Lt Lauren Eyre is first Royal Navy Women's Orienteering Champion

Lt Lauren Eyre was crowned champion at the recent Inter Services Orienteering Championships at Long Beech in the New Forest, becoming the Royal Navy’s first ever Women’s Individual Armed Forces Champion.

Lauren said, “It is pretty special to be the first Royal Navy Armed Forces Champion. It was my first race back since sea time and I just went out to run and navigate my race and did not have any expectations. That’s part of the thrill with orienteering, until the last person is back in off the course you do not know for sure what the results will be, you just have to run your own race.” 

Lauren beat runners from the Royal Air Force and Army in the highly competitive race, which was 6.8 kilometres long with 150 metres of climb. After running and navigating through the forest for nearly an hour on a beautifully sunny day, the winning margin was just twelve seconds to the nearest competitor.

A total of ninety-nine people took part in the course, forty of which were military personnel, with Lauren taking thirteenth place in the overall competition.

Orienteering started as a hobby for Lauren when she was a teenager but this stopped due to injury towards the end of her time at university. After finishing her course, Lauren joined the Royal Navy and work commitments and time on ship meant she was unable to practice or compete over the last five years. 

In 2020, Lauren joined the Royal Navy Orienteering Club while at HMS Collingwood and attended a handful of events before covid put a stop to things. Due to work commitments, Lauren was then unable to participate at all over the last three years. 

To come back from time away at sea with little to no practice and win the title, making Royal Navy history, is quite a feat and one that Lauren is hoping to build upon this year. 

Lauren said, “It is really exciting at the moment, it’s very competitive across the three services; only twelve seconds between first and second place. I am looking forward to the challenge of retaining it next year.

Hopefully this is just the start of what is to come for the Royal Navy Orienteering Club. We are welcoming new members and hope to see more Royal Navy faces competing at the Inter Service Champs in the future.”