Pretty in Pentathlete
What do body paint, glitter, tree climbing, five sports, 200 baked goods, 19 athletes and Cambridge minty blue have in common?
Pentathlon Pyramid
They all have to do with a weekend away at Millfield for CUMPC’s annual training camp! (Bet you were TOTALLY going to guess that…)
Beautiful sporty girls
Training camp commenced officially on Friday night. Since I had John’s Cripps Feast (celebrating the 500th anniversary with an equal number of courses, wine and candles), I piled into the LateGoersCar at 4:40am.
4.40am is not a pretty time to be awake. Ever. Even when you’re driving in a pale blue car named Baby with three other groggy grinning athletes.
Team Mascot
By 9am, we were in Millfield and in the pool.
“Just a cheeky swim!” Said Drew, the ex-army Millfield coach who takes pleasure in our pain. Cheeky swim meant an hour and a half in the pool. Then we did some cheeky fencing, followed by a cheeky 8k.
Because 8ks are fun.
Drew, Millfield and Body Paint
Day two was just as physical and a whole lot more festive. Keeping with tradition, the CUMPC teams coated themselves in costumes and bodypaint for the annual team photo.
The girls went with “Little Miss,” the boys with something big, macho and film related.
I was “Little Miss Summersault.”
…probably because I’m so graceful. Except for the 90% of the time that I’m not.
We went to lunch with facepaint on. The extremely athletic, talented students at Millfield, wearing their sharp little blazers and uniforms, just stared at us.
“This is what people do at Cambridge!” I’d make the best advisor.
Fortunately the weather was amazing. The food was amazing. And our hosts, the families of two CUMPC members (one past, one present) were absolutely insanely amazing.
Men in a tree
They cooked us lots of delightful goodies and tried to feed us wine*.
“We need to wake up and train!” Was my cautious response.
“Training is only made more fun with festive drink!” They responded.
I got to pet a horse. And run a lot. Swim a lot. Spend a weekend with some of my favourite people, absolutely, ever. I want to go back.
Just please, not at 4:40 in the morning.
*CUMPC is now being sponsored by Bancroft Wines. A wine merchant. We like wine. A lot. Even more than before. Water with training? Nonsense! Wine!
Posted on March 28, 2011, in Uncategorized and tagged 8k, bancroft wines, Cambridge University Modern Pentathlon Club, club sponsor, CUMPC, Danae Mercer, john's, Millfield, Modern Pentathlon, swimming training, training camp. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
What a cute Miss sommersault you make. Seems like u had lots and lots and lotsa fun in the camp. And a very good workout too!
It was LOTS of fun! Absolutely exhausting though
And my goodness, amazing workout.