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Enter the Skier | General | ASI Reports | States
The Australian Worldloppet Cup Team'98
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Reports on life and Worldloppet racing
Newsletter #7 - 3rd April 1998News Flash #2 21st March 1998 Newsletter #6- 14th March 1998 Newsletter #5 - 18th February 1998 News Flash - 1st February 1998 Newsletter #3 - 26th January 1998 Newsletter #2 - 6th January 1998 Newsletter # 1 - 17th December 1997
The Major Sponsors of this venture are:
- Dawn Trading
- New South Wales Institute of Sport
- Kyosho, Radio Controlled Cars, of Japan.
- Great Planes, Model Aircraft, of the USA.
- Artisania Latina, Model Boats, of Spain.
Other supporters include:
- Merit Apparel (alias:Kurt Lance) -Peltonnen Skis, Artex Boots,
- Rottefella Bindings, Exel Poles.
- Jetset Travel @ Rose Bay (Vicky Guildon) for doing the impossible with the airlines.
- Lufthansa & Thai Airways, for giving us a fair dinkum excess baggage allowance.
- Cigana Outdoor Sportswear, at Cooma, great Activent and Fleeces.
- Kinetix Sportswear Clothing from Cobargo who made our Race and warm up gear..
- Warren Hughes, of Paddy Pallins Miranda.
- Bede McCosker at Snowy Camping World, Cooma.
And all those who have helped with little bits of information, connections, etc.
Newsletter # 1 - Let it all begin
17th December 1997
What is the Australian Worldloppet Cup Team ?
Well, after Mick Brennan decided to do some mutilation to his Cruciate ligaments, the team is Camille Melvey (athlete), Jenny Sullivan (manager) and Mick Sullivan (coach). The aim; to go where no other sane humans have skied before, beyond the 42km mark. A realm full of Vortexes and Black Holes where humans struggle with glycogen depletion and wax that never seems to last the distance. Where each event begins with the equivalent of a World Cup Soccer match, just to get over the starting line.
At the time of writing this we are spread around the hut recovering from our longest ski to date. Today we skied 4.5 hrs in one hit from Sjusjoen to Hornsjo and return. Superb trails and a clear, calm day, though the sun never really gets very high in the sky being so far north.
We departed Oz on the 7th December and flew to Oslo via Bangkok and Copenhagen. We did not stop until we got to Lillehammer where trusty Ove picked us up in his antique Renault. So there we were sliding around Lillehammer in his tiny car, 4 adults, 2 ski bags, 3 packs, 1 duffle bag, 1 Guitar, 3 day packs and 1 computer bag.The car couldn't make it up the first big hill with the tyres slipping, so Ove reversed back round the corner and took the alternate route with less incline. We made it.
Ove Nielsen is a story on his own, but I will fill you in a little on him so you know why he is special to the team. He is ancient@77years.old.no that is not his E mail address. Ove as a youth was a prisoner of the Gestapo in the closing months of WW2. He was in the Danish underground. Just surviving that he took to rowing and won the European doubles several times and went to the Olympics in Helsinki. He is fit as a fiddle, is a true Vegetarian and does not look a day over 50. The guest house he runs was the Gestapo headquarters for Lillehammer (strange twist) and the rooms we stay in were the old cells,(there are no bars now). Ove kindly looks after our gear between visits to Europe. When the Olympics were in Lillehammer, he decided to thumb his nose at the commercialism and greed of the locals who were hiking the prices for accommodation and services sky high. He opened up his guest house at Olympic time and said that from the lighting of the Olympic flame in Lillehammer until the closing ceremony, no money would be made on his property. So some 150 people were accommodated for free to savour the true Olympic spirit. He is special !!
The first six days we stayed in Lillehammer and sorted out the logistics and gear for the next stage. We skied most days at Nordseter or at Sjusjoen, the bus stops outside our door and it is about 45mins to this, the best skiing in Norway. The snow up there was great and it was terribly unpleasant having to ski on stick waxes after a life on klisters, wish it would rain or something.
On Sunday the 14th we moved to Sjusjoen to stay on snow as it was time to increase the training hours now we have acclimatised. We suffered prolonged jet lag, mainly sleepiness, and we put this down to having too relaxed a schedule for the first few days. We should have forced the body clock to adapt a little faster.
At Sjusjoen this week we have skied our butts off. The place is a picture postcard with lots of snow, little cabins dotted among the stunted pines, and along the shores of frozen lakes. Groomed trails run like spider webs in a variety of terrains. There are 300kms of trails. Awesome !! It's hard not to like a place where fresh Red Salmon is half the price of minced Beef.
Guess what is for dinner, ummmurrrrr, smells good. Pistol Pete was around for dinner two nights ago and is trying for selection to Nagano on the New Zealand team. Both he and Chris Rolfe have a challenge ahead to make the sub 100FIS points required.
When this week is finished we may move on towards Sweden for a week or so. In mid January we shift gears and start the Worldloppet Cup circuit in Italy after a warm up for Camille in some Scandinavian Cup and Alpen Cup track events. Camille is fighting fit and training well, dont get in her way.
Some technical details on our communication system for those interested: We have a Digital notebook connected to a Nokia 3810 digital phone. The two are linked with the new Smart Suite package which is a simple serial cable and some Modem simulating software. It did have some bugs to eliminate at first, but it is working well now. From the setup we can access the Net and send Faxes, it is possible to receive faxes though we have yet to test this and we need to know that one is coming so we can hook up the equip and have it running.
