Ski WOC - Day 1

On our way to the opening ceremony

Hello! We are now in Tanndalen, Sweden, for the ski orienteering world championships. We arrived on Saturday and settled into a nice cabin that we are sharing with the two men from Canada - Robbie and Nick. We tried out the model map on Monday and found it pretty steep and a bit scary on the downhills.

Our Trondheim clubmates from Wing - representing three countries at ski-WOC!

On Monday evening all the countries gathered for the opening ceremony in chilly windy conditions. Tuesday morning came and it was time for event 1 - the sprint race. We had to be in a 'quarantine zone' by 10 am, so we couldn't see where competitors ahead of us were going. I started at 10.22 and made my way very carefully around the course - I decided this was the best tactic for me to avoid making any huge mistakes.

I got pretty confused coming into the arena, there were distracting people, bridges and extra little map box thingees. Eventually I sorted out my brain and found the final 3 controls into the finish - and I was well off last in the results! Just as I was finishing the weather changed from nice and sunny to a snow storm.

Chris came in about 30 minutes later (the men started after the women) in a respectable time, but he made a 4 minute mistake going to the wrong control during the snow storm. Typical Chris, he was super excited by the race and also really annoyed by his mistake, so now he is totally excited about the next race.

There is supposed to be deteriorating weather tommorrow for the middle distance so that could make things interesting. Now everyone is in the waxing room trying to get the fastest glide in the fresh powder (-: Yesterday Chris managed to charm the Norwegian smør-chefs into waxing our skis, maybe he will work his magic again today. I will keep you posted with the outcome of tomorrow's event, so stay tuned!

Fun and games in the waxing room - some countries waxing areas look more like ski shops to me!


Comments

HeleneSuzanne said…
Soooo good Em! I'm really excited to see the pictures and map - can't wait to join the fun! But we really want to see a picture of team NZL in your sexy ski dresses! Good luck in the middle! xx
March 22, 2011 at 12:29 PM
Alastair Brunton said…
Go Kiwis! Go emily, go chris! Yo guys are shit fast! Good luck.
March 22, 2011 at 1:55 PM
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