World cup in Bulgaria

We arrived Uzana late yesterday evening after a 15 hours travel, via Prague and Bucharest. The hotel is situated in the middle of the competition area and we can train in a model event terrain, 15 minutes drive from here.

The competition terrain is pretty hilly, with steep slopes, partly open areas as well as mixed forest (See old map from the area underneath). It is plus degrees and foggy at the moment, but the weather forecast predicts colder weather the coming days.

Program:

2.feb: Sprint

3.feb: Long distance, mass start

4.feb: Rest day

5. feb: Middle distance

6. feb: Mixed-sprint relay

You can follow the competitions at the official web page here: WC Uzana.

XC skiing: 7th place in the Norwegian championships relay

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I got a good finish on the XC Norwegian championship relay (3*5 km), with a seventh place, 2 min behind winning team Heming. I skied the last leg, and skied from the 13th to the 7th position on the 6th best time, 40 sec behind the best time of Astrid Urenholt Jacobsen. Kjersti Bø skied the first leg, Magnhild Roe the second.
Results can be fond here: results NM Stokke.

Selected for World cup in Bulgaria and Romania

After the Norwegian championships I got selected for both the world cup round in Bulgaria and Romania. I am really motivated for these competitions, after a disappointing start of the world cup season. After a hard competition period the last 14 days, I will train easy this week. (Picture from the Norwegian championships taken by Ivar Gilså)

Selections Bulgaria:

Women:
Marte Reenaas, Wing OK
Maren Haverstad, Lierbygda OL (middle distance and relay)
Barbro Kvåle, Hadeland OL (middle distance and relay)

Men:
Hans Jørgen Kvåle, Hadeland OL
Lars Moholdt, Wing OK
Eivind Tonna, Lillomarka OL
Øyvind Watterdal, Tønsberg og omegn

Selections Romania:

Women:
Marte Reenaas, Wing

Men:
Sindre Haverstad, Lierbygda
Hans Jørgen Kvåle, Hadeland
Lars Moholdt, Wing
Ove Sætra, Asker
Eivind Tonna, Lillomarka
Øyvind Watterdal, Tønsberg

One weekend, two championships

This weekend I am skiing both the national championships in cross-country skiing and part two in ski-orienteering. So far, two bad and one good race. This is the end of a hard competition period and I feel a bit tired, specially in the cross-country races. I had no ambitions in the cross-country championships this year, as I only skied one 10 km this season (in November) and that the sprint was held in classic style. However finishing as number 28 on 10 km skating, loosing 4 minutes to the winner Marit Bjørgen and more than 3 minutes to the podium, was still a bit disappointing. With a good race I should have been able to ski 1.30-2.00 min faster. I entered the classic sprint for the fun of it, but my kick wax did not give me the proper grip up the steep hill, I lost too much time and I did not qualify for the finals.

Norwegian championships cross-country skiing: Results.

Saturday I travelled to Asker to ski the middle distance norwegian ski-o championships. I skied a good o-technically race and won the competition in front of Stine Kirkevik and Barbro Kvaale. Christian skied his first competition this year, his back and a tough cold has kept him from competing so far this winter. He skied a pretty good race and finished as number 14, an ok results right now.

Norwegian championships middle distance: Women, Men.

To morrow I will ski the cross-country relay, the third leg for Strindheim IL.

Challenging long distance and World Cup best 2010

To days long distance was maybe the most challenging o-technical long distance I have ever skied. 1:12500 map and a very dense network of tracks made both the route choices and map reading it self very challenging. I had high hopes before the start, but as soon as I saw the course I realised that to days race would be a very challenging race for me. Maybe my respect was to high, anyway I skied too slow the first round, focusing on the map being to passive. After this my race improved round by round, I did some bad route choices and two 30 sec mistakes in the end of the second round. Natalia Tomilova skied an amasing race, and won nearly six min in front of number 2. I did my best result so far this World Cup season, finishing as number 5, but 7 min behind Tomilova.

All in all, the first world cup round has been disappointing. I had much higher hopes than what I could perform here in St.Petersburg and really hope to improve my performances the next world cup rounds. I am really looking forward to the next rounds. (Picture: Sindre Haverstad)

Results: Long distance

Disappointing World Cup start

The first world cup round has so far been a big disappointment. The middle distance mass start was a disaster, I did a mistake already to the first control, had problems to pass skiers to advance in the field, got really stressed and later did a major mistake on the second round (3-4 min!). It is embarrassing to ski like this in the world cup and I just want to forget the whole race. Winner was Natalia Tomilova from Russia. Results: Middle distance.

