Tom Bray, GBR Development Squad coach reports on a positive GBR development squad warm weather trip earlier this month.

Athletes from the GBR Development squad (age 19 upwards) trained on the famous Guardamar sand dunes from 8th – 13th January. Using the company O-travel.com, going out-of-season to Spain is a similar price compared to a domestic camp.

The terrain was fantastic for training: complex contours, quality maps, and high runnablilty combined with low visibility. The best tactic in the dunes was to go-straight on compass while ticking-off the big contour shapes, and stick to the more runnable depressions rather than the sandy ridges. See https://tinyurl.com/GBR-Guardamar for an example our GPS analysis if you’re interested.

This is what it is all about; regular training camps on top-quality terrain, where we come together as a squad to be excited about orienteering. Such training is the foundation of our technical skills, which will be required for the 2023 races on our horizon.