Category: Juniors

The juniors took part in training at Botanic Park and QUB on the 31 May. There were 3 urban sprint courses on offer but with a difference. Although the courses had control descriptions the control code (101, 102 etc) had been removed. To add to the confusion a number of the controls were located very close together – for example either side of a hedge or west and east of a wall or fence. This meant that the athletes had to read the control description very accurately before punching the control. When they got back to the finish they were Read More …

At this year’s AGM at the Donard event on Sat 23 May 15 we will be presenting Junior Incentive Scheme certificates. These will be issued to the juniors that have achieved an increase in their standard level from last year. Those juniors are: Rachel C: Green Level at Bronze Standard Andrew E: Green Level at Silver Standard Peter R: Green Level at Gold Standard Sophie P: Green Level at Bronze Standard Ben C: Yellow Level at Gold Standard Eoghan K: Blue Level at Gold Standard Daniel V: Orange Level at Bronze Standard Matthew V: Orange Level at Bronze Standard Matthew S: Green Read More …

A number of the junior squad got the chance, thanks to Alison, to practice the key skills of attack point and route selection at Ormeau Park on Sunday 17 May. This was a great chance to practice these key skills and you had to keep you whits about you as all those bushes start to look the same when running at speed. Our next training is on the 31 May at Botanic and QUB. Get it in the diary now.

Well done to all the LVO Juniors that took part in the Irish Champs over the Lisburn Festival of Orienteering. They all put in tremendous performances in some very challenging conditions. No more so than on Slieve Croob for the Long Distance in rain, sleet and mist. There were also sprint races in Lisburn and a relay race in Hillsborough Forest Park.   There were some really great results from the following: M14 Sprint 1st place to Andrew E M18 E Sprint 1 st place Paul P M18E Sprint 2nd place Frazer H W14 Sprint 1 st place Rachel C W Read More …

Club juniors got the chance to confirm pacing for 100m on the flat, up hill and down hill at Stormont Estate. This is a really useful and vital skill for orienteering. Our next session is on the 17 May at Ormeau Park. Be sure to make it along.  

Juniors from LVO had a great time at the JK2015 in the Lake District in Cumbria over the Easter Weekend. This was a mix of urban racing around Lancaster University on the Fri evening and technical longer races over a mixed terrain of  hills, open moor and forested areas on the Sat and Sun. The relay race took part on the Mon. It was a demanding few days but the weather was great over the weekend and all juniors really enjoyed themselves and did very well given the difficulty of the courses. A big congrats goes to Luke C for Read More …

A number of our juniors took part in training at Portstewart and Coleraine on the 21 Mar. The day started with training in the sand dunes at Portstewart with a chance to practice contour work in the complex dunes. This was followed by lunch and then some lessons on achieving focus from Philip. Then we headed out again to take part in a number some tricky urban sprint race training around the University of Ulster campus. This was a tricky afternoon with lots of little traps thrown in and the need to pay close attention tot eh control descriptions.

Some of our Juniors set off to take part in the Irish Junior time trails in Phoenix Park Dublin on the 14 Mar. This is a selection criteria for those who wish to attempt to make it into the Juniors Irish Team. The day started with the time trial itself. This is made up of a loop of about 1.2 km with 60m of climb that takes in a truly cross country experience. It was made up of up and down hill sections, contouring lengths, river crossings and even some paths. Depending on age our juniors had to run between Read More …

Our very own Luke and Rachel took part in a weekend of sprint orienteering at the University of Limerick (UL) Campus. The UL Campus encompasses student accommodation, lecture halls, libraries, sports grounds, restaurants, countryside, concert hall, walk ways and cycle tracks. It provides plenty of scope for sprint races that can also traverse the river Shannon (via a compulsory crossing point bridge). Luke won the short individual course and both he and Rachel had a really great time.

Rachel spent some useful time to review her course on the NI Score Champs and work out an improved route. This is a really important thing to do after your races so that you can work out what worked well for you.  You can then concentrate on repeating that again in your next race. Try to focus on the positive from each race more than the things that went wrong. If you do identify some areas that you need to improve on then you can always raise that and we will include it in future training.