April Training at High Rigg 24
First sunny training of 2024 out on High Rigg near Keswick.
About NWJS
The North West Junior Squad exists to support Junior Orienteering in the North West Region.
Membership is by invitation to any promising and committed young people, aged from 12 to 18, who are members of one of the nine NWOA clubs.
JROS Stockholm 2023
Tour report by Dan Heppell
This year I was selected for the JROS tour for M/W17s which runs in Stockholm, Sweden for 10 days. It was a great experience and offered top quality training and experience in some beautiful Swedish forest. Throughout the tour, we ran 14 different trainings, and 5 races. Of those 14 trainings, 13 were orienteering, 12 were forest, 1 was sprint in Stockholm city centre, and 1 was a forest intervals session. In total, I covered 112 miles with 12,500 feet of elevation gain. Most of this distance was acquired bashing through bilberry bushed, heather, or the odd very tangled plant that is found in most Swedish marshes. Throughout the week, my technique slowly improved as I got used to the terrain and the style of mapping. I did however make multiple very large mistakes over the course of the tour, resulting in some amusing GPS traces showing my unsuccessful attempts to find a specific little knoll in a marsh full of little knolls. The tour was reasonably intense, with trainings scheduled once or twice a day, but as I am predominantly a runner not a navigator, I found the technical side much harder as Swedish terrain is often vague and all looks very similar. I learnt some new techniques during my time there, which proved to be very useful and I am looking forward to implementing in races over the next year. We were based out of the OK Ravinen club hut, sleeping in a rather cramped and damp basement but we just about all squashed in. The hut was surrounded by technical forest, and a few days we trained from the hut. It was also only a short bus journey from the city of Stockholm, and we made extensive use of the Swedish public transport system throughout the tour, including buses, trains, trams and ferries. As a born and bred Cumbrian, I was very surprised at the speed and efficiency of the transport system which was very useful and well used by the locals. Probably my favourite training was the first Thursday evening training, which was short o- intervals of 2-4 controls in a forest near the club hut. We ran all 8 of these as a mass start, and it was really fun to race the others head to head as well as a certain Ralph Street who joined in. I was happy with my performance on this training as I finished in the top 3 consistently except for 1 rep where I made a medium mistake and got dropped by the train. I lead 2 loops from the front and came back first on 3. On the second Friday of the tour we visited Swedish theme park Gröna Lund, where I braved the least excited rides that kept me closest to the floor, but some of the juniors less fond of having their feet below their heads did the larger faster rollercoasters. It was a great outing however as there was plenty to do there, and we ended up acquiring 2 soft toy sharks now named Bread Martin and Salt (it’s a long story). All the coaches were very helpful for the duration of the tour, in planning courses, hanging kites, managing 19 teenagers, cooking, and so much more. I would also like to thank all the sponsors and funders of the tour for various grants that made it possible. I would thoroughly recommend the tour to any juniors aspiring to be selected for it, but I would also warn that for any athletes who do little physical training they are likely to pick up injuries or to overtrain on the tour. It’s a great chance to gain international experience in some of the best terrain in the world, and to essentially spend 2 weeks living with your friends.
Summer Travels 2022
2022 was the first full season for our juniors post-covid.
Following performances at the British Champs, JK & Northerns, some were selected to attend JROS summer camps.
Post Lockdown Training
Towards the end of August 2020 NWJS held its first training sessions after the Covid Lockdown had been lifted.
Junior Selection Races 2020
There are 6 races that have been nominated as Selection races in 2020.
These are the British Championships (Long), JK (Sprint, Middle, Long) and Lakes Weekend Blakeholme (Middle) & Windemere (Sprint).
Fitness May 2019
Athletes in NWJS have been encouraged to attend their local weekend ParkRun to test their fitness levels. Keeping fit is progressive and the 2019 Squad Standards document encourages everyone to attend a ParkRun at least every 3 months.
JROS Selection Races 2019
JROS races
Each year the Junior Regional Orienteering Squads (JROS) organisation puts on 4 summer training camps.
NWJS Juniors 2019
The North West Junior Squad is re-formed 1st January each year. Juniors are judged on 3 measures throughout the year - Fitness, Attendance and Performance. An invitation to rejoin the squad is based on the juniors achievements against these three measures in the preceding 12 months.
Squad Standards
2019 Standards
The North West Junior Squad is formed 1st January each year. Juniors are judged on 3 measures throughout the year - Fitness, Attendance and Performance. An invitation to rejoin the squad is based on the juniors achievements against these three measures in the preceding 12 months.
Interland Selections
Congratulations to Ellie Simmonds (LOC), Niamh Hunter (WCOC), Dylan Kenny (LOC), Joe Sunley (WCOC) & Charlie Rennie (WCOC) being named in the team for Interland Cup 2019.
Summer 2017 Selections
Congratulations to Alastair Thomas on being selected for this years European Youth Orienteering Championships, which are being held in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, 29th June – 2nd July 2017.
Norway Tour Photos 2016
This year the junior squad again visited southern Norway for its bi-annual tour.
Norway Tour Reports 2016
In August a group of 29 juniors and 10 adults travelled out to Fredrikstad in southern Norway for the bi-annual junior squad tour.