Karen Poole, an Assistant Commercial Schemes Sponsor at Network Rail in York, completed at the World Masters Orienteering Championships between 2nd and 8th July.
The event was held in Pecs, Hungary, and is for orienteers aged from 35 – 95, competing in 5 year age groups, of which Karen was in the Women’s 35-39.
Over the week, Karen raced in qualifiers and finals over two different disciplines – sprint and long distance.
After posting the fastest qualifying time, Karen won a gold medal in the sprint race, held in the small mining town of Komlo.
Karen’s medal was one of only two golds claimed by British orienteers, with only 5 medals claimed in total by Brits.
Karen has been orienteering for over 20 years and has previously raced for the GB national team at elite level.
“Later on in the year I will be attempting to defend my USIC (International Railsport) Orienteering title that I won 4 years ago, and also hope to qualify for the GB Age Group triathlon team for the Long Distance World Champs, so there are potentially other ‘golden’ moments on the horizon,” Karen said.
Karen’s line manager Stephen Hind, said:
“It is a fantastic achievement for Karen to win this Gold Medal – It is great to see this determination and ability being shown both in her role as a sponsor and also in her chosen sport of orienteering.”
