Yvette Baker (born Yvette Hague, 1968) is

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

's most successful

orienteer Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a ...

. At the 1999 World Orienteering Championships in

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

she won the short distance event.

Orienteering

Already at the early age of 15, she won the Elite class of the Jan Kjellstrom Trophy in 1983. The same year she was member of the British relay team at the

World Orienteering Championships The World Orienteering Championships (or WOC for short) is an annual orienteering event organized by the International Orienteering Federation. The first World Championships was held in Fiskars, Finland in 1966. They were held biennially up to 20 ...

, making her possibly the youngest WOC participant ever. During the following years' WOC, she always had promising qualification results in the top 10, but could not match them in the finals. It was not until 1993, when she won Britain's first world championship medal coming third over the ''classic distance''. In 1995, she stepped up by claiming both silver medals in the short and classic distances (again not matching her 1st place of the qualification). After another 1st in the qualification of 1997, finally in 1999 she took the crown by becoming World Orienteering Champion in the short distance event. In 2001, after a winning her fourth consecutive qualification (1995/97/99/01), she retired from the WOC with an 11th place in the long distance event. Between 1983 and 2001, she took part in all 11 WOC. In domestic competition, she won both the

British Orienteering Championships The British Orienteering Championships are the highest level of competition in Orienteering in the United Kingdom, along with the Jan Kjellström International Festival of Orienteering, JK Orienteering Festival. 1967 saw the first British Champion ...

and the JK Orienteering Festival multiple times. The annua
Yvette Baker Trophy and Shield
inter-club junior orienteering competition in the UK is named after her.

Fell Running

Baker also represented England at mountain running and was a successful

fell runner Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport o ...

, winning races including the Edale Skyline, Duddon Valley, the Three Shires, the

Langdale Horseshoe The Langdale Horseshoe is an annual Lake District fell race that starts and finishes at the Old Dungeon Ghyll. The course climbs to Stickle Tarn before heading to Thunacar Knott, Esk Hause shelter, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags and Pike of Blisco. ...

and the

Carnethy 5 The Carnethy 5 is an annual hill race held in February, taking place in the Pentland Hills to the south of Edinburgh. Starting in a field near Silverburn, the route climbs five hills: Scald Law, South Black Hill, East Kip and West Kip are tackled ...

.Graham Breeze, "Equi ad Circos (Classic Fell Races Part 3)", ''The Fellrunner Magazine'', Feb 2003, 24-26
/ref>

Personal life

She was born in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

to British parents. She grew up in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and then lived for several years in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

before moving to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. She attended

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

and was a member of Edinburgh University Orienteering Club; she was inducted into the Edinburgh University Hall of Fame in 2011.

References

External links

Article about Yvettes WOC history
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Yvette 1968 births Living people British orienteers Female orienteers Foot orienteers British fell runners World Orienteering Championships medalists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of Keele University

Orienteering

Fell Running

Personal life

See also

References

External links