We would love to receive E Mail as well. Please do not send lots of hefty attachments, such as pictures, as they take ages to download, especially at our maximum 9800bit rate.
Cheers From
Slippery Mick, Jenny and Camille
Newsletter #2 - Trolls on Tour in Norway6th January 1998
Hello one and all and wishing everyone a peaceful and prosperous year ahead.
After our last newsletter we spent a week in Lillehammer, skiing at Nordseter, the Birkebeiner Stadium and at Pellestova. We had a white Christmas in Norway, with snow falling all day and making it pretty as a Christmas card.
One evening after we reduced the profits at the local Lillehammer Pizza Buffet with our German companions, we strolled home past the ice rink. Camille saw some Bellevue occupants having a casual Hockey match, next thing we knew she was in centre ring with a hockey stick giving them a run for their money. Run literally, in her Nike's, running and sliding on the snow covered ice. Eventually she was given a pair of skates and it was on.
Camille took possession of the puk and did not pass it to anyone for some time, eventually she decided that it was fun to have others involved and then the serious game began. We left her to it knowing that any suggestion of going home would fall on ears deafened by the adrenaline rush she was having. The next day we heard that running for training is boring, ice hockey would be heaps more fun! There have been quite a lot of Hamburgers staying at Bellevue (the German student type, not the Macdonald's type) and its been fun having their company.
The prices in accommodation in Norway trebles at Xmas time so we bid a hasty retreat back to Ove at Bellevue, who does not believe in such seasonal madness. One day Ove took us for a guided tour of Lillehammer in the Renault. First was Maihaugen, a museum built for the Olympics and very interesting, where all the displays are walk-through reconstructions of life then, and now. It included a large section on recent history during WW2, and on into the seventies including cars ( a Renault of course). Outside there is a whole town of buildings moved from other parts of Norway, and one of the first trains that used to come up from Oslo. Ove's cure for the world is vegetarianism, and he is currently printing leaflets to that effect, he gave us one each but they're only in Norwegian.
Then Ove took us to the local saloon to talk about moose, deer and elk hunting, did you realise that there is only one recorded case of a human being eaten by wolves, and that was in the 15th century. Now that's reassuring news don't you think. Speaking of animals, Mick's answer to meeting a bear is to curl up in a ball on the ground because it won't attack anything smaller than it?? Fortunately the squirrels are friendly and the Mosses stay off the roads, so we've been fine so far.
We went to see the latest James Bond movie with 'Pistol' Pete Moysey, ie: half of the New Zealand team. James Bond was its usual smash, crash, bash, and kiss the girls movie. The female agent (there always is one) was a karate fighter and Camille got swept up in it all and was doing karate kicks all the way back to Bellevue.
When Peter Moysey came around one evening for dinner, he was telling us the latest on the new Salomon system, it has two attachments on the skate boot, very secure! Camille could be seen getting restless, then she swung into a 20min demo with boots and skis, on the merits of the Artex and Roterfella combination. Kurt Lance would have been proud to have the demo at a Ski industry trade show.
We have just returned from a small place in Sweden called Asarna. Its a small town south of Ostersund. We wondered why it wasn't signposted very well; it only has 400 residents. Some of the residents are memorable though, like those two famous cross-country skiers Thomas Wassberg who sets the trails, and Torgny Morgren who lives just outside of town.
Mick and Camille were skiing around one avo and while studying a course map were approached by a guy on a skidoo. He stopped for a chat and Mick recognising the figure said you must be Thomas, Camille arriving rapidly asked "Thomas Who?" After he replied and she shook his hand Camille skied around starry eyed for the rest of the arvo. She said to Thomas "I like your Double Poling". He certainly was a hero a few years ago and developed a distinct double pole technique which is widely used now.
We were staying in a little 'cottage' in the back yard of a nice 'young' old lady named Astrid. She is over 80, and lives across the way from her mother who is 104. It must be something in the air or water that makes them so spry around here. We reached here on Tuesday in a hired car, it took 8 solid hours, and shows how big these countries are. I am told if you swing Norway around the axis of Oslo 180 degrees, it reaches as far as Italy.
Anyway 8 hours was more than enough time to remember how to drive on the other side of the road again, and stop turning the windscreen wipers on every time we turned a corner. Its been snowing for over a week now in Scandinavia, and we must have had a foot or more of the light fluffy stuff. Even though Asarna is small its well set up for skiing, with some challenging courses, a ski stadium, and a nice 4 km loop floodlit at night. Its magic sailing through the pines after dark (that's after 4pm).
The events were tough for all categories, the Swedes put every hill they could find into the course and thus allowed the Norwegians to dominate (Norgies like hills!) the mens events. We were glad to be spectators and Camille had a challenging time on the course. As we did not go in pursuit of times or results they are not mentioned and Camille can continue her training with a few valuable points to work on in her development. Anthony Evans and Finn Marsland were there in the competitions and Jessica Hart was there training and assisting Christer and the boys in their event.
We are now back in Lillehammer after the races on the weekend. We have a busy schedule to prepare for our venture into the Worldloppet Cup circuit, we depart next week and won't return to our Lillehammer base until mid March.
Take care and we'll e-mail again later with more news etc.
Jenny, Mick, and Camille.
