Rikslägret 2014

The camp started on Monday 23rd June with a 9 and a half hour bus ride down to Sälen. We arrived at 6.30pm and went straight to dinner. After dinner we went to our cabins and settled in... For about 5 minutes until we were back up to the good hall for a briefing of the camp and to meet our teams for the adventure day. We ended up doing our first training at around 8.30. It was a sprint training around the grounds. By 10 o'clock after having showers it was time to relax and watch the first half of the Brazil/ Cameroon game. Then a nice long sleep. 

We had an 8.30 start on Tuesday, which was very nice. We left for our first training at 9.30, arriving around 10.00. It was a long training (7.5km) and I didn't quite finish it due to the cut off time being 12.00 (I probably needed about another 20 minutes). It was a nice course on new terrain for me, but the hills! They were horrible!!! Hills? What am I on about? I mean hill! One big massive giant hill. I found this course very hard to run especially because it was so open and very sunny!

After the training it was lunch at 12.45 and we left for the next training at 2.15. It was o-interval training, but turned out to be just another run for me... I was running with Kristina and Rebecca, or more running our own courses meeting up at the finish control for each interval and walking to the start of the next one together. 

That evening was a fun evening, first going bowling, then watching football, listening to music and playing cards. 

They were 5m contours...

Wednesday was the early 7.30 start. The morning training was a middle distance course that was about 4.5 km long. I enjoyed this course, well most of it (the bit where I couldn't find the first control wasn't so great...). I think I liked this one maybe the most. Before running I was talking to one of the leaders who was asking how my course went the day before. I had answered 'It was good, navigation was mostly fine, but I was very slow'. Their reply to this was 'You are at a training camp, you don't need to run every course. You are learning to use new techniques, not how to run faster!' This reply was something I really needed to hear. I was focusing too much on how fast I was running that I hardly noticed what I was doing for route choices, let alone trying to use new techniques we had been told to try! 

That afternoon was a sprintstafett (sprint relay) which was really run! There were four variations of a sprint course (1,2,3 and 4). There were some same controls and some split controls. We started in groups of four (I was with Rebecca, Johanna and Kristina) and we met up at the start after each loop. It seemed like a very nice course as we started, but during the second leg we encountered a horrible hill climb! It wasn't too bad but the hill looked massive from the bottom. (which is why we skipped control 20... Too much climb!)

That evening we didn't do much except get ready for the next day which was the adventure day. I had a great team with Elsa, Jason, Martin and Emil. They were from other clubs around Sweden; Martin was from Norrland, Elsa is from around the central south part of Sweden, Jason and Emil were from somewhere around the east coast near Stockholm. I was quite nervous before the race. I knew I was the slowest in my team (mainly from unfitness and injury recovery) and I didn't want to slow them down. 

The actual race was a four hour rogaine that included lots of hills. There was 36 checkpoints in total. Some were just orienteering controls with questions on them, others were activities that either one person or the whole team had to do. My team managed to do (we thought) quite well by getting as many of the controls as we could without going too far up the hills. This tactic actually worked very well as we found out later as we placed 3rd overall of about 26 teams! I was extremely happy with this!! It turns out we were only 25 points behind the team who came second which I think we might have been able to make if we had a different route choice, but I don't really mind! 

The adventure day map, you can just see our route - the blue line, going anti-clockwise 

That afternoon we ended up relaxing in the pool. There was one really nice outdoor pool that was very warm! We also had Linnea Gustavsson come and talk to us about how she became world champion, and give some tips on how to get there yourself. The talk was interesting enough, although I didn't really have any clue what she was talking about for most of it... :O 

Friday was our last day of training. We started with a middle distance training. It was a horrible day weather wise as it was raining and around 3 degrees and everything ended up wet. I thought this training was quite difficult. You really needed to always know exactly where you were. I got quite lost a couple of times and decided the easiest way to relocate was to follow the voices of other people! 