The sprint to day (Saturday) was much better, I had to start early due to my bad result Friday, but skied pretty well, to slow in the beginning then faster, with no other mistakes than passing a crossing in to high speed, so that I had to turn (I guess 15 sec). I finished as number 8th, 29 sec behind winner Olga Novikova and 15 sec behind the podium. Although my hopes were higher for these individual competitions I am really happy to be back orienteering technically.

In the afternoon sprint relay was on the program, I skied with Marianne Mellby Larsen. We finished as fifth team, 1 min 20 sec behind the winning team, Sweden I. We each skied three legs of approximately 7 minutes. Both of us did pretty well and I think this was an optimal result for our team, so we are happy about the result. Sprint relay is new in the world cup this year, and as I see it a success. It was great fun, high speed and action all the way. Results: Sprint relay.

I will try to keep the good feeling and flow from to days race and prepare well for the long distance. It is embarrassing to open the world cup like this, and I really hope to do a much better race monday.

First world cup round in St.Petersburg

15th-18th of january the first WC round in Ski-orienteering will be housted in St. Petersburg. It is always some extra excitement connected to the first round, internationally we meet for the first time this year and the competitions will show the strengths of the different skiers. I am really lookning forward to the competitions beliving in my training this summer and hoping for good results. The russians are, however, always strong in Russia and togheter with some other women they will give me a really tough fight. The official web page for the competitions can be found here: WC Russia.

"Golden girl in the mens relay"

A girl in the mens relay is rare, and especially when she wins a gold medal. My team got some extra publicity because of  this, read Aftenpostens story: "Her er gulljenta i herrestafetten".

Two times Norwegian champion!

This weekend I won two gold medals in the Norwegian championship, long distance and mens relay (!).

The long distance saturday was challenging and hard, and I won 2.39 in front of Tove Alexandersson( SWE junior (impressive!)) and Stine Kirkevik. Stine Kirkevik won the silver medal and Marianne Andersen the bronze medal (Picture by Reidun Hallan). Marianne keeps on impressing me in ski-orienteering! See map and my route choices here: Route gadget (choose D21) and results here: Results NM. Great course, terrain and tracks and beautiful winter weather, -8C and sunshine.

Sunday was a totally new, challenging experience for me, as I skied in the mens relay. It was very challenging to ski with the men, they ski faster and tougher and I had to ski at my limit all the way. A tough, but great experience. Øystein Kvaal Østerbø did a good job on the first leg and came in as number two 44 second behind Hans Jørgen Kvaale, Hadeland, and 3 seconds in front of Rasmus Korvald Skaare, Lillomarka. I was soon together with Jonas Juveli, Lillomarka, and we passed Hadeland OL towards the second control. I had a great advantage of skiing behind him controlling the orienteering, specially in the downhills it is much easier following behind. Most of the course we had the same controls, but I had to give him 30 sek in the long hard uphill towards the end. I changed over to Lars Moholt as number two, 30 sek behind Lillomarka. Lars skied a good leg and came to the finish line as number one! Results can be found here: Results NM Relay Men.

"Kongepokal"

Today Marte won the norwegian longdistance-championships in Trysil and won the "kongepokal" (kings cup).

Se results here

A rapport with more information will come later.

Winter adventure in Lier

This weekend I skied Norwegian cup middle distance and a regional sprint relay in Lier. Lots of fresh powder snow, cold weather and sunshine made the weekend a winter adventure. It was physically very hard with soft tracks and steep hills (see map of part 1 of the middle distance underneath). I did two very good o-technically races and feel much stronger than at Lygna. I won the middle distance saturday in front of Stine Kirkevik and foot orienteerer Marianne Andersen(!). Read Mariannes report from the competition at her webpage (in Norwegian): marianne-andersen.com. Sunday I skied with Ingvild Gjessing and we won the sprint relay in front of Konnerud IL.
Results from the NC competition can be found here: Lierbygda OL.
And really good photos from the competitions, taken by Ivar Gilså, can be found here (Ivar has also taken the picure abow): Photos Ivar Gilså