Nicholas Simonin: “I had to move away”

Nicholas Simonin: “I had to move away”

Already as a youngster, Nicholas Simonin spent a year away from home. Now he has been living abroad for five years, just to do very well with map and compass.

He’s the only one from Ireland who is in the Sprint or the Long final at the European Championships in Portugal. In the Middle distance, everybody who took part in the qualification is also running the final. “The goal is to be among the 25 best in the Long final, the 24-year-old says.

Nicholas spent one year at the High School in orienteering in Hallsberg in the middle of Sweden when he was 15 years old. Now Stockholm has been his base for five years. The move is to increase the level of his orienteering. “To get in touch with a bigger variety of terrain and to get more hard competition, it was necessary to move from Ireland”, he says.

His goal in the longer term is to be among the ten best in a final at WOC or EOC.

His best achievement from WOC from earlier is his 27^th place in the Sprint two years ago. The same year, he was 39^th on the Long distance in Switzerland. Last year he was 33^rd in the Long distance final at WOC in Finland. “I also want to win Tiomia or Jukola with my club IFK Lidingö”, he says.

In the first forest races there was some running on sand dunes. That can happen in Ireland too. “But they are a bit different from here, and it is good to get the experience here”, says Regina Kelly. She will run the Middle final on Monday. The goal is to perform well and have some behind her on the results list.