Talent Assessment weekend
Credit: Lil Kenyon
Alice and Faith attended the Talent Assessment weekend in Edinburgh at the start of October. They both had a great time, learnt lots and came home with big smiles! Faith has written an article for the website - and also find out what the rest of the Kenyons got up to!
The first weekend of October Alice & I went to Edinburgh for a selection weekend for the British Talent Squad. We were meant to have a week in North Wales in the summer but it didn’t happen due to Covid-19.It started on Friday evening with a 3k time trial round The Meadows Park in the city centre, it was nice & flat on paths and the weather was lovely. This was later followed by a zoom meeting to discuss the plans for the weekend. We all had to find our own accommodation but it would have been nice if we could have stayed in a group.
On Saturday morning we had 3 talks; physical training, technical training and lifestyle & health. In the afternoon we went out in the pouring rain to do a 3.6k sprint in the city (Ed: for those who are familiar with it, this took place at the Exchange area). There were multiple levels so it was a challenge, I managed to get round no problem. Back at the hotel we analysed our sprints using “Read, Route, Plan, Run” which we had talked about earlier.
On Sunday morning we met, in the dry!, to do a technical session on Arthur’s Seat. A 3.5k course with lots of climb. I made 1 mistake by going through some hatching and another one by being in the way when Paul Murgatroyd slipped and felt into me whilst he was shadowing me!
We then finished by thanking all the coaches and headed home, via decathlon of course, where we met another orienteer doing the same thing!
Overall it was a really good experience, I learned lots to help me improve my orienteering and it was good fun despite the social distancing and having to stay in our small bubbles.
. . . . but I wasn't selected for the Talent Squad this year.
Meanwhile Phil, Lil and Fergus cycled into Edinburgh on the Saturday along routes 61 and 76 from Roslin. Lynne and Paul had done this route a couple of weeks before and recommended it to Lil. It was wet, very wet for the Kenyons but they are made of stern stuff and made it all the way through to the Innocent Railway tunnel. Here is the story from Lil:
Had a very wet cycle to the tunnel. Some lovely sections though, and some slightly dodgy area we didn’t want to stop in.Fergus did mention on numerous occasions that he couldn’t feel his hands and feet (join the club!). He also said he’d be suffering from PTSD after it, once he’d got over the hypothermia. (Ed: poor Fergus, needs long waterproof trousers!).
They were able to dry out back at the campsite - as they had it all to themselves they could use the shower block as a drying room!