In July the Irish Senior
Squad held a weeklong training camp in Tampere, Finland, the location for
next year's World Orienteering Championships.
The training objectives were similar in many ways to those of the Senior Squad training held in Scotland a year ago. Our aim was to increase the pool of orienteers from which Irish teams will be selected in the future - as in Scotland the Finnish training camp was open to all and to gain specific knowledge of the WOC environment - the terrain, its maps, the planning typically employed, the cartographic style used by the WOC mappers, and the climate and food.
One objective differed though. Whereas in Scotland we wanted to sharpen up for the impending WOC one week later, in Tampere our aim was to log as many quality hours as possible in the physically and technically challenging terrain.
Nineteen participated - three females and 16 males (including manager and coach). We stayed in log cabins at a lakeside summer resort and hired cars to get about. The camp lasted seven days - three days of twice per day training and four days of relaxed competition. On the training days the first session was from 09:00- 11:00hrs, followed by a plunge in a lake and a hot lunch. The second training session took place between 14:00- 16:00hrs. We had as our liaison the Director of Training for WOC2001, Kari Jantunen. The training days were split by the "Pre-WOC" games, a 2-day Elite race designed to test the organisation and other systems for WOC next year (commentary, results, TV, GPS tracking of competitors, etc.). All members of the squad who wanted to compete in the event were facilitated. The week ended with two very low-key races leading into the FIN5 and World Cup events.
The training period was successful; our objectives had been met. A number of very keen younger orienteers participated. (We do need more women who are serious about high performance orienteering, though.) We trained on all the likely terrain types to be used for WOC2001 and we experienced the mapping and course-planning styles of the WOC mappers and planners.
Importantly we discovered some of our weaknesses - our limited ability (many of us) to run naturally in the spongy, bushy, low visibility terrain, our inability sometimes of being able to translate map information to Finnish terrain (and vice-versa) even when standing still! We also need to learn more about route-choice. One week of training has simply informed us of the huge task that still lies ahead in getting ready for WOC.
Next year we move our preparations up a gear! We know now that it will take many weeks of running in Tampere terrain before our orienteering becomes fluent there. We need to have learnt this fluency - the ability to run hard with little effort in terrain while mapreading - before WOC. The World Championships will provide its own unique challenges - the mental pressures associated with qualifying for finals, and then once qualified pulling out a big race. Our athletes will need to have found their rhythm in Finnish terrain before then. To meet that challenge a number of our squad have indicated that they intend to spend much of the summer next year training in Tampere. It is also likely that we will hold the trial for the WOC teams there. This measure is intended to encourage our orienteers to spend time in Finland preparing in relevant terrain and will also guarantee that those selected have demonstrated their aptitude for orienteering in Tampere.
How well is our team going to do in WOC? Last year we had two qualifiers, Marcus Pinker and Toni O'Donovan. Next year I believe that it will be a good result to reach four finals. (Remember that orienteers from the other nations are not standing still either). All this of course will require funding - subventions to our orienteers who will live and train in Finland next summer and grant-aid to those who will participate in the WOC trials.
So thanks to everyone who supported Squad fund-raising events this year. It is very likely that we'll be calling on your support again over the next 12 months!