During the second training it was also raining (I think it was raining more than before) and was still only six degrees. I think that is why I didn't especially enjoy these two trainings as much as the others. This training included a labyrinth (which I kind of didn't manage to follow), a corridor (which I left somehow and ended up at the finish by mistake...), a course that I planned to only do the first control for (which I didn't find), and a 'follow the line' activity which looks very hard but I managed to follow for a while (until I came out on a path that I wasn't supposed to be near...). Oh and I also managed to spend about 20 minutes on a relocation exercise because I was so lost... But overall this training was still quite fun!

That night was the disco which was just like every other orienteering disco I have been to... Sweaty people jumping, clapping and yelling to really basey music!

Saturday morning was an early morning for us (7.30 breakfast) and it was time to get everything packed up. Our cabin was a complete mess and took a surprisingly short time to clean! We also had the 'Slumpmasters' competition. There was three courses, but none of them were normal. The first course was almost normal, but the control circles were bigger than normal circles, and the control could be anywhere in the circle. The second course had normal controls, but the map was, well, strange! They had swapped different symbols - Take a look at the map below (This was the course I did.) And the third course was a memory course. There was a piece of map at each control with a question (I don't know what the questions had do to with it) but you had to go around with out carrying the map. They were all short courses between 2 and 3 km (mine was 2.1). I was quite slow to begin with, as I found the map quite confusing until I figured out what was what! I think overall I was about 34th out of 74 so that was quite good. 

My course... The blue was marsh and cliffs were contours!

We later had the prize giving and when was over it was back to the bus for another nine hour ride back to Umeå. 

Overall I had an AMAZING time at Rikslägret 2014. Check out the blog (http://rikslagret2014.wordpress.com/) and the Instagram hashtag #rikslägret2014 to see more pictures and maps etc :)

Some photos of the social side of the camp:

Me, Kristina, Elin, Rebecca and Johanna

Those faces...!!!

Disco!

Five month flashback

I have now been in Sweden for exactly five months, meaning I am exactly half way through my ten month exchange. I have had an absolutely thrilling time, and wouldn't change a single minute of it! Here is a video I have put together from some of the photos I have taken during the time I have been here. Enjoy!

Venla/ Jukola 2014

Saturday night/ early Sunday morning was the Jukola seven man relay in Finland. We traveled on Friday evening from Umeå on the boat and arrived in Vaasa at 11 pm local time. We slept on the boat, I got about five hours sleep before getting up at 5.30 for a 5.45 breakfast. We left the ferry at about 6.30 and started the drive to Kuopio. We arrived at the event at about 12.20, but we had a lunch break on the way (you can figure out about how long the drive was). The drive was very uneventful, but I managed to get about another hours worth of sleep. 

When we arrived at the event I was extremely excited (although I may not have shown it...) and was rearing to go for my third leg race. The mass start for Venla, the four person women's relay, was at 2.00 and had about 1200 runners in it. I didn't watch the first leg, as I was preparing for my race, but from the bits I saw and heard, it was fantastic! My first leg runner was fellow Kiwi Greta Knarston who must of had a fabulous race, as she came in in 29th place! My second leg runner was Erika Knutsson, who came in around 120th, then me. I had an ok run, although I wasn't too inpressed with the 1 km run to the start triangle! I started by screwing up the first control by visiting two or three other controls before mine but other than that it was good navigation, slow running. I lost about 130 places while running, so my fourth leg runner went out in about 255th place (sorry about that! ;)) Elisabeth Fries had a good run (it was her second run as she also ran second leg for the first Umeå team) and brought us in to 319th out of over 1200 teams. Not bad!

My Course, 6.3 km, not sure if that includes the run to the start triangle!

The men's seven person relay started at 11.00. I was attempting to get a bit of sleep when I decided to get up and run over to watch the start. I got to one of the massive TV screens just before the start gun, and watched 1600 people race off onto their 10 km orienteering courses. The first controls of their races were about 4 km, which for those of you who don't know about orienteering, is a very long control! It was great to watch the runners on the TV screens, both the GPS routes, and live footage from the video controls. The first runners did the course in about 70 minutes (I think) and then there was the excitement of the second leg runners. (Then the third legs, then the fourth etc.) 

