Day 8 South African Youth Squad (TioMila-part 2)

The other half of us had a late start as our races were later on in the day. We dashed off the public transport again to get to our long walk to get to the TioMila event. When we got there, there were already a lot of people everywhere from runners to supporters. Over 6500 athletes took part in the 3 different relays (youth, women and men). We finally found the OK Ravinen tent where we kept all our bags. The people who didn't participate in the Relay got ready to run the open courses on the day. People not running could watch the relays on a huge screen, with a live camera and maps of the runners route choices. The screen was over the finish so you could see peoples sprint finish.

(Sarah running in a 'pair' with her OK Ravinen team-an interesting/ fun concept)

(being spectators before/ after running)

Christie, Tania, Heather and Sarah E participated in the Women's relay and found it very tough, including the long wait in the cold for the handover from their team mates. Christie and Tania ended up doing the 7pm mass start, which they told us was crazy running, with so many people out in the course causing traffic jams, lots of confusing forking and muddy elephant tracks getting deeper and even more dangerous. It was also a race to get home before the dark set in.

 Meanwhile Luan, Cameron and I joined in a ball game with fellow Orienteers from Norway. Luan left and Cameron and I ended up having a long conversation about South Africa with them. It started to become time to watch the Start of the men's relay so we all walked down to the start to get a good view. When the timer hit 0 (20h30), there were about 350 men starting the relay all at once. It was a mad dash of men with huge head torches as it was becoming dark.

After the start we all gathered together again -the ladies having finished their races and made the journey back home in the middle of the night . the mends  relay carried on throughout the night finishing at 8am on Sunday.

Written by Tristan Malherbe

Day 8 South African Youth Squad (TioMila Youth Relay experience)

Getting up early is never fun, but this particular morning we were all very excited as we were about to run in the most exciting event we've ever been a part of. Or at least Sarah, Carla, Cameron and I were with Paul and Tania accompanying us. The rest would be joining us later that day. After the Long train ride and 2km walk , we arrived at the event arena that was completely packed with people. A lot more than we were used to back in SA!

( a constant stream of people walking from the rains and their cars)

(the field that was empty the day before-jam packed with club tents) 

We were divided into our relay teams after which a two friendly folks named Max and Martin briefed us on how we would go about the event. The stress was piling up as we had never run an events of this size before...and I had the home run. NO STRESS! A quick T-shirt change and Superman-pose (the photo that went viral among the bunch of orienteers) later, we were ready.

Cameron was the first to get going and started with the masses in the mas-start. A very scary and overwhelming experience according to official reports that came from Cameron.

Nearer to the end of his loop Cameron bought a piece of Swedish ground as he totally lost his footing and fell over a "tree stump" as he reported. I can't really put it into words in the way that does it justice - long story short, but from where we were watching it was extremely funny. In the end Cameron and Carla's team sadly got disqualified, but the team Sarah and I ran in finished 153rd out of  325 teams (of 4 to 6 runners) that started. We were all happy with our results, especially as the amount of fun we had trumped everything else.

(Cameron trying to find the correct map to hand over to Carla!)

(Carla now knew where the map was, so had a much smoother handover)

 

(the finish sprint, after negotiating the high metal bridge into the arena)

 After our races we found the rest of our youth squad in the OK Ravinen tent. Some of us went out on the open courses while others just relaxed. The guys and I then befriended two women named Hannah and Victoria whom we had a long discussion with about the pros and cons of both Sweden and SA. I'm sure the guys would agree with me that we learnt a lot from these women and hope to see them again in the future.

As the day got late some of us went back to base while the others stayed for another race, that they again enjoyed thoroughly. The trip back was once more long and was made worse by our grumbling stomachs. Upon arrival Tinus and I threw together a Chicken Ala-king. Tinus admittedly did most of the work and everybody found it very delicious- so well-done and thank you Tinus! The rest of the evening we spent playing cards and having random, and loud conversations until the rest of the squad arrived back at 23h30 and sent us packing for bed. Altogether a very much enjoyed and educational day for us all I would say.

