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!

Uppsala Möte

So I just got back from another weekend of orienteering in Uppsala. I  went down on the train on Friday afternoon with a group of 18 and arrived just after 9. Saturday was the first of two events, it was a middle distance. I was very happy with my run. It was the first half decent run I have had since arriving in Sweden and I came 4th out of 24! I think I only lost around 2 and a half minutes in total (on controls 8 and 10), but this moved me from second down to fourth.

 I think I really need to focus on my running. Even though I am still recovering from injury, I felt like my running was extremely slow because I am not particularly fit right now.

After the race I went into Uppsala with Alistair Landels and his family, and Matt Ogden. It was very nice to talk to some familiar faces!

Sundays race was about 10 times worse than Saturdays. I was having a great race for the first four controls. I had caught up to the girl who started just before me on the second control, and was coming second overall... until control 5. I had a great route choice most of the way to the fifth control, until I got to the control circle. When I left the path my bearing was off (non-existent more like...!) and I ended up... well... Evidently I was focusing too much on the girl who was running just behind me and not enough on the map. Next to the control is a big marsh, and because it was green I thought that meant a different type of vegetation (I didn't look at it closely enough...), so when I first saw the control I though 'No, that can't be mine, it doesn't look right'... but obviously I was wrong! I lost nearly 5 minutes on that control! And then after messing one control up, I messed up the next one (as you do). I left the control thinking I was running in more of a south direction than I was. I crossed a river that was in the marsh and thought I was near the control. I saw the girl who had passed me on control 5 and thought 'Yus, I obviously didn't make too much of a mistake' (lol) and decided to follow her. I realised quite quickly that she had already found control 6... Well  I figured that out when she took me to the seventh control! So I took a 'bearing' back towards number 6.... although I think it was more of a mental bearing just retracing my steps. And then I was lost. I didn't want to go back to the 7th control to take another bearing, so I just waited for someone run past me and asked for help. And then, after 10 minutes wasted looking in the wrong place and being so close to ripping up my map and giving up, I found it. Thank goodness! I even managed to tell someone else where their control was (which feels really good after being lost for so long...!), and managed to get an  equal fastest time to control 7! 

I ended up 15th out of 21 finishers... How I didn't come last I don't really know!

The journey back to Umeå wasn't particularly eventful, although I managed to introduce some of the group I was travelling with to catching features! 

The next event I am doing is this coming weekend. I will fly down south to Småland for 10 Mila which I am definitely looking forward to!

Påsk!

Easter! Yay! We had a one week holiday that started on the 14th. To start the holiday Klara, Vega, Freja, Tove and I had a Paltfest - yum! Most of you probably haven't heard of palt before... it is made out of potato and flour, is very dense, and vaguely resembles a dumpling! They are very filling and yummy and just really good!

Stolen from Klara's blog.

Most of the week I just stayed at home not doing much, until the weekend. Magnus came up from Stockholm and it was nice to get to know him. Friday afternoon we went to Klara's cousins house to celebrate their daughters 2nd birthday.

Saturday morning we went skiing (last ski of the season :( ), and Saturday evening we went to Mikael's Mum's house in Robertsfors for dinner. On the way up to Robertsfors we stopped at the summer house and had a snowball fight with the little snow that was left, and I made a

little snowman!

Sunday lunch we had lunch in the woods near Sävar with most of Helena's side of the family. Toasted sandwiches - Yum!

Monday we had orienteering on an extremely fun map. It was great terrain and good fun to run through. I made only two mistakes but it lost me about 5 minutes in total! Going to control 4 I think I had started to run towards the sand and was a bit too far to turn back without going through private property when I realised. Not really sure what I did to number 7!

I came 19th out of 52 overall so I was quite pleased!

And to wrap up an epic holiday I received a parcel from England containing some chocolates and Flying saucers, YUM!! Thanks Grandma!