JROS

Junior Regional
Orienteering
Squads

Junior Regional
Orienteering Squads

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Generic information about Lagganlia

Location

The Lagganlia training camp is based at the Lagganlia OEC www.lagganlia.com. The centre is close to Feshie Bridge and Kincraig and is located within easy reach of some of the best orienteering terrain in the UK.
The region around the river Spey contains such great areas as Inshriach, Loch Vaa, Anagach and many others. In fact the centre is on the Inshriach map and has its own orienteering map which is used for training.

Accommodation

Accommodation is in small en suite rooms in a number of separate cabins. The tour chef prepares all the meals on site and specific dietary needs are catered for.
There is a washing machine and plenty of room for outdoor games.
Athletes will be expected to assist with minor chores during the camp.

Background

Lagganlia has been used for this tour since 1995 and during that time over 400 juniors have attended the camp. This has included many World Class athletes including most members of the current GB Performance and Talent squads.
The camp is held around the last week of July – in those years when the Scottish 6-days is being held it is the week before and transport is arranged to the event centre at the end of the week.

Terrain

As indicated above there are many top class orienteering areas close by. In addition Lagganlia is only an hour’s drive from the Moray coast and its sand dune areas of Roseisle, Lossie and Culbin.
Recently there have been a number of areas which have restrictions due to the presence of capercaillie but there still remains sufficient areas to satisfy the camps needs.

Attendees

The camp is aimed at M/W14’s who have been nominated by their Region, up to a total of 24. On the occasions when 24 athletes do not qualify remaining places may be allocated to M/W15’s who have not already attended the camp.
In support of the camp there is a Tour Manager (TM) who has responsibility for such things as travel, accommodation, food etc.
The TM is supported by a chef and a Lead Coach. The Lead Coach has a team of up to 14 coaches which means that this camp has a high coach: athlete ratio.

Report

Lagganlia Staff

Alice Leake (EUOC)            Junior Coach    Matt Halliday (MOR)                               Coach

Arthur Vince (KERNO)                    Chef       Nev Myers (EBOR)                            Lead Coach

Christine Vince (KERNO)              Chef        Richard Leckey-Thompson (LOC) Senior Coach

Don McKerrow (SLOW)      Senior Coach    Rob Kelly (EUOC)                           Junior Coach

John Britton  (MDOC)        Senior Coach     Roger Thetford (TVOC)                  Senior Coach

Jonny Malley (EBOR)         Jnr Coach/FT    Steve Kimberley (DVO)                   Senior Coach

Jonny Hooton (EBOR)        Coach/Video     Tony Carlyle (AIRE)   Tour Manager, Safeguarding

Karen Clark (EBOR)           Senior Coach     Wendy Carlyle (AIRE)        Pastoral, Safeguarding

Katherine Bett (SN)             Jnr Coach/FT    Zac Field (SYO)                               Forest Team

Kirsten Maxwell (EUOC)    Jnr Coach/FT

Once again the mix of coaches/helpers proved very successful and I offer thanks to all concerned on the junior’s behalf for all the work that was done to ensure a successful week.  The experience of the senior coaches and enthusiasm of the younger ones ensured that logistics went smoothly and exercises were ready when athletes arrived at the areas.                                          

Lagganlia Athletes

Abigail Mason (MAROC)                            Gabriel Rawlinson (LEI)

Alex Buck (SARUM)                                    Jack Cryer (PFO)

Alisdair Pedley (EPOC)                              James Nisbet (SMOC)

Callum Hunter (ECKO)                              Kathryn Barr (MOR)

Catherine Hemingway (WAOC)               Lachlan Chavasse (DEE)

Clare Stansfield (FVO)                               Laura King (AIRE)

Eddie Narbett (BOK)                                  Lindsay Robertson (CLYDE)

Emma Wilson (CLYDE)                             Louis Forshaw-Perring (DVO)

Finlay Todd (INVOC)                                  Lucy Haines (AIRE)

Finn Lydon (LEI)                                          Nicholas Wilson (LEI)

Fiona Bunn (TVOC)                                    Rowan White (INVOC)

Freddie Carcas (INT)                                 Tim Harrison (SUFFOC)

The athletes had a wider level of ability/experience than usual but the level of staffing enabled all to have relevant input from the coaching team.  There were some creditable results at the following Scottish 6 Days showing a significant step up in performance for some of the athletes. 

