High School Junior Girls’ team, from left: Steve Armon (coach), Aishlin McIntyre, Jenna Tidswell, Bianca Kirk, Livy Wolland, Alex Miller

Jenna Tidswell is just getting to grips with being a world champion.

“I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet, a year ago I would never have thought I would represent New Zealand, let alone win a world title”, the Year 10 Havelock North High School student said. “This is the third time I’ve represented New Zealand in the last seven months. It feels amazing! I love the sport.”

The sport is orienteering, and last week a group of New Zealand students, led by Jenna, who won the individual Junior Girls’ long course race, competed outstandingly at the World Secondary Schools championships in Antayla, Turkey.

Jenna didn’t just win her race, she blitzed the field. Her time of 42.14 was over seven minutes faster than the second placed finisher.  She beat home girls from England, Scotland and Austria into second, third and fourth places.

Jenna’s Havelock North High School (HNHS) teammates Bianca Kirk and Olivia Wolland came home in fifth and sixth respectively and HNHS - representing New Zealand – also won gold in the Junior Girls’ team’s long course event.

In the medium course race, Bianca finished fourth, Olivia fifth, Jenna sixth, Alex Miller seventh and Aishlin McIntyre eighth.

It was also a successful World Championships for the two other Hawke’s Bay schools representing New Zealand, Napier Boys’ High School, whose junior team finished fourth and senior team finished 11th, and for the Napier Girls’ High School team, whose senior team came sixth in different events.

The schools were selected in July last year after their teams’ performances at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championship held at Waiuku.

The last race in Turkey was the Friendship Relay, with 278 three-person teams from mixed countries entered. In this, Napier Boys’ Sebastian McFarland was a member of the winning team.

To top the week-long competition off, the New Zealand delegation was awarded the Fair Play Trophy, which is for outstanding sportsmanship, excellent behaviour of students and positive interaction with other countries.

College Sport Media had a chat with world Junior Girls’ long course champion Jenna Tidswell about her achievements and the sport of orienteering:

Did you have expectations when you lined up at the start line, or was it all into the unknown as to how you'd go?

I had no idea how I would go against the other countries, but I thought that top 10 would be amazing and top five would be incredible! NZ hasn’t won at this competition before so it was going to be difficult to get a placing, individually and for our team.

Please give us a brief explanation as to how orienteering works?

Orienteering is a about navigating between points (controls) on a map using visual features and a compass and running exceptionally fast without making any/many mistakes with route choice. There are always options with running from one point to the next and it’s about making the best choice fast. There are long, middle and sprint courses. A sprint is usually in an urban area, whereas a middle and long are run in the forests and farms. The long is usually considered to be the championship race. Unfortunately I didn’t have a good run for the middle distance in Turkey, coming sixth overall. I needed to be more prepared mentally and I had focused on the long course.

Individually, you won by over seven minutes -what was the key to your performance?

Preparation before the race, concentration during the course so I was accurate navigating to each control, and fitness to run fast through the course. I felt really good about the long course in Turkey, reading the contours correctly and choosing the fastest options.

You spent a week or so in Turkey beforehand training, acclimatising.  What obstacles did you encounter?

The week of training was great because it helped me to get used to running in the rocky terrain with the type of forest found in the Antalya region. I didn’t encounter many animals but I saw goats and lizards, and I heard that my team mates ran past tortoises, snakes and scorpions on some of the courses. I was sure I saw a wolf on one of the runs but it may have been a wild rabid dog.

How and when did you first get into orienteering? 

 I first started orienteering when my Year 5 teacher at Haumoana School, David Barclay, introduced me to the sport, along with Bayley Stephens-Ellison who went to Turkey with the Napier Boys’ High School team and came third in the long course. From there I have run in Hawke’s Bay competitions each year, then the NI Secondary School Champs and NZ Secondary School Champs since Year 7, NZ Nationals, Australian Championships, Oceania School Champs in Australia and now the World Schools Champs in Turkey.

You've been to Australia twice in the past six months already?

Last year my first placings in the NZ Secondary School Champs meant I was selected to be part of the NZ Schools Selected team that travelled to Perth in September 2014 to race against the Australian State teams. I was very excited and nervous to be representing New Zealand, but I ran well. My best result was when I placed first in the Australian Long Individual champs. Our NZ team won that competition. The terrain was very different to home, it was dry and open with lots of rock everywhere and anthills. Then in January this year our NZ selected School team travelled to Tasmania for the NZ  v Australia School challenge and Oceania Champs where my best result was in the School Individual Long course where I placed third.

What about the support you’ve had along the way?

I have to thank mum for all the support and encouragement plus the rest of my family. Also all the support from the Hawke’s Bay Orienteering Club, and David Barclay, my Haumoana primary school teacher who introduced me to orienteering. Especially I’d like to thank my coach – Steve Armon. He trained our team for six months where our training plan included early morning runs and afterschool orienteering practices and map study. He’s also coached me with athletics middle distance running. He is an amazing coach and my team and I really appreciate his dedication.

What does the immediate and medium term future hold for you?

The next important competition for me will be the Queen’s Birthday Orienteering Competition being held in Auckland where I’ll be part of the Hawke’s Bay team. It’s the main selection trials for the selected NZ team to run in the races in Ballarat, Australia later this year. I was born in Ballarat so I’m hoping I might be selected to return to challenge the Australian State teams again. Then in 2016 the NZSS Champs will be important because they’re the trials for the next world school champs held in Italy a year later. In the meantime I definitely will be at the NZSS Champs in Nelson representing Havelock North High School.

What other sports do you do?

I train for middle distance athletics, javelin and cross country running, and I’ve moved into football and other sports into just for fun. Until recently I’ve also been involved in cycling and triathlons. A few weeks before leaving for Turkey my Gannet Beach Adventures girls team won the Tremains Corporate Triathlon for the second year running, I did the cycle leg, my stepsister Maggie Franks is a top NZ age-group swimmer, and Georgia Creagh, who also went to Turkey with Napier Girls’ High School, was our runner. I’m in the Havelock North High School First XI girls’ football team this year. I’m also part of the Jarrod Cunningham Sports Academy at Havelock North High School.

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