Newsletter #3 - From Bavaria26th January 1998
Hi Everyone
Our E Mail address until late April 98 is: teamwlc@compuserve.com
HI to all, hope the New Year includes lots of happiness for everyone. We are travelling now, after leaving Lillehammer. It was a bit hard to leave as we knew the snow in Europe wasn't as good. We had a bit of a snow chase for the first week, when our original race in the Black Forest of Germany was cancelled. We spent a few days in the Goms area of Switzerland where the skiing was great, though very flat. Now we understand that all those Swiss banks are full of tourist dollars, and after a few days emptying the wallet we headed to Itlay. There we found a fantastic place called Alpe di Suisi. Its in the Dolomites, and 'spectacular' describes the setting. The ski trails wind amongst the craggy mountain tops, to places I thought only mountaineers went. It looked like fantastic downhill skiing too, with the gondolas and lifts sometimes going to the top of the peaks. At 2000mt the trails have heaps of snow and the air was thin enough to be noticed, the Norwegian Juniors were there getting ready for the World Juniors the following week. We did lots of long slow distance training while we were up there.
Back to Italy for a quick look around the old town of Bolzano on our way to Moena, where the Marcialonga race starts. We had a nice apartment very close to everything and cooked for ourselves. The race is 70kms skating, and being excitable Italians there were some interesting moments. The race course runs along two valleys and through the main street of several towns. There was little snow in some places so the course was 'constructed' from man made snow and moved in by truck. This was a major operation, with over 30 kms of trail to lay down. The trail also had quite a lot of rocks in it, some the size of cricket balls, and Mick and Camille used their older skis. Camille had a bit of a scrum with an Italian man who fell on top of her after she hit the ice and crashed into the padded fence in Moena. A few words were exchanged and when Camille could not convince him with words she found the elbows more effective, the spectators were well entertained.
I should mention our " trip". For a rest day in the week before the race we all headed for Rome. It was a big day but we saw lots, like St Peters Basicilica, truely awesome, and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which was painted by Michelangelo. He was such a fantastic artist that each figure looked like a statue in 3D, and he did it all in semi darkness, up close so he couldn't stand back, because he was laying on a scaffold several floors up. We went to many other places including the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, etc, and ate pizza and gelato for lunch (when in Rome.....). There were some pretty big crowds at the sights, most of them of Asian origins. Summer must be huge.
Back at the Marcialonga, both Mick and Camille went well, improving on their times from last year by around 30 minutes each. The winning man was Micheal Botvinov again. He is a legend and thats two Alfa Romeo sports cars that he has won in two years (yes, thats the prize). He finished in 2hrs 28 :31. Second was Juan Jesus Gutierez of Spain, and third was Faustina Bordiga of Italy. Its interesting to note there was another Spanish skier in the top 10, not bad for a country usually unheard of in results lists until recently. For those that know Daniel Kouzman (Russia) he came a creditable 79th in about 2:50:00. Mick was 400 overall in 3:17:00.
Women's results;
1. Guidina Al Sasso (Itlay) 2:48:43
2. Nadeshda Slesareva (Russia)
3. Maria Canens Binaldi (Itlay).
?. Camille did it in 3:23:49.Mick was hanging around behind Camille for the first 20km observing, then she pulled into the same feed station that she stopped at last year. That was the last Mick saw of her for the race, he was not feeling like a meal break at that stage. It was a fast event with the strong skiers Single Dancing 90-95% of the course.
Meanwhile Jenny spent an enjoyable time fraternising with the locals on street corners, watching the skiers go by. The local women were out in force to watch, and they were especially excited about bib no. 1166, which was the young Prince of Sweden.
Well now we are in Oberammergau in Germany for the Konig Ludwig race on Sunday. The skiing is good here for classical, being mostly flat. The race goes past an old castle, the "Schloss" Linderhof, and we skied out there today for a look. It's very cold here being in the bottom of the valley, about minus 15C or colder, and clear. Oberammergau is blessed to have one of the best swimming complexes around, complete with indoor/outdoor hot pools, Olympic pool and a 120m waterslide. For those who know him Nick Bendelli is here, as well as Hans and Bev from Maranatha ski club. It's great to talk Aussie again.
We will be out of e-mail range while we are in Japan and Canada, that's 2/2/98 to 17/2/98, as this computer runs on 240V, and J and C are 110V. Thanks to all those who have sent us e-mail from home its great to hear from you and keep sending if you have time. If you want to send us mail soon then we will clear the box on Monday evening before departing to Japan.
Our Mobile number follows, but we must ask that it is for receiving important calls only as we pay the cost for the Australia to Europe component and it is loaded with surcharges. The number is 0418210607.
Cheers From
Jenny, Mick and Camille
News FlashFebruary 1 1998
From: AUSTRALIAN WORLDLOPPET TEAM
Camille Melvey had a great race in the Konig Ludwig lauf. 4th overall in the Womens ! That was achieved against a strong field beating some strong competitors such as Ulla Pelli who second overall in the WLC in 1997. Camille set a steady pace from go and tailed Gudrung Pfluger the winner of the 1997 Cup for much of the event.
Mick and Jenny Sullivan
1998 KONIG LUDWIG LAUF 55KM CLASSIC
NAME TIME 1.ALINA GREGOREVA RUS 1 2:49:53 2.DOROTA DZIADKOWIEC POL 2 2:54:38 3.GUDRUN PFLUGER AUT 3 2:55:30 4.CAMILLE MELVEY AUS 4 2:57:50 5.ULLA PELLI FIN 5 3:01:00 6.BEATRICE GRUENENFELDER SUI 6 3:04:00 7.NATALIA ELMANOVA RUS 7 3:04:56 8.HELENA JINDOROVA CZ 8 3:06:21 9.MUFFY RITZ USA 9 3:11:07 1.STEFFAN LARSON SWE 2:19:05 185.SULLIVAN MICK AUS 3:07:50
Newsletter # 5 - To Japan and Canada and onwards18th February 1998
Hi Everyone
A lot has happened since our last communication from Germany. We have circumnavigated the world taking in events in Japan and Canada along the way.
