Yesterday evening I went along to a training session of our local orienteering club – Heming/NjÃ¥rd O-Lag. The training session was held on the 1:5,000 map of the area surrounding Rikshospitalet, just 10 minutes run from home and conveniently also the area to be used for the first Oslo Cup race next Tuesday. The club is relatively small but has a strong junior section, particularly in the girls. There are no elite men and the older members seem happy devoting their time to training the younger club members. Tonight was mass start/relay training and consequently I found myself lined up for a race alongside the club’s finest.
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Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category
O-Training
Friday, April 4th, 2008Sognsvann Rundt Medsols
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008Thanks to the Coombses who, as well as being very hospitable, have acted as our unofficial guides to outdoor activities in Oslo, I found myself lining up with about 90 other runners on the shore of Sognsvann for the second Sognsvann Rundt Medsols of the year on Wednesday evening. This is a weekly race taking place until the end of October which, as the name probably suggests, follows the pretty flat 3.5km trail around the edge of Sognsvann. You have the choice of running 1, 2 or 3 laps with most people opting for just one (as did I).
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More snowy capers
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008Just a half
Monday, March 17th, 2008In order to complicate our departure from the UK as much as possible we headed over to the Forest of Dean this weekend to meet up with my mother-in-law’s family for their (almost) annual assault on the trails half marathon. Pre-race preparation wasn’t ideal with Emma screaming her head off for 90 minutes or so in the middle of the Saturday night (perhaps something to do with not getting fed in the night as of the last few days). This wasn’t conducive to getting up early for that vital pre-race breakfast. The conditions weren’t all that great either. It seemed not to have stopped raining for the proceeding 24 hours although it did finally let up about half way round the course.
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Cross country skiing for beginners
Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
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Look on the bright side of life
Friday, February 29th, 2008One advantage of it having taken quite so long to get out to Norway is that we don’t have to experience the bleak mid-winter. The shortest day is around Christmas at just under six hours but, even though we’re only at the end of February, daylight hours in Oslo are now only half an hour shorter than those in London. In another three weeks we’ll have more daylight here. Come mid-summer there’s nearly 19 hours of daylight in the capital. Christine’s thinking of running the Midnight Sun Marathon in which case we’ll get to see the full 24 hours in Tromsø.
Contour confusion
Monday, February 25th, 2008Shockingly I found myself orienteering again on Sunday. That’s twice in one week. What’s the world coming to?! We were visiting Christine’s parents in Monmouth, partly to say goodbye before departing these shores and partly so Christine could attend at least part of her sister-in-law to-be’s hen weekend. Christine’s parents then graciously offered to look after Emma whilst we nipped off up the road to the NGOC event at Knockalls Enclosure.
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Orienteering at Ocknell
Thursday, February 21st, 2008Yesterday I sneaked out for a couple of hours in the afternoon to go to the Army orienteering at Ocknell. I didn’t really have my head in gear at the start. Having had to go back to the car to pick up my compass I then failed to use it on the way to the first control and paid the price. I wasted four minutes circling around the depression where the control lay. This delay meant that I then had Mark Saunders on my shoulder, pushing me on until, at number 12, I went too far right. He spotted this but overcompensated. Unfortunately he corrected more quickly. I wasted another two minutes and only caught glimpses of Mark in the distance in the last part of the course. My legs were starting to tire at this point from the strength sapping mud. Without those mistakes it would have been a great result, with them, mediocre. If, by any chance, I learn to navigate whilst in Norway then I might just be dangerous! The worst part? Making up the time by working in the evening!
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