Pre-JWOC 2027 Camp, Poland: 10th - 16th August 2026

The purpose of this camp was to give the athletes an opportunity to experience the terrain, mapping, and planning that they can expect to find at next year’s championships. This year, many of the courses and maps were made by the official JWOC mappers and planners, giving the training an extra level of relevance.

At the start of the week the focus was just on athletes getting time in the forest to familiarise themselves with the terrain and develop their personal legend. Where is the good runability and where is slow? What features stand out in the terrain that can be used as beacons? What makes it onto the map and what features are generalised? In these first sessions the athletes just ran on their own at a comfortable training pace. From the very first session it was obvious that understanding the vegetation was going to be important. Lessons like this were shared in group debrief sessions each day.

On Tuesday the athletes had their second sprint training, and many took the opportunity to take it at race pace. There is a big difference between running round at an easy pace and going full speed, especially in sprint, and it’s important that once you are comfortable with the terrain and mapping you then start to test yourself at speed.

Tommy Rollins and Lawrence Hodgson sprint training

Wednesday’s training was a single, full length, long course (followed by a well-earned rest in the afternoon!). Now the athletes knew what the terrain and maps were like it was time to do some route choice testing. This involved re-grouping at the start of key legs, discussing the different options, and then test running them. Sometimes this meant someone had to take the ‘bad’ route for science, but it’s a very valuable part of testing.

Athletes test different route choices in the long terrain

Thursday morning was another one the designated high-intensity sessions, this time a relay. To make the most of having a big training group, we did a mass-start first leg simulation with both boys and girls starting at the same time.

On Friday the athletes went back into the middle terrain. This time the course went into an extremely rocks area, very different to anything that had been in before. As the ground was completely covered in rocks, it was important to have a good read of the map and then look up into the distance to see where you needed to be, because once you started running you needed to focus 100% on where you were putting your feet.

The last day we had another full-length long course. With over 100m of climb just to get to the start triangle, it’s clear that hill running will become a key part of the athletes’ winter training. Understanding what training needs to be done, and where best in the UK we can do it is one the key lessons we have taken away from this camp.

“This year the training areas are really relevant for JWOC and have shown me what to prioritise over the next year, from hill running to technical skills, like interpreting the intricate vegetation which took a minute to get your head into” – Lyra Medlock

“It was a great week of training in some technical polish forest and now have a good understanding of what to focus on this winter” – Ruari Cottier

“This camp is really important for our juniors, it gives them a chance to sample the terrain for next year’s JWOC and then incorporate the learning into their winter’s training. There was a fantastic team atmosphere, thoughtful contributions to the debrief sessions from everyone, and already a sense of excitement for next year’s championships” – Mark Nixon, Lead Coach

Athletes analyse their routes at the end of a training

Many thanks to our volunteer staff, without whom we wouldn’t have been able to deliver this camp: Paul Taylow (Team Manager), Alice Rigby (Assistant Coach), Euan Tryner (Assistant Coach), and Toni O’Donovan (Irish Team Manager / Lead Coach).

Official JWOC Website: https://www.jwoc2027.pl/