After Oberammergau we spent a night in Frankfurt, a very cosmopolitan city, and very multicultural. An interesting place to watch from our fortress like pension window, which was two floors up overlooking the prime red light street in Frankfurt. Hawkers try to grab passing gents and usher them into the numerous parlor's along the street. The girls who are not busy with customers loiter in the doorways clad in their fur coats seeking prospective clients. One very sleazy place opposite must have been as bad on the inside as it was on the outside, every guy lured into the doorway would only look inside and stay 5 seconds maximum. What surprised us was that the strip bars and the sleaze shop across the road were open early next morning for the pre work clients. Generally Germany is a neat, precise and organised culture, though it is still human underneath the makeup.
Next came a long haul on Lufthansa to "Japan". When we arrived in Tokyo the airport was in a buzz, Nagano was looming and all the teams we flying in, the Norwegian, Italian, German, Finnish and British teams, yes there was Stephanie Bellmondo, Erling Jevne, etc, etc. We spent quite some time watching the teams being interviewed by TV cameras as we waited for Camille who was right behind us as we came through customs. Where is Camille? after quite a bit of searching she appeared. She had been directed to the quarantine area at customs, because she was carrying fruit. The official said she could not bring the fruit in to Japan so Camille stood and ate all three oranges (slowly) before coming through. In Tokyo we had a 10 hour wait for our connection, so hopped on the train and spent a few hours in Tokyo city, at the Imperial palace gardens. There we could relax in the tranquil setting, neat manicured gardens, old fort walls, moats and no traffic or noise.
In Sapporo we were met by two of our Japanese hosts, and taken via our hotel to a marvellous Japanese dinner. We kept awake somehow through the next few hours of sushi, salad, and tempura, until we crawled into our beds at midnight. Mick and I have adventurous tastes but we were astounded with Camille's openness to new foods that evening, she seemed partial to the raw octopus sashimi and the raw beef sushi.
Sapporo has a huge ice festival, and snow festival, which was in full swing while we were there. The main streets were crowded at night with people watching the ice sculptors at work. The Snow sculptures were in a different area and were of a bigger scale than the Ice sculptures there was an Australian entry in the international contest carved by some Aussies working in Japan. They carved a very funky looking Matilda Kangaroo.
Japan is a fast moving place and the cities like Sapporo can inflict a unique form of culture shock, Camille took it quite well but the strain was showing towards the end of the week.
The Sapporo Ski Marathon itself was quite a race. The trail is on the outskirts of Sapporo using the Sapporo Olympic venue. The day was cold (-15 to -4) and there had been light snowfalls overnight. There were several Aussies there, Curtis Bounds and Margaret, Frank Bakker and his wife Michiko, and their kids, Judy and Collin from Melbourne. It was an interesting course with many ups and downs before the flat last 5km. We all agreed the hardest part was between 38 and 43kms, when it becomes an upward roller coaster. The snow was dead slow and the uphill trails so narrow that the Japanese skiers were at a distinct advantage due to their short height and ski length. Elbert Karlson the strong Swedish competitor agreed with this and said that the locals used every tactic against the Swedes. Some results follow.
1998 SAPPORO MARATHON 50K FREESTYLE
Women's Results
Place Time Name 1 3.00.43 JAPANESE 1 JAPAN 2 3.06.05 JAPANESE 2 JAPAN 3 3.09.45 JAPANESE 3 JAPAN 4 3.10.12 JAPANESE 4 JAPAN 5 3.10.13 JAPANESE 5 JAPAN 6 3.16.02 JAPANESE 6 JAPAN 7 3.17.31 JAPANESE 7 JAPAN 8 3.33.13 JAPANESE 8 JAPAN 9 3.41.34 CAMILLE MELVEY AUSTRALIA 4.32.17 JENNY SULLIVAN AUSTRALIA 4.59.47 NEUVONEN RAIJA FINLANDMen's Results
Place Time Name 1 2.35.58 CHRISTIAN HOFFMAN AUSTRIA 2 2.41.18 *&%^$ %$#^&$# JAPAN 3 2.41.19 *&%^$ %$#^&$# JAPAN 4 2.41.58 *&%^$ %$#^&$# JAPAN 5 2.42.29 HÅKAN WESTIN SWEDEN 6 2.45.37 VITALY CHERNOV RUSSIA 7 2.47.10 ELBERT KARLSSON SWEDEN 34 3.22.36 MICHAEL SULLIVAN AUSTRALIAJapan will be remembered for the Ice Festival, for selling the biggest apples in the world, for having more neon signs in the main street of Sapporo than in all of Australia and last but not least for the thorough Japanese hospitality. Many Thanks to the Sapporo Ski Marathon Organisers who looked after and helped us so well.
On the day after the race we continued our global movement via Tokyo, Chicago and on to Ottawa. United airlines were a pleasant surprise, when we sat down we observed that the hostesses were beyond retirement age. They sure did a thorough job though with the best service seen on a flight so far, Grey power wins!!!
