The Australian Junior Development Camp 2024 started on 14 December on the hot Saturday afternoon in Canberra. The MapRun score course in the parkland around National Library of Australia, Old Parliament House, Questacon and National Gallery of Australia offered an interesting introduction to orienteering in the capital city. In the evening all the participants met their coaches and took part in the trivia night. They also heard the important message from Orienteering Australia’s chief medical officer to keep sipping water in hot weather.
The second day of the camp saw training early in the morning to beat the heat. After a long walk admiring the scenery of the Canberra hills, juniors and coaches ran a series of downhill courses set by Tara Melhuish. Icy poles and watermelon waited for the participants at the arena. In the afternoon, after many took advantage of the swimming pool at the camp accommodation, it was time for navigating around the hill with much rock detail, on simulated relay courses set by Jo Allison and Shannon Jones. Is it a kangaroo or an orienteer? Both! There were more icy poles at the finish.
On Sunday evening Greg Barbour presented “Taste of Italy”, showing the maps of huge hills likely to be experienced at JWOC 2025. Rob Walter previewed Boboyan Divide, with the camp attendees getting to plan their routes for the first session next morning. Early on Monday, day 3 of the camp, everyone left around sunrise to make it to the southern edge of ACT to execute their plans for their courses on the granite map before it got too hot. The second training session followed soon after in a similar terrain. It was Andy Hogg’s pairs’ technical relay involving combinations of up to ten 0.7 -1.2 km loops, with a coveted prize for the top three teams to blow the horn. Participants were coming from, and going in, all directions. The training was wrapped up before noon, with control collectors left to pick up the flags in the heat.
Well done to everyone who took part. Thank you to all the organisers and support team.
Hania Lada
