It’s Moray in March for ScotJOS

ScotJOS headed to the Moray coast for a training camp in March. Although the traditional
Moray areas are all embargoed due to the Scottish 6 Days, we were able to visit some of the less
well known areas. There was also the draw to return to the Duffus Hall – one of the favourite
venues in the ScotJOS list of halls. It is a lovely big hall and has hot showers and a separate
(carpeted!) hall for the coaches – who like a little more comfort than a hard wood floor!

Friday evening was the traditional night-O at Carsehill and a chance to stretch the muscles after a
long drive and meet up with orienteering friends. We then headed to hall for dinner and the after
dinner entertainment – lessons in erecting and taking down the new ScotJOS tent! You learn many
skills at a ScotJOS weekend, not just orienteering.

On Saturday we set off for Altyre. Just to make the orienteering harder, and force the use of the
compass, Jon had removed all the paths and man-made features off the map. There were numerous
exercises for everyone to try. On returning to the hall we had a stretching session with Nina
Walkingshaw, a local Physio, and we now all know the benefits of standing on one leg to brush our
teeth! Despite having run many training exercises the juniors all still had energy for football and
Manhunt.

Our venue for Sunday was Quarry Wood. Again the manmade features had all been removed from the maps, other than the fences round the quarries which were kept for safety purposes. This left a large featureless area in the map, which acted like a Bermuda Triangle with many juniors disappearing into it. The camp finished off with a fun 2 person relay. There was lots of encouragement for first leg runners and excitement at handover. Some juniors opted to be a team of 1 and run both legs, although many confessed afterwards that one of their runners did better than the other.

It takes a village to raise a child and an orienteering community to provide these training experiences for our talented and enthusiastic juniors, so thanks again to everyone who helped make the weekend possible, we really appreciate it.