In Chicago, after spending 25minutes working out how to use the ticket machine for the subway, we had a few hours downtown. It was just like in the movies, complete with skyscrapers and fog. Just riding the subway was an experience, as most stations had at least one busker in residence. The busker award for the evening went to an Afro-American who was beating up a storm on drums improvised from recycled plastic containers. He was very Good !!
In Ottawa now, a pleasantly small airport. We were met by Andrea from the Keskinada (it was almost midnight by now) and ferried to Dave McMahon and Lise Meloche's house at old Chelsea. Dave and Lise are keen skiers, and Lise competed at both Albertville and Lillehammer Olympics in Biathlon. They opened their home to us which was really nice especially after all those hotels. Unfortunately they both had huge working weeks, and Dave took off for Morocco on business the next morning. We staggered out for a ski at the trails across the road, but to be honest the travel was starting to take its toll on all of us. The Gatineau Park and surrounding areas had been hit by a huge ice storm in January, with enormous damage to most of the trees. Every Canadian we met told us about the ice storm. The trees looked like an elephant had run amok through the forest. All the trails had been covered with fallen trees. The Parkway is a closed road and its where we could ski still as it had been cleared of trees and was quite wide.
It rained on the Thursday, then Friday morning it was back down to the usual 22C below Zero. The trails were lightning fast the next day, too bad if you wanted to stop or turn though. By race day they had tenderised the trails several times and they were quite nice again. The race was fast, once it got going. The start was delayed for an hour because it was -25C that morning. Camille had a good race and came 8th in a very strong field. Mick went ballistic and came 54th in the men's. Dave Colledge from the ACT was there and came in an amazing 33rd. Dave is hanging out in Canada for three months and when we last saw him on Monday he was employed to wander the streets and malls of the city taking photos of telephone booths !
KESKINADA 1998 42KM FREESTYLE
UNOFFICIAL WOMENS RESULTS
1 1:39:20 NADEZDA SLESSAREVA RUS 2 1:41:43 GUDRUNG PFLUGER AUT 3 1:44:41 DOROTA DZIADKOWIEC POL 4 ? USA ? 5 ELENA VLADIMOVNA RUS ? 6 ? CAN ? 7 1:48:48 ULLA PELLI FIN 8 1:50:11 CAMILLE MELVEY AUS 9 1:54:14 BEATRICE GRUENFELDER SUI 34 2:30.02 JENNY SULLIVAN AUSMENS RESULTS
1 1:30:40 JEAN PARQUET CAN 2 1:30:41 NOORBERT GANNER AUT 3 1:30:41 ALOIS BLASSNIG AUT 34 1:41:00 DAVID COLLEDGE AUS/CAN? 55 1:44:02 MICK SULLIVAN AUS
We are now back on the ground in Lahti, Finland, after having completed our two week circumnavigation of the globe. The skies in Europe are crowded these days, we could see six other planes from our window yesterday morning while flying into the sunrise over London. One of these planes was on a parallel course with us for a while, and very close. Its jet stream hung in the air just above our own flight path, very spectacular. We are on the Worldloppet Cup circuit in earnest now, and starting to meet the same people again and again. As the countries pass each week it is nice to have regular contact with the others on the circuit. Familar faces in an otherwise changing world.
Cheers From
Jenny, Mick and Camille
Newsletter # 6 - To Japan and Canada and onwards14th March 1998
Hi everyone.
It must have been some time since the last Newsletter judging by the E Mails, asking what has happened to the newsletter after #5. OK, OK, This is it ! By the way newsletters #2 and #3 are one in the same, so don't worry if you only received one of them.
We are now in Norway, back home in our much loved base at Bellevue. Ove was there to greet us at the station and he brought the Kombi, not the Renault, Phew. Home cooking sure is nice, it is hard to get the right stuff when you eat set menus and eat out.
The Inga Lami was on today, it is a "ladies only" event that had 7000 entrants, and maybe more because it was a nice day. It is a 15km classical event that now equals in numbers the mixed sex, Birkebeiner Rennet, which is on the following weekend (same organisers). Some of the lads staying at Bellevue went up to the trail to cheer, and look at the Lycra suits ? We were all spectators at this event, none of us competed. Mick skied along with some of the ladies for a while and was "Boohooed" by some male (jealous) spectators. Mick considered that an honour, considering the Norwegians' muteness when it comes to cheering at events. The Norgies are not a scratch on the emotional outpourings of the Italian crowds at the Marcialonga.
The snow here in Lillehammer is excellent. You can ski in town and we do not need to get buses to access the superb trails nearby, 400km of them. Spring was hitting Europe hard and there was little snow left in Switzerland by the time we departed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back to where we left off in the last Newsletter, arriving in Finland for the Finlandia.
FINLANDIA
Spring seems to have come to this part of the world early this year, and the locals are all saying things like " its been a warm winter" etc. In Finland this rang very true. The first day or two in Lahti was warmish but good skiing, then the rot set in with warm winds bringing rain. Overnight the snow depth must have reduced by half. We were staying in the Hotel Lahti, and it was full, mostly with Russian amateur teams here for the Finlandia like us. They were very interesting to observe at breakfast, as they loved the tomatoes and cucumbers put out each morning, usually they had a big bowl of salad items each, with strawberry yoghurt on top, no joke. They also ate everything else in great volume as well. Maybe this was a special treat for them, these items would be expensive in Russia in winter.
Well Camille got her own back on the Russians before the race. The waxing area was in the garage of the hotel, one bench and one powerpoint. She managed to spend 6 hours waxing two pairs of skis the day before the race. She was a bit offended that the Russians kept hassling her about when she would finish, how many skis she had to do, and just generally standing around. After she finally left them to it they all must have had a long night of it, a good tactic to hobble the competition.
