Day 1 - Lynne Gray

We arrived at Badaguish, with some athletes having to wait a wee while for the rest of the team to finish their lengthy journeys, to a warm (welcome from the midges) 27 degrees. An unusual introduction/ice breaker took place with some X-factor worthy voices being discovered and a new understanding of less toilet roll saves embarrassment as well as the environment.

 

All the athletes participated in an easy run and tour of the Badaguish site and refuelled with a delicious chilli-con-carne. Athlete interviews, to assess how the athletes personal training is and allow a little face to face time with the (new to some) coaches  finished off the day's events before retiring early in prep for a hard days training tomorrow.  Bring on the KMs and Midges!!!!!!

 

 

Day 2 - Joseph Rosenfeld

After a relaxed morning run and some balance exercises we had breakfast before setting off to Glenmore Lodge at 9. We spent the day there working on downhill technique and turns in order to improve our confidence, despite the downpour of rain making it incredibly slippery! We also had time for some exciting team and individual races.  When we got back to Badaguish we had dinner before looking over some footage of the days skiing. We then finished off the day with a football game in the sports hall whilst being bitten to death by midges.

 

 

Day 4 - Zander Bohle

Today started with a gentle morning jog with Alex followed by a strange Spider-Man dynamic stretch. Afterwards we digested some lovely porridge. We then started our morning bike session. It took a while waiting for the bikes but we finally got them and we started our adventure. When we got to Loch en Eilen, we lost Carl and Fergus so we had to traipse around the loch again trying to find them. During our cycle Cameron wouldn't let Angus through so he decided to push Angus into a ditch.

 

Cameron felt pretty bad, but then "HIS GEARS WOULDN'T CHANGE" and caused most of the group fall off their bikes, but it was good to see him keep up with the youth and junior athletes. Overall it was a successful cycle and it was nice to see the development athletes pushing hard on the bikes. In the afternoon we were all a bit tired but that wouldn't stop us to have another hard workout. The youth and junior athletes went to Glenmore lodge doing classic speed work with the senior athletes, while the development athletes were concentrating on their strength. Overall a hard but good day on our training camp.

 

 

Day 5 - Peter Gibb

Dear Diary, Today for our morning mobility we went for a jog with Katy & Frank and finished off with some balance exercises with Carl. Porridge is porridge. My group classiced up the Cairngorm lift road 3 times, with Carl giving support and video us on the way up. After lunch we had time for a rest. After being informed that the busses would roll at 3.30 by 2 of the coaches, I was then told at 3.05 that they had left 5 mins ago! I arrived with Frank just behind the others (I'm still shaking from the journey!) at Glenfeshie, where we skated for about 1.5 hrs. We arrived back to sausages and tatties, which in my opinion was great, followed by Crumble, sponge and custard. In the evening the Senior team came over from Glenmore for a pub(less) quiz. My team came last because "we've got XXXXXXXX". All in all a great day.

 

 

Day 6 - Cameron Cruikshank

At 7am we started with breakfast and then at 8am the day really started with a long ski walk/elkhoof/bounding session for the pathway guys with a brilliantly muddy run up the hills behind Badaguish with a couple of slippery moments on the downhill. The older guys started their morning with an easy skate technique session, with everybody then heading down to Aviemore for a gym session with some added testing. Of course McStandin messed up the first round so the test had to be repeated with varying degrees of success. There was then a balance and agility course to attempt. Everyone had great fun even if some did take a tumble or 5! Arrived back at Badaguish for hot chocolate and Pancakes with scones and will hopefully go for a game of football again.

 

 

Day 7 - Susan Massie

The Pathway athletes spent the day skating at Glenmore Lodge where they tackled various courses made up by the coaches. The morning was all about speed, focusing on downhill technique and tight turns. A time trial was done by each athlete leaving them ready for their lunch. The afternoon session was more technical. This time involving jumps, figure-of-eights and slaloms. Another time trial was done after everyone practised the course and was reasonably happy with it. One final race was done to end the session however they were only allowed to double pole round the whole track. But this time there were no obstacles in the way. The athletes were left in charge to organise groups. However the coaches did have the final say to make sure the groups were fair. All the athletes felt this was a great way to end the final training session of the camp.

 

 

Day 8 - Anna-Sophie Nightingale

This morning we had no run and mobility because we all had to have our bags up at the sports hall at 8. Then we moved on to the end of camp challenge. The older ones had to run from Badaguish to the bottom of Cairngorm (except Charlie who got to ski down).  The next stage was to skate ski up Cairngorm. Everyone did this stage. The last section to finish it off was to run up the "Zig-Zag" way up to where Alex was waiting for us. Afterwards we got a lift back to Badaguish. It took a while until the parents arrived so the boys used that time to play some football. After nearly everyone had left the guys heading back to Aberdeen Airport had to wait for Roy Young and Annika. Jordan had to fight back his tears whilst leaving. A good week of training and meeting up with people was over.