I admit to having been a tad apprehensive in the week leading up to the annual Junior Regional Orienteering Squad (JROS) M/W16 camp in the Lake District this year. With a yellow weather warning in place all week for cold and possibly snow, I wondered would we get there and, if we did, would the entire weekend be cancelled at the last minute? I was glad we had booked the earlier ferry – it meant a whole day off school for the juniors but taking the car means that I had space for the pop-up tent and plenty of spare gear.
In the event, the journey over was easy, the roads clear and we arrived with time to relax and even had a team talk, in which I outlined the activities to the athletes and stressed that for our squad, full waterproofs would be compulsory for the morning.
It turns out this was my 10th Hawkshead anniversary year and the first in which a session was cancelled. At the coaches’ meeting on Saturday morning, we decided that while we were happy to kick the kids out into the snow (yes, 3 inches overnight), none of us was prepared to drive. So Plan B was rapidly formulated and we had great fun playing ‘the Noisy Game’ and the ‘map memory challenge’. Judy Bell from ScotJos (Scotland Junior Orienteering Squad) has an arsenal of such games and I’m looking forward to introducing them over here. Then Nick from YHOA gave a slide presentation on the ‘Missing D’ ….changing PDP to PDDP. If you are feeling confused, ask a 16 year old!
In the afternoon several squads made it to Colonel’s Drive, where the juniors warmed up by pushing the front of the car sideways to encourage the wheels to navigate the entrance. Discretion being the better part of valour, we walked the final kilometre to the start. Our juniors were dutifully kitted out in full winter protection as the warm front rapidly moved in. By the end of the first exercise, they were steaming visibly…and I gave them permission to lose some layers. It was great to be out and while our more experienced juniors got on with the training exercises, the newer squad members benefitted greatly from Dave’s expertise and individual tuition.
A new idea for this year was to have a whole-group game to finish the session, so all the squads came together for Vampires, a cross between Tig and a Score course which was excellent fun.
The night sprint, on a 1:1200 map caught me out this year, with a mispunch at the end, but the juniors were pretty successful and Niamh made the top 4 and into the final. This is even more devious and the course leapfrogs from one map to the next. Spectacularly pretty this year with twinkling headtorches crisscrossing the snow….until you get down there and realise you are knee deep in melt water.
The overnight rain obligingly stopped around 9:00 and we headed up to Holme Fell on Sunday morning. Again, the juniors were encouraged to focus on whatever aspects of orienteering they wanted, and a couple of them, after taking a full map alongside a contours-only map realised that contours are the way to go! The game at the end was a Harris Relay…watch this space, it’s coming to LVO soon …and this provided a great way to mix up the squads and the different abilities.
I think everyone was delayed by the weather going home but it gave us a chance to plan our letters to Santa (Ambleside), eat at the world famous Starfish Restaurant in Stranraer, and play a few rounds of Dibber (a game closely related to Dobble).
Thanks to everyone, especially Dave Masterson for bringing the gang from Orienteering Ireland and to the organisers, Matthew Vokes and Planning/ Hanging/ Organising Team and of course to Jacky and Sue for the amazing catering.
Report by Steph Pruzina, LVO/NIOA Juniors
So glad to hear they had a great time and cold conditions did not deter them. This is a wonderful experience for them.
Great to hear all about the weekend. Thanks so much for giving them all this amazing opportunity.
The juniors were great! So fantastic to see them travelling and meeting up with other orienteers. Thanks for all your support x