By race day it was raining lightly and about +12C. Not fast conditions, and add a liberal coating of pine needles and dirt to your klister, and you get the general idea. The cocktail of grip waxes Mick and Camille used worked very well, the recipe follows;
First came Toko base binder klister.
Add one thin layer of Rode Multirange Fluoro with one third Rode Rossa Fluoro.
Then Rode Multirange Fluoro, in a thin layer,
Then one thin layer of Start Black Magic Klister
Then a thin layer of Start Black Magic Fluoro Stick.
Note; Thin means VERY THIN and each layer is cooled before the application of the next one. The Black Magic is a new product designed to cover grip waxes with a fast gliding layer that doesn't effect the function of the underneath wax. It must be thinly used, and to a cold ski.
The race was shortened, because the usual course starts on a lake, and they were concerned about it becoming a duathlon, so the start and finish were from Lahti, and it was 55km.
Camille did well. She was powering along with her double poling, until the last 2 kms of the course, when she fell on a bad corner. Dorota and another girl got past her and took the opportunity to spurt. Camille could not catch her by the line. Nevertheless she still had a very good result and came in ahead of Beatrice, who said that when Camille started double poling, that was it she couldn't stay with her.
Mick started several hundred skiers behind and had a cruise, spending the last six km chatting with Daniel Kouzmin who was in a similar mode. The other Aussies in Finland were Lek xxxxx and Susan Luscombe. Jenny did the video thing, trying to keep it dry and managed some good footage considering it was not an underwater camera.
We can not include the official results as we have not been able to access the Finlandia on the internet. If anyone can, please let us know the correct address. The links via the Hoppet and the Konig Ludwig Lauf have not been working from our end. The computers were down the day of the event so we could not get results then, sorry.
After the race came our usual pack up session, and the next morning we were on our way to Athens by 6 am.
GREECE
Hey, there is no skiing in Greece. Wrong, actually there was heaps of snow in the mountains, but we did not come to ski.
Athens. It was time for our midseason recovery week, and did we feel that we all needed it after so many time zone changes and tough competitions in a row. Where should we go for a break, the Mediterranean of course. We flew to Athens and arrived to a sunny afternoon in this fabled city. We stayed in a Student Hotel in the old quarter of Athens, the Plaka. Its situated just under the Parthenon, and is a labyrinth of narrow streets, lined with interesting shops, and outdoor dining restaurants. Well the restaurants looked good so we headed out for dinner. Camille was obviously still in cold climate mode, because we suggested she leave the padded jacket she was wearing back in the Hotel. It was wonderful being that warm, like having the heating on outside as well as in. The Greek food was a big highlight of the week and we were able to fill up on delicious salads, seafood and vegies, and extra virgin olive oil on top. First was a rest day to sightsee, which included a trip to the Acropolis and the nearby flea market (we didn't bother to buy any fleas, maybe we would pick some up along the way).
Next morning we boarded the ferry at Pireas harbour, for a trip to the island of Hydra. This is a mountainous island, with no vehicles. Donkeys carry all the loads off to the remote houses. In the one and only town, villas surround the small harbour, clean and white with blue trim, and a couple of rocky peaks looming above. These peaks were too big to ignore, so we headed off for a close up look at one that arvo, that led to two then three. Recovery doesn't mean no training. One can become so specific in a winter of ski training that general strength can drop off. We had been doing some running where possible, but it takes a back seat and can be easily forgotten. We enjoyed the change in activity this week in Greece.
After the islands, we visited the Peloponese area, venturing to the ancient amphitheatre at Epidaurus. Some 13000 spectators could sit and watch the plays on the stage below. The acoustics are so good that while sitting in the back stalls you can clearly hear a coin dropped in centre stage.
OLYMPIA
The ancient site of Olympia is where the ancient Olympic games began, over 2000 years ago. Originally the games were instigated every four years, between warring states, to give some measure of peace at regular intervals. I guess it gave wives a chance to see their husbands and have a few kids now and then. The site is impressive, with the stadium still in good condition. The running track is 121 metres long and still used by the tourists to time themselves over the distance. On the down side women and slaves were banned from watching the games. If a woman tried to sneak in and was caught they were tossed from the cliff nearby.
From Olympia back to a small place called Diakofto, where you use a rack rail to access the upper towns, and ski resort above it. Yes there are many ski resorts in Greece. Its strange seeing cars with skis on the roof, charging (that's Greek for driving) along roads lined with orange orchards, and olive groves.
All of Greece was coming alive with the Fashing festival that is celebrated all over Europe. We thought the Germans celebrated this in the grand style, however the Greeks really put on a show this year. Fashing is celebrated with fancy dress and lots of noise. Here they added the novelty of pulverising each passer by with plastic clubs like a Flintstone cartoon. This went on for four days climaxing at 3pm on the Sunday. It was awesome, colourful and frightening. Camille was awed by it all but kept a safe distance.
We departed Athens a day later, they were still cleaning the streets of Fashing debris.
