Mark Nixon Talent Squad’s Technical Coach usually gives a presentation debriefing us about the day’s training. Also, depending on what phase of training we are in, Mark talks about the orienteering technique we were practising, and if we have made a mistake, we can look at the Leg and identify where and why the mistake happened.

Day 2:

In the morning of the second day, we went into Aviemore for a Sprint exercise. Once again, like on race day, we were issued start times. As always in Sprint Orienteering this course forced us to focus on route choice. This was really interesting as later when we reviewed the session in the evening, we measured the lengths of the different routes we had chosen, taking into account turning sharp corners or zigzagging in and out of buildings, and could work out what the best routes were.

After lunch we did exercises at Loch Vaa with a combination of longer and shorter Legs, practising for Long races. This was helpful as it gave me a better understanding of how many decision points I needed to safely get me to the control, and how that can differ in an area of vague or complex contours. Also, it helped me to understand when marshes and open areas are useful to navigate by - just in case you’re wondering in Loch Vaa they are.

Day 3:

We drove up to the Moravian coast, and in the morning attended a local Moravian event at Darnaway East, where they had especially planned male and female Middle distance courses for us. This was great as we could use this event, even though it was small, as practice for what it would be like at a bigger event, in the sense that there would be more distractions – such as more people in the forest not on your course – and proper SI punching. Distractions in the forest are something that everyone struggles with on some level, so using a real event was good practice for coping with this.

Afterwards, we headed to Culbin for more Relay practice, except that this time we did it as if we were heading out on the final Leg; meaning there were staggered starts and once again different gaffles.

Day 4:

For our final exercise, we went to Uath Lochans and did a Long distance course. This was a good exercise to finish with as it gave you a good idea of how your navigation had improved in the last four days.

Overall, the training camp was great fun, and I think it was especially helpful that over the four days I was able to practice all of the different disciplines of orienteering:  Long, Middle, Relay and Sprint. Also, this camp taught me to properly analyse my routes and choices after racing, which is a skill I will be able to put to good use whenever I go orienteering in the future.

Thank you, Alice, for providing this insightful account of your time at camp.  British Orienteering would like to take this opportunity to wish you and all the members of the Talent Squad all the very best with your training and preparations for the 2018 season.

Read Angus Harrington's Badaguish Talent Squad Pre-Season Camp: Training Diary here.