All athletes came well prepared in terms of appropriate clothing and attitude.  There were no discipline problems and the athletes kept good time.  Briefings, evening sessions and departures for the forest all kept to schedule.  Arthur and Christine were also impressed with the polite, diligent way in which athletes carried out their allotted duties.

Travel and Transport

Organisation of transport arrangements to and from Lagganlia was left up to parents.  As this was a 6 Days year the offer to transport the juniors to the Event Centre at the end of the camp was made.  This was easy to organise as we could use the minibuses to drop the juniors off before returning the buses to Inverness. 

Athletes were met at Aviemore station and transferred to Lagganlia by minibus.

Two 17 seat minibuses were hired from Focus Vehicle Rental in Inverness and were used for transport to and from the areas.  We had 5 designated drivers for the week who were covered to drive any of the buses.  This gave flexibility for the organisation of forest sessions and ensured that there were at least 2 adults in each bus for every journey.  The forest team used one car each session.  Two other cars were also used each day to transport coaches and ensure a spare vehicle for use in case of an emergency.

Accommodation and Catering

We had three lodges allocated:

Sgorans (16 beds); Social and meeting/presentation area, girls’ and coaches dormitory.

Hillend (18 beds); Cooking and eating, boys’ and coaches dormitory.

Anderson (11 beds); Cooking, coaches work and social area, coach dormitory.

Once again Christine and Arthur produced a high standard of catering.  The quality of meals produced was excellent and empty plates spoke for themselves.  This is the last year that Christine and Arthur will be catering for Lagganlia and our sincere thanks go out to them for all the hard work they have put in over the years to ensure that the athletes and coaches were well fed and able to make the most of the days out in the forest.

Maps

Maps were printed on waterproof paper by BML Printers Ltd.  The maps stood up well to use and I was impressed with their resilience during the monsoon downpour that hit us at Dallaschylle.   One map per athlete and coach were provided for all the planned exercises so that all had a copy for their files. 

All control maps were printed for logistics and use by the forest teams.

Programme and Logistics

Saturday – Evening                       

Welcome                                          

Brief introductions  

Community building activities                  

Meals & Food                                  

Rotas

Coaching groups

 

Sunday, AM; Uath Lochan.  Compass work and pacing.  Star relay.

Sunday, PM; Inshriach, chequerboard area.  Timed runs, path and through terrain.  Fine orienteering, control descriptions and visualisation in the circle.  Distraction.

 

Monday, AM; Loch Vaa.  Simplification, relating map to ground, visualisation.  Map walk and map memory.

Monday, PM; North Granish.  Sketch maps.  6 leg relay.

Monday evening; Contour interpretation, remarkable features.

 

Tuesday, All Day; Littlemill.  Contour focus with the following exercises, attack points and catching features, simplification, longer legs.  Green contours, lower visibility exercise. 

Odds and evens relay. 

Tuesday evening; Sprint races

 

Wednesday – Sprint racing

Sprint Qualifier         Moor of Alvie

Sprint Final              Badaquish

Wednesday – PM/evening

The Rings     (Badaguish)

Swimming    (Loch Morlich)                                                                                 

Shops                        (Aviemore)

Bar-B-Que     (Lagganlia)

 

Thursday, Lagganlia, strength and conditioning session, uphill/downhill running.

All Day; Dallaschylle.  Athlete centred coaching.  Three planned loops, coaches decide on skill/technique focus for athletes in their group.  Encourage Talk O.

Peg relay.

 

Friday, AM; Inshriach Tour champs classic race

Friday, PM: Lagganlia Fun relays, mazes.

 

Friday – Evening

Dinner            (All)

Prize giving   (Matt and Jonny)     

Entertainment                                 

Begin packing and cleaning rooms.

 

Saturday – Disperse

Comments

The Lead Coach (Nev Myers) put the programme together and passed on responsibility to the coaches for planning and delivering forest and classroom sessions. 