ENGADINE SKIMARATHON
In Zurich, our arrival point, we duely stood at the luggage belt waiting for ours. After 10 minutes and a few suitcases there was an announcement, "that was all the luggage off our flight". We joined the line at the baggage lost counter. There had been an airport strike in Frankfurt on our way through. After filing a claim for everything we had, we headed off to Pontresina with what we stood up in. We stayed at the YHA in Pontresina which is very good value, and included breakfast and dinner. Fortunately our bags arrived the next day so we were able to go for a quick ski in the late arvo. Yes its spring here in Switzerland too, corn snow, and thin cover. It was a good week, with lots of different people to talk to. Susan Luscombe was also here for the race, after doing the Oppet Spar in Sweden.
The night before the race, Saturday, Mick and Jenny attended the dinner for politicians, Worldloppet reps, and sponsors. It was a lavish affair, being the Engadine race's 30th birthday. Dinner was very nice but liberally spiced with speeches, in German. We sat and looked interested, and clapped with everyone else. We met several of the Worldloppet delegates, including the Tartu, Keskinada, Konig Ludwig Lauf, and American Birkebeiner. Their comments were much the same, their race was fortunate to have a little snow, and now it has disappeared again. The evening was brightened by a Swiss comedy duo who did some creative juggling and jokes. Even though it was in German, it was universally understood.
The Engadine Skimarathon was on the Sunday and rivals the City to Surf for people, (well close anyway). The event can be summarised by the mathematical formula: 15000 people, 30000poles + 30000 skis = 60000 thrashing weapons = lots of helicopter ambulances kept busy.
Atmosphere ? Yes, but would not recommend the event if you want to put your skis on the snow, there is no room !!! The winner was the Ski Pole companies. We have never seen so many busted poles, they were everywhere. Camille seemed to have a good start and was doing quite well considering the depth of the field. Elbert Karlson said it was the toughest event on the circuit to get points in, and he was correct. Camille broke her pole after Pontresina, and skied the 20km to the finish with one pole. She came in about 54th in the ladies, this was pretty good considering Ulla Pelli and Gudrung were both way down in the list also. Camille did ski strongly and is finally coming to grips with the dancing techniques in skating. She has completed her first Worldloppet Masters with this event.
Mick broke his pole at St Moritz and ended up skiing to Pontresina with one pole. He dropped his skis and ran up to the Youth Hostel to get his training poles! After that and his start behind 3000 others he decided to just ski with the crowd and get the stamp in the Worldloppet Passport Finishing this race means he has completed his second Worldloppet Master.
Christian Hoffman won the mens event. He got the bronze in the 50km at Nagano.
The new Salomon system was released for testing on mass at the event. Interesting, looks expensive and probably can't do a lot more than current technologies. It has two pins for each binding to attach to, the boot looks like a Roller Blade boot, it is very solid. There is no classical version, the original classical design was too stiff, as the select few top skiers who tested it found.
After Switzerland we opted to fly back to Norway due to the marginal snow??
We spent one night in Munich. The Pension owner was suffering paranoia about the big ski bags we were carrying. On the way in, he must have thought they would explode as he refused to mind them. On the way out he tried to ensure we only put one ski bag at a time in the elevator, saying it is very old. Micks calculation was that the owner weighed about as much as 4 ski bags, no worries.
Our intentions from here is to ski the Birke, then see what we all feel like doing, no fixed plans beyond that. It will be a good time to assess the venture, and listen to the body !!!
Slippery, Jen and Crow
NEWS FLASH - 1998 WORLDLOPPET CUP WOMENS RESULTS21st March 1998
Today, the 1998 Worldloppet Cup was concluded with the final event, the Birkebeiner Rennet in Norway. Camille Melvey of Australia came 5th in the overall Cup results. This was an impressive result considering the tough competition in the women's cup circuit this season. Camille came in ahead of Ulla Pelli and Beatrice Gruenfelder, the 2nd and 3rd placegetters in the 1997 Worldloppet Cup. The Russian girls dominated the Cup with some awsome performances and took out 1st and 2nd places.
The events that were in the Cup this year were:
Marciallonga (Italy)
Konig Ludwig Lauf (Germany)
Sapporo Ski Marathon (Japan)
Keskinada (Canada)
Finlandia (Finland)
Engadine Ski Marathon (Switzerland)
Birkebeiner (Norway)
Skiers earn points if they are in the top 30 in an event and the best 6 events can count in the final tally. A skier must do at least one event outside Europe / Scandinavia to be eligible in the final listing. In a long season of tough competitions one can expect a mixture of results. Camille's best result was 4th in the Konig Ludwig Lauf in Germany, the event is Classical and being fairly flat it suites her strong double poling technique. The event where Camille had the toughest time was the Engadine in Switzerland where she broke her pole after Pontressina and skied 20km to the finish with one pole. Camille was slightly ill for several weeks and this took the edge off her for the middle events, where we had to travel around the world in two weeks.
The Worldloppet Cup team this year was:
Camille Melvey
Jenny Sullivan (manager)
Mick Sullivan (coach)
The Sponsors and Supporters are responsible for ensuring the idea of a Worldloppet Cup Team could be a reality. Without the financial, logistical and equipment support contributed by these companies, people and organisations, the venture would be just a dream. They believed in the venture and it has been a success.
The Major Sponsors of this venture are:
- Dawn Trading, importers and distributors of Models and hobby good s.
- New South Wales Institute of Sport
- Kyosho, Radio Controlled Cars, of Japan.
- Great Planes, Model Aircraft, of the USA.
- Artisania Latina, Model Boats, of Spain.
Other supporters include:
- Merit Apparel (alias: Kurt Lance) -Peltonnen Skis, Artex Boots, Rottefella Bindings, Exel Poles.
