Training Camp 2024

Training camp began on Thursday with arrivals from the train station ferried to the barn by the drivers of the group. After everyone had settled in, we got ready for the first run of the trip. After a greeting from men’s captain Sam we set off on what began as a lovely trail run but was slightly hindered by private roads, roadworks and barbed wire fences. We arrived back to the barn to a filling meal of chilli and LOTS of rice followed by a scramble for showers. We then gathered in the sitting area for a round of the hat game to get the freshers up to speed with OUCCC inside jokes.
Friday began with an early morning jog before breakfast. The group then embarked on a trip to walk up a big hill called the Wrekin (other than Kunov, who decided to run there despite it being a half hour drive away). We returned to the barn for lunch before exploring the town of Much Wenlock and scoping out pubs for Saturday evening. When we had had too much of Much Wenlock, we headed back to the barn for the second jog of the day followed by another nice meal with more rice. The day was rounded off with a quiz courtesy of Jared with a fonts round by Rose which was actually much more fun than expected.
On Saturday morning we headed to Parkrun in Telford where some people volunteered and others ran the parkrun and had a session after. After regrouping at the barn, some headed to watch a football match while the rest of the group went on a trip to Ironbridge where we were caught out in torrential rain. In the evening, we walked into Much Wenlock for a meal in a pub followed by a pub crawl. Surprisingly, we all made it back to the barn (eventually) and were greeted with a warm welcome from the group that had come back earlier.
Despite the exploits of the night before, nearly everyone was up for a drive to Church Stretton for a long run. We split into groups of different distances for an enjoyable hilly long run aided by local knowledge from Beth and Maddie. The afternoon was spent relaxing and recovering from the weekend before a fun game of mafia where Hattie was an excellent narrator.
On our last morning, most of us went for a very muddy jog to end a great training camp and start what should be a great cross country season!