During the week the coaches worked with groups of athletes as shown below.

Lagganlia Coaching Groups

Don McKerrow/Matt Halliday                     - Kathryn Barr/Fiona Bunn/Freddie Carcas/Lachlan Chevasse

Richard Lecky-Thompson/Jonny Malley             - Emma Wilson/Lucy Haines/Eddie Narbett/Finlay Todd

Roger Thetford/Kirsten Maxwell               - Clare Stansfield/Abigail Mason/Tim Harrison/Finn Lydon

Steve Kimberley/Alice Leake                     - Lindsay Robertson/Laura King/Rowan White/Alex Buck

Jon Britton/Rob Kelly                                  - Alistair Pedley/Nicholas Wilson/Louis Forshaw-Perring/Callum Hunter

Karen Clark/Katherine Bett                        - Catherine Hemingway/Gabriel Rawlinson/Jack Cryer/James Nisbet

All coaches/helpers were asked to complete log entries for the athletes they worked with.  These contained lots of information and most focussed on particular skills and coaching points; and related to how the athletes applied them during exercises.  Asking all members of the team to complete log entries gave value to their efforts and enabled the younger and less experienced members of the team to develop their own observational and performance analysis skills.  Under the guidance of the senior coaches all coaches were responsible for putting together draft reports for athletes in their groups.  These were then passed on to Nev Myers as lead coach to ensure consistency across all reports.

Athletes were expected to work with their group coaches but were also encouraged to talk to the other coaches so that they could access the wide experience available from within the coaching team.

The daily coach debrief sessions on the day’s activities provided much useful discussion and encouraged all to contribute as well as providing a useful opportunity for coach development.

Logistics for control hanging were worked out each day in the coaches briefing and worked well.  Having five named drivers for the minibuses allowed drivers the opportunity to hang controls. 

Following suggestions from last year two changes were successfully made to the format of the day.

  • First Aid clinic.  After training each day anyone with an injury or who had first aid administered during the day had to report to Karen and Wendy to ensure all details were recorded and appropriate follow up given.  Next morning all who had attended the evening clinic had to see Karen and Wendy between 8-15 and 8-30 for any treatment, e.g. blister covering, and to get the OK for training that day.  Group coaches were informed of any concerns. This worked very well in maintaining athlete participation and keeping track of injuries and ensuring that athletes didn’t make their injuries worse.
  • The introduction each day of coaching groups between 17-00 and 18-00.  This allowed structured time for debrief of the day’s activities, including race analysis.  Coaches not only got to know their athletes, but were able to review, build on the day’s activities and set action points for the next day.  Being part of the structure for the day it was readily accepted by the athletes.  Listening in to the group sessions there was a lot of two-way interaction between the coaches and athletes and often sessions went on longer than planned in response to athlete participation.

Conclusion

Coaches, helpers and athletes all put in a lot of effort to make the tour a success.  The programme demanded a lot from both coaches and athletes, but athlete comments showed that they were happy to work hard and that they took much away from the week. 

Culbin and Roseisle were not available this year for the contour day.  Littlemill was the area provided and it fell well short of requirements.  Inconsistent mapping, poor contour detail and a messy forest floor make it an area to avoid in future.  If the coastal dune areas and Achlean are not available then the contour sessions would be best run on Moor of Alvie and North Granish.

Dallaschyle was used well with coaches focusing the planned exercises to their athletes.  It is however a physical area and in places the bracken hid detail and was well over the heads of the juniors.  

Loch Vaa was better used this year and the coaches and athletes were positive about the map walk and follow up exercises.

The safe arrival and mid-week e-mail were sent again this year.  This was appreciated by parents and I recommend its use again next year.

All athletes were provided with a questionnaire at the end of the week which reflected a very positive experience for all athletes.  Comments for improvement conflicted but a key factor appears to be a widening interest in the juniors in all types of orienteering races and an eagerness to give them a try.  There is also a rising interest in fitness based activities.  I will bring all the questionnaire responses to the JROS meeting in November so that managers can read all the comments if they so wish.