- Jetset Travel @ Rose Bay (Vicky Guildon) for doing the impossible with the airlines.
- Lufthansa & Thai Airways, for giving us a fair dinkum excess baggage allowance.
- Cigana Outdoor Sportswear, at Cooma, great Activent and Fleeces.
- Kinetix Sportswear Clothing from Cobargo who made our Race and warm up gear.
- Allan Marsland of the Kangaroo Hoppet.
- Warren Hughes, of Paddy Pallins Miranda.
- Bede McCosker at Snowy Camping World, Cooma.
And all those who have helped with little bits of information, connections, etc.
Currently we are recovering in Lillehammer, before deciding what our next step will be.
Kind Regards
Mick, Jenny and Camille
Newsletter #7 - The Final Report3rd April 1998
Hi everyone.
This is the closing newsletter for this years tour of the Worldloppet cup. Lets begin with the final competition of the series.
BIRKEBEINER RENNET
Camille had a strong run and came 12th in the Elite group which had two top Norwegian girls in it. Camille did well, considering it is a striding event with minimal double poling. Her stride has lengthened out considerably and she is compressing well. The Norwegians were way ahead of the rest, look at the times for 1, 2, 3, then 4 (22min s) women. Even the Russian girls look average compared to these Norgies.
The Birke is unique as you are required to carry a pack weighing a minimum of 3.5kg. This symbolic load represents the weight of the infant King Hakkon Hakkonsson. He was carried to safety across the mountains some 300 years ago when the Danish rulers of Norway wanted him killed. Two "Birch Leggers", as they were known at the time, carried the infant on skis and that crossing of the mountains is what you do in the Birkebeiner Race now.
This year the snow was cold, old and like fine flour, which made it dead slow to ski on. Mick went like a rocket and finally managed to get his "Mark". A mark is a silver medal that you get if you ski within 25% of the average time of the first five skiers in your class. In Norway that is no easy feat, they don't seem to slow down as they get older. Perhaps it is all the Omega 3 and Fish oils that they believe in consuming. Come to think of it, Bill Hamilton is reputed to consumes a lot of Red Salmon and he is not too bad for his age either.
Women's Results;
1st Anita Moen-Guidon (Not of this planet) 3:03:21 2nd Bente Martinsen (NOR) 3:08:36 3rd Hilde Gj-Haug Pedersen (NOR) 3:13:34 4th Slesareva (RUS) 3:25:36 5th Grigoreva (RUS) 3:28:03 6th Norgie 7th Norgie 8th Norgie 9th Dorota Dziadkoweic (POL) 3:39:43 10th Norgie 11th Estonian 12th Camille 4:01:24WORLDLOPPET CUP
Her result in the Birke moved her up to 5th place in the Worldloppet Cup final result. She wound up ahead of Ulla Pelli and Beatrice in the final ranking's. If you consider they were 2nd and 3rd last year that is a significant step forward in comparative terms. Hans Reicherl presented Camille with her prize, and Jenny was madly taking pictures of Camille holding the Peltonen skis, etc.
The days in Norway are a lot longer now, and we had a lot more daylight to ski in. The snow around Lillehammer is still very good, and we can ski from Bellevue where we are staying on a nearby trail. The weather is warming up and there was some wet conditions down low, but up at Sjusjoen it is still cold and excellent skiing.
After the Birkebeiner we took a few days to consider our position, and work out the best thing to do from here. The Polar cup races we considered early in the planning of the venture are still a few weeks away, and we feel we have achieved what we set out to do. The troops were all feeling a bit tired from the long haul since December. So the decision was made to head home to OZ. Easter is fast approaching, and the airlines go crazy at that time, so we found a few seats and were on our way at the start of the next week. All too soon we were saying a fond farewell to Ove after he dropped us off at the railway station for the early train to Oslo.
We decided to have two nights stopping off in Bangkok on the way home, it would break up the marathon of connections that we needed to go from Lillehammer to Sydney. And give us time to adjust the body clock as the time zones in Thailand are only 2 hours behind Sydney time......
We spent our two nights in a neat Hotel, on the river in Bangkok. The food here is great and we all like a bit of chilli so that is not a barrier. We sampled many of the local delights. While visiting the floating markets and snake farm by boat, Camille became a part of the snake show, as she discovered a 3m python slithering past her seat. She patted it and one thing led to another, and she was seen with it around her neck, looking it in the eye. It was well behaved and sid happily around her shoulders for a while, until it was removed so it could star in the snake show.
We feel our trip has been a great success, showing that Aussies can be good skiers and can find some rewarding results if they choose their path carefully. Camille improved her skiing in many ways this year, holding her own in a much more competitive Worldloppet Cup field. We have also tried to be good representatives of our country, while on the Worldloppet Cup circuit. Carrying the flag proudly and showing that Aussies are seriously intersted in this area of the sport.
Again we'd like to say thankyou to all our sponsors and helpers. You made it Possible !!!
A couple of sayings to close with:
" The day only dawns to those who are awake".
" Life is like a fruit tree, the best fruit is always on the highest branches."
Make the effort to climb higher, and find the sweetest rewards.
Cheers,
Slippery Mick, Jen and Camille the Crow
PS: Please send all future E Mail to: xcaddict@cooma.snowy.net.au
We will stop using the Compuserve address this week.
XC is the official website of the Skiing Australia Cross Country Committee. It is produced with the assistance of the Australian Sports Commission, the Australian Ski Institute and the Kangaroo Hoppet. The editor can be contacted via hoppet@netc.net.au.