Men's mass start, photo from Tim's facebook page.

I nearly went to bed around 1 am but then something exciting happened (can't remember what), so I decided to stay up and keep watching the race. This happened a lot (that I would nearly go back to bed), especially around 2 am when it was absolutely freeeezzzzing cold (I had seven layers on. Actually.) But I bought myself a coffee instead to keep warm (and awake). It wasn't a long night, in fact the darkest it got was at about 2.30, when the moon had come up, but even then it was very light! I think the reason I didn't feel too tired was because by 4.30 the sun was up again and it already felt like 8.00! The first seventh leg finishers were about 7 am, and there were thousands of people who got up to watch it.

2.00 am

3.45 am

Just after 4 am

The first team to finish, just before 7 am

We left the event centre at around 11.30 after watching the two Umeå teams finish and took the return journey back. I must have gotten about three hours sleep on the bus, and maybe another hour on the ferry, so fair enough to say when I was back home, I was exhausted. 

Overall I think this event was amazing. It is an event everyone (in the orienteering world) talks about, and I really hope to go back to compete in it again (maybe next time for a New Zealand team!). As exhausted as I was from staying up all night, I wouldn't change any of it (except perhaps how cold it was)!

Next event: I am going to an O camp down south for a week. The only thing anyone has ever told me about the camp is how much fun it is!

#WOC2016

On Tuesday 3rd June I flew down to Gothenburg to meet up with Magnus, Lisa, Mattias, Greta and Lizzie to do a week of orienteering training in the area where the World Champs will be in 2016. We stayed for a week in Bovallstrand which is basically half way between Gothenburg and the Norwegian border. In total over six days we did five different courses on four different maps. For majority of the courses I got extremely lost and ended up skipping half the course, but I didn't mind too much as it still gave me experience for running on the type of terrain that the Swedish West coast gives you. I found it very hard to run on, especially compared to New Zealand terrain which I have run on for the past five years. Compared to the terrain in Umeå, it was quite similar, but also very different. I think I found it harder than the terrain in Umeå, mostly because I have had very little experience with it.

In all honesty I think Mattias enjoyed
 being stuffed into the birds nest...

On the day we didn't go running, we ended up at the zoo. I actually found it quite exciting - I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo!

After going to the zoo I ended up not doing much so I decided to go up to the top of one of the nearby hills. It was rocks the whole way up and had the most amazing view at the top. I really enjoyed climbing up, even though it took about two hours to get up there, enjoy the view, and get back!

It was the point in the middle (120m high), viewed from where we were staying.

Panoramas from the top

I found a rock pile at the top, so of course I added one to it

Not a bad photo considering I took it myself... 

We also ended up going to the rock carvings and had a look around there.

I managed to get a good photo of Lizzie whilst looking around the museum. 

Sunday evening we went crab fishing, which is actually quite fun! I caught about five crabs maybe, but they were far too small to eat :(
On Monday, after our last training, we dropped Lizzie and Greta back in Norway, and went for a walk over just so I could I have been to Norway!

Then it was back to Gothenburg for a night, before flying home.

This was from Gothenburg to Stockholm

This was leaving Umeå

 I really enjoy taking pictures from planes... don't know why!

While I was down south I actually missed the last week of school (but as it was the end of term I didn't miss anything important), and I was just back in Umeå in time to see the students who were in their last year of school riding around the town centre on trailers pulled by tractors (graduation is very big in Sweden and is celebrated by all the students walking out wearing their graduation hats, carrying signs with pictures of them when they were small on them).

I am now on Summer Holidays until around the 20th August (Yay!). This evening I am going to Finland to compete in Venla. I am running the third leg, in a competition with about 1200 other teams!

Silva League

From the 23-25 May was the Silva League final in Luleå. It was 3 races: a sprint, a middle and a long (the long included a chasing start for the elite grades). The sprint took place on Friday afternoon. As I hadn't been running due to shin pain, I went out with the plan of walking the course, but that kind of failed... I found the course a nice difficulty - easy but not too easy. I didn't make any mistakes but took some longer route choices that might have lost a little bit of time. Overall I placed 52 out of 60 which I was happy with considering I was jogging the course and most people were running as fast as they can!

