Boomerangs training camp quiz

After 4 days of training in France, we are slowly building our confidence in the French terrain.  The forest is beautiful, very green and full of berries, but very technical with lots of rock and contour detail. The villages for sprint training have complex old towns and busy fresh produce markets to make spotting passageways (and sprinting) difficult. For the training camp are based in the small town of Arith, 800m above sea level, which is close the maps, mountains and is covered in snow in winter. At the moment it is green rolling hills, wildflowers and quaint old buildings.

As it is only one week out from WOC we have been taking it easy, except for Wendy and Rob who have spent hours marking up maps for us. Most of the team members have done two short training sessions a day, the French terrain is very difficult and practice makes perfect. 

We have been slow on posting this year but here is pop quiz number 1 (let’s hope there is a number 2...).

1.         How many WOC virgins are in the team this year?
a.       5
b.      3
c.       2
d.      10
e.      None

2.                   French terrain is:
a.       Complex contour details
b.      Karst outcrops and sinkholes
c.       Alpine meadows (with cows and bells)
d.      Steep slopes
e.      All of the above

3.         Bare rock, marked as light grey on the map below, is:

a.       Flat, open and fast. Like granite in Australia.
b.      Mossy, hard to spot, and slippery. Like rocks in Sweden.
c.       Jagged, ankle breaking with deep deep holes. d.      Twisted shapes covered in rubble. For example near the glaciers in Switzerland.
e.      None of the above.

 4.                   What is the name of our team mascot?a.       Jean Pierre. A local orienteer who has been giving us tips.
b.      Matilda, the boxing kangaroo. A tried and true mascot.
c.       Les Pinpins. Rabbits from a very popular French story book.
d.      Remy. Our host’s 2 year old son.  e.      None of the above. We are still open to suggestions and welcome anyone who is willing to wear a giant fluffy boomerang suit.    

5.                    For lunch we eat:

a.       Baguettes avec fromage de la boulangerie
b.      Pain au Chocolat de la patisserie
c.       Abricots et Framboise de la marché
d.      Saucisson avec Cola
e.      All of the above

 6.                   Which team members studied French in year 12 and act as translator?a.   Aislinn and Rachel

b.      Rachel and Jasmine
c.       Wendy and Aislinn
d.      Mace and Jasmine
e.      All of the above team members

 7.                Which team member left their compass and phone at training, 25 minutes drive away?a.          Jasmine
b.      Vanessa
c.       Robbie
d.      Wendy
e.      All of the above

8.       In 4 days of training which team member has sustained all of these injuries, a wasp bite, stick in the eye and cut up their arm and stomach by running into a barbwire fence:
a.       Robbie
b.      Jasmine
c.       Simon
d.      Grace
e.      All of the above

9.                  Julian Dent is currently:

a.       Sipping cocktails in the Caribbean

b.      Training three times a day in the French forest

c.       Asleep in his bed

d.      Working in Sweden

e.      All of the above

10.          At our training camp Gîte, La Fruitiere d’Arith, we get this, see picture, for dessert every night:

a.       False. We celebrated Rob’s 36th birthday with the delicious berry tart.

b.      False. If we ate dessert like this every night we would be too fat to train the next day.

c.       False. On other nights we have had crème brulee, semolina pudding with brandy and raisins, and apple pie.   

d.      True. Chef Gerald, our host, is a pastry chef and he is practicing for entering his tart in a local competition. 

e.      True. We make them ourselves from the fruits we collect in the forest.

The first person* to respond to this blog with the 10 correct answers will win a fabulous prize. And since this quiz is quite dependent on knowing the personalities of a few team members we will have a 2nd category for non-Australian quiz masters. 

*entrant must also be a fan of Orienteering Australia on Facebook

 Ok off to bed, and tomorrow we leave Arith for Aix les Bains.