Off to JWOC!

And we’re off! All the members that headed up north to Whitehorse for the HPP training centre are off to JWOC today. JWOC is in the north of Poland in Rumia Wejherowo, which is near Gdansk. Once we arrive, we have a week of training to get used to the terrain. We will meet Emily and Molly Kemp, and our fearless team leaders Randy Kemp and Carol Ross (and the honorable sidekick David Ross). Then our first race, the sprint, is on July 3^rd! You can follow along and find results at: http://www.jwoc2011.pl/

We’ve all been really fortunate for the hard work of Brent Langbakk, Ross Burnett, and Afan Jones. Their trainings have had us running and thinking hard as well as occasionally humbling us. I’m certainly excited for the Canadian Orienteering Championships here this summer! The terrain is both technical and physical, which should made the races exciting and challenging.

Overall, the training centre has been a great success. It’s different, but awesome, to have so many motivated training partners all pushing each other. Plus, it’s difficult to be lazy with all the peer pressure (in the best way possible). We’ve also gotten to explore, climb rocks and mountains, and some of the HPP crew biked some legs for a relay between Haines Junction in the Yukon to Haines in Alaska (a total for 240km).

We hope you follow along on this blog for our adventures in Poland, and see some of you in Whitehorse for the COCs!

HPP Members Eric Kemp, Graeme Rennie, Kendra Murray, Lee Hawkings, Tori Owen, Emily Ross and Graham Ereaux at the top of Mt. Lorne with friends. Photo credit: Graham Ereaux.