From control 8 - 9 was a good route choice - left, right, or kind of through the middle. I think going to the left was fasted, but as shown, I went to the right. 

On Saturday was the middle distance. I went out with the knowledge that the map was very detailed, but I think I kind of just brushed that aside saying 'Oh I'll be going slowly, taking time to read the map...' I was the last starter in D16. My first few controls were great, by the second control I had caught up two of the girls who had started before me and so naturally it went to my head and I thought 'Sweet, this is easy'. I think that was when I made my first mistake. I took a terrible bearing from number four, planning to run through the open forest (white), but failing at doing so.

 After that control I slowed down slightly (mainly due to the fact I managed to stab myself on a tree branch, ending up with a decent cut on my knee...), and didn't make too bad mistakes, until number 10. I have no idea how I went so badly wrong. I passed some green forest (harder to run through) and thought I was next to the distinct boundary just above where I ran... Then I was lost. Very lost! 

Sundays race was much better. I don't think I made any mistakes, but ended up 10 minutes behind the winner (because she was soo much faster than I am!), and placed third in D16, so I was very happy!

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The beginning

As the snow has melted, I have been thinking about my first couple of days in Sweden. I arrived late on Friday 17th January to around -15 degrees. My first thoughts were: 'Wow, there really is a lot of snow here!' 

On Saturday, my first whole day in Sweden, we were out in the snow all day. Klara is part of the IFK Umeå Ski team who were helping out in the Swedish classic cross-country skiing championships (SM). I was helping at the start, writing numbers on bags for the competitors to put their clothing in. So with 12 hours of arriving, I was already testing my knowledge of Swedish numbers... I think I did ok considering! I think the temperature was around -20 degrees (but it might have only been around -15), and I was wearing at least five layers, and maybe three pairs of socks! 

We stayed out until around 4.00 in the evening (I think...) and it was so nice to go back inside where it was warm!

The next day was much the same, but we were not helping out again. It was the skate (freestyle) cross-country ski SM. It was much easier to see the races this day, as even though the start and finish were in the same area it was hard to watch the races while concentrating

on understanding Swedish accents!

It was a shorter day on Sunday, as the races were only 3-4 minutes long (where as Saturdays races were over 30 minutes), and the mass start finals were finishing just after lunchtime. 

Ice inside a tunnel

I had a great start to my exchange, meeting new people, and beginning to get used to what it was like. One thing that I found very different to life at home apart from the snow, was how it got dark just after 3.00! 

10Mila!

Finally managed to put my route together from 10Mila! Last Friday we flew down to Arlanda and drove for three hours from there down to Mjölby which is a beautiful little town. We stayed overnight there, and the next day drove the rest of the way to Eksjö where the event was. 

Mjölby 

For those of you who aren't orienteer's, 10Mila is a pretty big relay event in Sweden. Women's teams are made up of five runners, and men's teams are made up of 10 runners. I was fourth runner for Umeå OK's second team. I think we placed around 200th but I am not entirely sure (there was over 300 teams :). My run was a pretty clean run, with only one mistake, I think I lost around 3-4 minutes from a terrible compass bearing (control 2)! Other than that though, I was just running slowly. 

This is not what our maps were like... This is only the middle part of the map that my course covers. It shows you how many controls there were!

The Umeå OK first team did very well. They placed around 60th! This is both teams, in the order we ran in. 

I have heard that the mass start of 10Mila was crazy, but to actually experience it is amazing! I didn't manage to get any photos from the men's start which was even bigger, but this was the women's mass start.

I didn't stay up to watch all the men's relay. I would have liked to but I was too tired. Next day we drive back up to Stockholm via an orienteering event. It took until the fifth control for me to warm up but then we only had four controls left so it wasn't a great race! The flight from Stockholm was just before 11pm so we had a nice late night before school the next day!

I am now resting as much as I can as my shins have started hurting again... I have been told that once you get shin splints they don't ever go away for good... I hope that isn't actually true!