Back row – left to right:  Tom Bray, Mark Nixon, Stan Heap, Matthew Gooch, Daniel Spencer, Angus Harrington, Zac Hudd, Peter Molloy, Flurry Grierson, Alastair Thomas, Alistair Chapman, Helen Winskill

Front row – left to right: David Bunn, Lindsay Robertson, Lizzie Stansfield, Alice Wilson, Eilidh Campbell, Anika Schwarze-Chintapatla, Tara Schwarze-Chintapatla, Niamh Hunter, Evie Conway, Rona Lindsay, Heather Thomson

Photo credit: Paul Murgatroyd

Following the first planning and sport science support camp at Edinburgh in early November, last weekend saw the Talent squad come together for the first of three technical camps, held in Yorkshire and Lancashire. Based out of the Malham Tarn Field Study Centre, the first day saw some quality exercises on Ilkley Moor, focussing on the key skills of direction, distance and picture. The morning had a range of exercises on the lower slopes of the moor, working on honing compass techniques, followed by an afternoon of Norwegian map memory exercises on the higher part of the moor, where the process of simplification and the establishment of a good picture was the prime objective. The evening saw a discussion, led by Technical Coach, Mark Nixon, of the key learning points from the day and the use of 3DRerun and Quick Route as vehicles for analysis and review. Sunday saw the group drive across to the Pendle Forest Orienteers event at Tockholes, where a combination exercise using the all controls map took place. The 5.5k 'course' saw the athletes move seamlessly from part to part, with elements of corridor, window, brown only and, finally, line meant switching between the key skills and applying the lessons learned from the previous day's work at Ilkley. Finally, the squad would like to thank Airienteers and Pendle Forest Orienteers for organising access permissions to the training areas and allowing the group to come along to the public event at Tockholes for training purposes.