 

Selections

Kathryn Barr  MOR
Fiona Bunn  TVOC
Lucy Haines  AIRE
Catherine Hemingway WAOC
Laura King  AIRE
Abigail Mason  MAROC
Gabriel Rawlinson LEI
Lindsay Robertson  CLYDE
Clare Stansfield FVO
Emma Wilson  CLYDE

Alexander Buck SARUM
Freddie Carcas INT
Lachlan Chavasse DEE
Jack Cryer  PFO
Louis Forshaw-Perring DVO
Tim Harrison  SUFFOC
Callum Hunter  ECKO
Finn Lydon  LEI
Eddie Narbett  BOK
James Nisbet  SMOC
Alasdair Pedley EPOC
Finlay Todd  INVOC
Rowan White  INVOC
Nicholas Wilson LEI

Selection policy

Selection policy for attendance at the Lagganlia Training camp (2013)
Download the selection policy as a PDF

Date; The camp will run from 20th- 27th July 2013

Eligibility

The Camp is principally for M/W14’s born in 1999, but may include M/W15’s born in 1998 (see below)

Numbers

The camp will be for a maximum of 24 juniors.

Nominations

each of the 12 British Orienteering Regional Associations may nominate up to 2 eligible M/W14 athletes, as defined above, who have achieved the standard set out below. In addition reserves may be nominated (M/W14 or M/W15) who have achieved the standard. In the selection process M/W14s will take precedence over all M/W15s.

If a Region has no junior who has achieved the qualifying standard that Region may nominate a junior who they believe would benefit from attendance on the tour.

In addition a Region may nominate other athletes who they feel are worthy of selection but who have failed to satisfy the qualifying standard. Such nominations must be supported by a statement from the Regional Coordinator.

All nominations should be listed in a ranked order by the Region, with number 1 being their top choice.

Criteria

Juniors wishing to be selected will have achieved the standards set out below in at least one of the following races;

  • Scottish Championships 2012 (2nd June)
  • Midland Championships 2013 (3rd Feb)
  • Southern Championships 2012 (23rd Sept) or 2013 (14th April)
  • Northern Championships 2012 (19th May)
  • JK Day 2 2012 (7th April) or 2013 (30th March)
  • JK Day 3 2012 (8th April) or 2013 (31st March)
  • British Long Distance Champ 2012 (5th May) or 2013 (4th May)
  • British Middle Distance Champs 2012 (25th March) or 2013 (21st April)
  • Northern Ireland Champs 2012 (6th October)

Qualifying standard

M/W14’s Juniors being nominated will have achieved championship standard in at least one of the above races.

Nominated M/W15’s will have achieved a championship standard at M/W16 or at M/W14 in at least one of the above races.

Selection process

The priority for selection will be (for more detail see below);

  • 2 athletes per Region with qualifying standard
  • Additional qualifying athletes
  • Athletes nominated by Regions with no qualifying athletes
  • Additional nominations

All nominated athletes (without qualifying criteria) must be agreed by the selectors whose decisions will be final.

The two M/W14 athletes from each Region with qualifying standard will be selected first.

They will then be followed by any M/W14’s with qualifying standard not yet selected.

If there are still spaces the selectors may select M/W14 athletes nominated by a Region who has no athletes who have achieved the qualifying standard.

If there spaces the selectors will the select from the M/W15’s, with qualifying standard.

If there are still spaces the selectors may select from the remaining nominated athletes who have not achieved the qualifying standard.

At all times selections continue up to the maximum number of athletes on tour or until the selectors deem there are sufficient athletes selected of an acceptable standard.

If there are two or more athletes with equal results and fewer places available, the selectors may seek further information from the Regional squad, with positions attained at British Championships and JK being the differentiator.

The tour selectors are

Susan Marsden (SEOA) Sue Roome (NWOA) Pauline Olivant (EMOA)

Selections will be announced via e-mail by JROS Secretary or Chair. The Regional Coordinators will be informed of all athletes attending a few days before the athletes are informed.

Any disagreement with selections should be addressed to the Chair, not the selectors.

Calculation of Championship time

For details of the calculation of championship standard times refer to Events appendix J (Sections 1.1.1 to 1.1.4 apply)