4th at the Norwegian championship xc skiing

This weekend, as a last preparation for the ski EOC I skied two competitions in the Norwegian championships in cross country skiing, sprint and relay. In the relay my team, Strindheim IL with Sigrid Aas, Silvana Bucher and me, finished 4th. Heming won the relay in front of Varden and Henning. We were hoping to fight for a medal, but got distanced with 50 sek on the first leg, so it was a tough fight to try get back to the lead. Sigrid had a tough day in the track and changed over at a 16 th place, I skied us up to a fifth place on the second leg and Silvana climed to the fourth place on the third leg. I changed over at the same time at Kristin Størmer Steira and it was good to have her back on the first 2 km where we picked almost 10 teams. It was also nice too feel the tempo of one of the worlds best xc-skiiers, and I decided to ski hard from the start and to use her back as long as possible. I feel strong at the moment, but had to give her some meters in the last climbs. Skiing alone it was tough to keep the same speed and I lost half a minute in the end of my leg. Silvana did a good race and lost only 30 sek to Astrid U Jakobsen that skied the fastest time of the day.

The sprint friday was ok, and I finished as number 19th, but I had much higher goals, to get to the semi finals and try to improve my 8th place from the last championships. However, as I did no cross-country specific training for sprint this year, I think it was ok after all. I did an ok prolog and skied on the 15th best time. In the 1/4 final I had a real bad start and came out as number 5 from the start, the front three got a gap, I passed number four and skied strong in the end, but it was not good enough and I ended as number 4 in my heat.

To day I will travel to Sjusjøen and Ski EOC. I am really looking forward to good competitions there.

Norwegian relay champions for Wing OK and Ski-EOC selection

This weekend we skied WOC/EOC selection races and the Norwegian relay championships. Christian skied really well saturday and finished on a third place 1 min behind winner our club mate Lars Hol Moholdt. After some trouble in the beginning of the season it seams like he is finally back in business. I did a few mistakes in the beginning of my race, but finished strong and took a second place 30 seconds behind winner Stine Olsen Kirekvik. See results: here. I skied the same track as H17-20, find map with gps tracking for the junior men: here:

Top three women:

1. Stine Olsen Kirkevik, 35:53

2. Marte Reenaas, 36:27

3. Hannele Tonna, 37:39

Top three men:

1. Lars Hol Moholdt, 40:30

2. Hans-Jørgen Kvåle, 40:39

3. Christian Hohl, 41:49

3. Øyvind Watterdal, 41:49

Sunday we won the Norwegian Ski-O Relay Championships (Photo: Ivar Gilså). As the third man in the relay team, Øystein Kvaal Østerbø is in Australia at the moment, I had to step in in the mens team also this year. With both Lars and Christian in great shape at the moment, and with a really good race on the short second leg for me, we managed to win also this year. Lillomarka was second, Asker third.

The organizers did a good job and had set interesting courses for us, see map from the relay below. (Map from www.opn.no)

Christian (Picture: Ivar Gilså)

Marte (Photo: Ivar Gilså)

This week both the swiss and norwegian teams for Ski EOC and Ski JWOC were selected and we will both participate in the championship.

Norwegian selections Ski-EOC: here.

Norwegian selections Ski JWOC: here.

Swiss selections Ski-EOC: here.

Map relay

Maps Ski-o tour

Middle distance, W21E

Long distance, W21E

Second win in Ski-o tour

To day I won the long distance in the ski-o tour, a physically tough, but orienteering technical good race. I still feel a bit muscular tired, but managed to push my self to the limit also to day and am really satisfied with my race. And it feels good to get the confirmation that I am on a good way to ski EOC and ski WOC. Kajsa Richardsson was second and Polina third.

Kajsa and me

Christian did an ok race to day and unlike yesterday he finished with two poles, He did not feel so strong physically to day but did a good orienteering technical race. With a clean race he is though surprised to lose so much time to the winner Staffan Tunis. However Staffan did an incredible strong race to day, and the distance up to the second and third place is not so scaring. Hopefully he can close the gap as he gets in shape for the ski EOC and ski WOC.

Wilder Kaiser, nice surroundings!

To morrow we will ski a sprint distance. The results can be found here: Ski-o tour

Marianne and Ove in our double-double bed.

Victory in Ski-o tour

I started the Ski-o tour the best possible way with a win at the first stage, a middle distance in St. Johann in Tirol. I lost some time on a cut to the fifth control, but the rest of the race was good. However, it was a really tough race for me. I am in the end of a hard training period and feel tired now, so I really had to work with my self mentally during the race. Josefin Egnstrøm and Kajsa Richardson, was second and third. (Pictures: Ivar Gilså)

Our club mate Lars Moholdt won the mens race, so a double Wing OK victory to day. Unfortunately Christian broke his pole on the eight control, but lost only six minutes with one pole. He had an ok race before the pole broke. Hopefully he will be able to finish his race with two poles tomorrow.

In +5 degrees and sunshine, we really enjoy the austrian alps and look forward to stage 2 and 3 of Ski-o tour here in St. Johann.

The results will be published here: Ski-o Tour