Through all kinds of weather, Central Okanagan Search and Rescue (COSAR) hosted two tracking courses over the Easter long weekend.
From Friday-Sunday (April 18-20), 13 students, including five from COSAR participated in the TrackAware Course while 10 students (four from COSAR) took place in a different tracking course.
After registration and dinner on Friday, the training started later that night. The following day, both teams went into the field with TrackAware students working five sign lines near Postill Lake Forest Service Road while the Tracker class was on a Farmers Drive property, where instructors set up a challenging subject tracking scenario.
Following dinner, the tracking course students got to show off their progress before everyone worked on night tracking exercises.
On Sunday, after the last fieldwork took place, a debrief and badge presentation took place.
"We鈥檙e proud to announce that four students earned their TrackAware certification鈥攊ncluding Kristen from COSAR (well done after just two classes)鈥攁nd Astrid Kneipp achieved her Tracker certification! Astrid has consistently proven herself as one of COSAR鈥檚 strongest trackers, and this milestone is well deserved," said COSAR on a social media post.
On top of COSAR, Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) volunteers from the Okanagan, Princeton, Kamloops, Logan Lake, Quesnel, the Kootenays, and Vancouver Island also held a helping hand.
The next Tracking Course is in Princeton from May 9 to 11.