Written by Ryno Grové 

Day 7 South African Youth Squad

Friday 27 April, our day started off with the treat of sleeping in a little later, which was very nice after all the early morning trainings. When we woke up we had to make our lunch to take with because it was going to be a long day out. We then took some photos in our youth tour race kit (plus some fun jumping ones).

With photo's taken, we quickly caught the 11:00 bus and then a train for our 2 hour journey to our destination. After climbing off the train we had the another long walk to the event center. But this wasn't just any event, this was 10 MILA - one of the biggest orienteering relay events in the world! Today we weren't going to take part in the relay, but in the open courses that are used as practice for the main events the next day. The 10 MILA is something in size and atmosphere that we never have experienced before. The setup is so large that I am sure it shocked most of us there.

 

(these are the empty fields that were filled with club tents the next day)

There were 9 open courses to choose from and the group took either the 2,8km Blue or the 4,7km Black course. Just to make it a little bit worse on the tired legs and feet, there was an another 1.5km walk to the start. The terrain was quite technically and challenging so we did struggle a bit, but overall it went well for everyone.

 

Below is what the terrain looks like leaving the circle of # 2 going to #3

 

 

After our runs we had some time to spend in the O shop, where everyone treated themselves to some sort of special kit. Lucky after the tiring day we got to go to Nick's apartment where he and his wife, Sarah-Jane, made a nice hot meal for us. Afterwards we were treated with a mug of warm Gluhwein ( which is warmed up non-alcoholic red wine) with raisins and ginger snaps.

 

 

Written by Tinus Swanepoel

Day 6 South African Youth Squad

Today we woke at 8 with the intention to leave at 9 . Everyone had breakfast (cereal or Swedish bread). Cameron was cutting it fine and only woke up at 8:40 but still managed to get ready in time. At 9:05 we rushed to the bus stop but missed the bus with about 30 seconds and then had to wait another 15 minutes for the next bus.

We had some early morning training in the forest we went to yesterday.

We decided it would be better to take the bus instead of running back and forth as we are doing a lot of running during the day. Ryno decided to race the bus from one of the bus stops and ended up winning back to the clubhouse. After we got back from the relative quick early morning training we had to pack our bags to go to the old town for some sprint training.

We took the 401 to the Slussen station and a very short train trip to Gamla Stan (Old Town).
We had 3 different sprint training courses in Gamla Stan. We ran through the town's narrow streets and had to watch out for the pedestrians whilst navigating.

 We ran passed the royal palace and some of us saw the royal guards parade. The orienteering in the old town is different than the normal sprints we have done before. The layout of the old town was something to get used to with all the little pathways and underpasses. We also had to put out the controls, aka the chalk rectangles we drew on the ground or walls.

After our training we toured the town like normal tourists and entered a few souvenir shops. We headed to a souvenir shop Cameron spotted whilst running. Everyone bought something from the store and Paul was especially happy with his sheep shirt that he bought .

Another notable shop was called 'Science Fiction Bokhandeln' which seemed to attract all the athletes with it's extensive collection of Harry Potter, Star Wars etc themed souvenirs. We spent more time in this shop than the actual souvenir shop.

After we walked back from the old town to Slussen we took the 401 back to the clubhouse for lunch and a restful afternoon. We also did some cleaning to keep the clubhouse neat for the 200 or so club members that will pass through during the club's evening training session which we will join in on.

We split up into two groups for the training. The braver ones decided to go out on the violet course in the Luffarligan area(which involved a 1.5 km run back and forth).

It was a rather eventful training session as it started raining, and then hailing on us!

Dinner was late as we had to wait for the clubhouse to clean out. Christie has now joined us and was treated to her first youth tour home cooked meal!

Written by Luan Swart