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Archive for March, 2009

Er du klar for NM i skiskyting?

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

The end of the season draws near here in Norway, but before we can pack it in there is still one more big race series to be had. Remembering back to the start of the season during the second week of November, I can confidently say that this has been the longest and most competitive season ever! Tomorrow starts the Norwegian Biathlon Championships here in Lillehammer, and the only question left to ask is, “are you ready?”

The last biathlon races I had were up in Folldal—the same small town where I began my adventures here in Norway—at the final Norwegian Cup/Vital Cup. The races had some low points and some high ones, but overall I’m fairly satisfied with my performance. The weekend started out with a 10km sprint race on Friday in which I managed to hit all ten targets—perfect shooting! This marks the first time this year with perfect shooting and the third time in my life. Unfortunately, my skiing speed was fairly poor and I had some equipment difficulties on the range, which cost about a minute. So I still ended up four minutes back from Stian Eckhoff, a famous Norwegian who has won a World Cup.

The 12.5km Pursuit race the next day didn’t go all that much better. My skiing remained sluggish and the shooting wasn’t where it should have been. Anyway, I missed a total of 5 targets and had a time on the day 3 min back from Stian.

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Zeroing before the race

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Posted in Norway, Racing | 3 Comments »

Birkebeinerrennet 2009

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

Over a week has passed since I crossed the finish line in the 72nd Birkebeinerrennet, so I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on the race and recover enough to have the desire to come back next year to have another go. This was my first ever Birkebeiner race and what better way to start than to do the real thing in Norway carrying a 3.5kg backpack symbolizing the young king Haakon!

Race day started out quite early—3:45am. This wake-up time was required in order to catch the 4:30am bus from Lillehammer to Rena. I tried to get some sleep on the two-hour bus ride, but I was already a bit excited making sleep next to impossible. Once at the starting area, I tested my wax and made sure I had enough water and energy gels to get me through the day.

I was seeded into the elite wave from my finish in the Madshus Ski Marathon earlier this year. Because of my elite placement, I donned the only appropriate ski suit for such an occasion… the Purple Cow! I was proud to be the only distinguishable (Topher!!) Purple Cow in the field of roughly 14,000. However, I did get some funny looks from some Norwegians—especially the young ones. Needless to say, my family commented that it was easy to pick me out from the crowd of approaching skiers.

mj-birken

Me passing through Sjusjøen (photos by Janna Johnson)

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Posted in Norway, Racing | 3 Comments »

VM i Liberec og Hovedlandsrennet

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Watching the World Championships this year along with the Norwegians provided me with a new perspective on the sport of skiing—and in saying ‘skiing’ I’m including all the different disciplines: downhill, cross-country, jumping, and Nordic combined. All in all, the Norwegian media did a great job showing all the winter sports without stressing any single event or discipline to the extent of overshadowing another. Put together, the championships felt like it had a greater competitive spirit, which in my opinion carried some similarity to the Olympic games.

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Posted in Norway, Racing | 2 Comments »