29 April 2013

23 athletes attended the third McCain Mountain Running Camp hosted at the YHA in Keswick last weekend. The camp, supported by McCain, gave the invited athletes an opportunity to come together to share best practice while getting a glimpse of the European Mountain Running Trials course, where team selections will take place on 25-26 May.

The weekend was opened by camp organiser Sarah Rowell, UKA Chair of Selectors and an experienced marathon runner who competed for GB & NI at the 1984 Olympics. There were introductions of both old and new faces, which included Steve Vernon and Katie Walshaw, and the weekend’s programme was outlined, including a presentation of the trial races and selection criteria for the European and World Mountain Running Championships for 2013. 

Support staff consisting of Jackie Newton, former Run Britain web editor, and Mountain Running Team Staff Mark Johnson, Helen McVicker and Mark Croasdale were available to share their support, advice and knowledge.

Saturday’s programme consisted of a hill session up Skiddaw Mountain, which will be the trial race course for the uphill only European Championships, and a talk by psychologist Neville Warnke on ‘Optimising your mind’ and the ‘Chimp Paradox’.

Warnke’s presentation was then followed by a practical session on performance drills by Ian Pyper, Strength and Conditioning Coach for English Institute of Sport.  Nick Swinburn of Morpeth Harriers commented that “the psychology and drills sessions were informative and easy to apply to training and racing.”

On the Saturday afternoon the group did a walk of the trial course designed by Mark Johnston in Whinlatter Forrest which will closely match the World Championship course, a valuable experience which was welcomed by the athletes.

Graeme Everard, British Athletics physiotherapist, provided treatment and advice to athletes throughout the weekend and the Sunday morning consisted of a long run over the Karrimor Trial Race course before the athletes departed.

Steve Vernon, who finished 17th in the 2012 World Mountain Running Championships, said: “Not only was the weekend extremely well organised, the sessions from Ian and Neville were fantastic and certainly pitched at a level where everyone attending could take something away to incorporate into their own training and planning.”

2013 mountain running fixtures:

Inter Counties – 19 May 2013 in Settle Hills, Yorkshire

European Championships Trial, incorporating the senior British Home International – 25 May 2013 in Keswick, Cumbria

World Championships Trial, incorporating the British Athletics Championships – 11 August 2013 in Whinlatter Forest

European Mountain Running Championships – 6 July 2013 in Borovets, Bulgaria

World Mountain Running Championships – 8 September 2013 in Krynica – Zdroj, Poland