As everyone knows, Gavin is a regular at the Orienteering World Masters, and this year was no exception, as he headed off to Rzeszów in Poland for 8 days of intense competition, between 6-14 August 2026, against around 2,500 of the best orienteers in the world.
For those unfamiliar with the World Masters it is an annual orienteering championship, governed by the International Orienteering Federation, for any orienteers over 35, using the traditional age categories, and is held all over the world.
The week combined qualification and final rounds across three disciplines, sprint, middle, and long distance — opening with sprint qualification in Przeworsk, followed by sprint finals in the historic centre of Rzeszów, before moving into the forests around Korniaktów for forest qualification and the middle distance finals, with the long distance final closing out the week.
Gavin had a great start to his campaign, achieving a Bronze in his sprint events. Gavin described his final as running “a controlled race, no navigational mistakes,” and finishing with a strong push to the line. For a while, he held the lead time in his age category, before the last few finishers came through. Two men proved faster — Mario Ammann, by just four seconds, and eventual winner Paul Alle, a runner with a 10k personal best of 28:40 — leaving Gavin with bronze.
In the Forest Middle event Gavin ended up in 7th place — a result he was delighted with given the strength of the field, despite two costly errors: pushing too hard into the first control without “engaging brain,” and running too high on the contours near control 5, together costing around two minutes.
In the Forest Long event, Gavin finished 54th.
All in all, a fantastic week for Gavin in Poland, showing once again that he truly is a world class orienteer, and a great role model for the rest of the club. Of course, we are all proud of him!