The 2024 Royal Navy Athletics Association Warm Weather Training Camp commenced in the UK with a pre-camp cross country challenge, Royal Navy vs Fire Service vs Police.
A total of 23 athletes toed the line with LCpl Hamish Rae taking a well deserved second place behind a young Police athlete.
A mid-afternoon departure from Bristol airport saw the group leave the cold air of the UK for the warmth of the Algarve for 7 days of ‘spike’ training over XC, track and road terrain in preparation of the Inter Service (IS) XC Champs.
Home for the duration was Victoria Sports & Beach Hotel which boasted full use of a European XC course, 4 lane tarmac track, strength and conditioning gym, off road and road routes, and 4* room facilities with all-inclusive meals, all made possible by the RNRM Sports Lottery.
The group consisted of 3 staff, 18 athletes (11 endurance, 7 track and field), an England Athletics (EA) endurance coach, an EA middle distance coach, an EA sprint coach, and an EA throws coach.
The endurance side had many already established IS standard runners plus a number of development standard runners and a smaller group of sprint/throws athletes.
The aim for the week was for the endurance athletes to spike their weekly milage prior to the IS XC Champs, which were hosted by the Royal Navy in HMS RALEIGH on 28 February this year.
The week consisted of 3 speed sessions and 1 long slow run, interspersed with recovery runs. Some athletes pushed their mileage up to 60/70 miles, with others pushing up to 20 miles in the period. The intention was to carefully overload the IS standard athlete to build up to the IS XC Champs on the foundation already created for the development athletes, finishing the week having pushed themselves to their limits.
The training camp takes place annually and is open to 20 IS standard endurance athletes, 20 development endurance athletes, and 10 track and field athletes.
