Learnjoy Camp
he Chinese orienteers were between the first foreign runners who ever took part in Silva O´camp. They enjoyed to return to the Moravian forests and last time they trained in Vidnava in 2017. Amazing camp spirit and acquired know-how inspired the Chinese coaches to the idea of organizing a similar training camp at home. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 restrictions postponed the entire project, and the first event was held only this year.
The event for young orienteers, named Learnjoy camp, was held from 18 to 25 July 2022, that means on a similar date to the Czech Silva O´camp. The venue of the camp was the Yanqing resort in the mountainous suburbs of Beijing – centre of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The young orienteers trained mainly in the big parks, but they also got a chance to run in the forest terrain. Camp participants tried also night orienteering or increasingly popular knock-out sprint. There were also unusual activities such as a „communication“ orienteering run, where one of the pair navigated according to the map and the other ran in the terrain according to the instructions from the radio.
Similar to Silva O´camp, the Chinese Learnjoy camp also had a number of recreational activities on the program. Kids have visited the Winter Olympic Village, including the famous National Sliding Centre, also known as „The Flying Snow Dragon“. Remembering games on snow and ice in July´s hot weather was almost as refreshing as another their activity – kayaking.
Theory lessons with experienced lecturers, together with a lot of practice, significantly improved everyone´s map skills and physical condition. And that was more than useful during the final race in the challenging area of the Expo park.
In addition to the performance improvement itself, the Learnjoy camp also managed to provide that „extra something“ that makes the orienteering so special. A love for outdoor sport, new friendships and immense joy from every punched control 
Silva O’camp has supported the project of the orienteering camp in China from the very beginning and plans to cooperate in the future as well.
