Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Thursday, April 24, 2003 Orienteer Kansas at Tio MilaThe last few years I've picked an OK Tio Mila team. We've never sent a team, but it is fun to pick a team anyway. To be considered for selection, you've got to have some connection to OK.Women's team 1. 6.4 K. Sanna Wallenborg. Sanna is a good first leg runner. She's running the first leg this year for IF Thor 2. Look for Sanna to have a strong race and bring the team in within sight of the lead. 2. 5.1 K. Peggy Dickison. Peggy's been struggling with some injuries this spring. But, she is steady. She'll rise to the occasion and keep the team in decent shape. 3. 4.3 K. Mary Jones. Mary's orienteering well this year. Her training has been a bit rough the last couple of months, but she's getting more and more consistent with her orienteering. She always runs well in relays. Look for Mary to lose some time to the leaders, but lose just a couple of places overall. 4. 5.1 K. Gunilla Karlsson. Gunilla ran for OK a long time ago (maybe 1988?) when she lived in Kansas City for a year. Gunilla has a lot of experience and if she's fit, she'll pass a few teams setting us up for our anchor runner. 5. 8.4 K. Terhi Kauppila. Terhi spent a semester in Joplin, MO, last fall and took in a few O' meets. Terhi is running for Tampereen Pyrinto 3. Look for her to power her way around the course and pass a number of teams brining OK to its best ever finish. Men's team 1. 10.3 K (day). Sanna. Sanna gets the first leg for the men's team also. It'll be tough for her to run two first legs the same day, but she's tough! Look for Sanna to finish in a huge pack a good bit behind the top teams, but right in the midst of the bulk of the teams. 2. 10.3 K (dusk/night). Nadim Ahmed. Nadim is married to Peggy. So, even though he's a member of Quantico OC, we consider him almost an OKer. He had a business trip to Kansas City this winter, and we got him out for some night O' at Shawnee Mission Park. Nadim didn't know it at the time, but it was a test. Would he have what it takes to make the OK Tio Mila team? Yes. Look for Nadim to run well in the pack and move up as his strength lets him make good use of the lines of runners in the forest. 3. 10.3 K (night). Dan "Snorkel" Meenehan. Dan's been training a bit these days (as he put it today, "I'm in about the same shape I was at the U.S. relay champs last year...but I'm not sick."). Dan is a veteran. He knows what he can do and he's a master at pushing himself to his limits. He holds his own on the third leg. 4. 8.2 K (night). Gene's training was better last year, but his lamp is better this year. Look for Gene to have one boom, but a good run otherwise. Gene might lose a good bit to the leaders, but he won't lose more than a couple of places. 5. 16.8 K (night). Magnus "Maggi" Wallenborg. Magnus gets the honor of running "The Long Night." He's strong. He's an animal. He pushes through the pain. He fights the whole way. He catches the packs that went out ahead of him, hangs with them for a while, then drops them as they tire. 6. 8.2 K (night). Raymond Wren. Raymond ran for OK when he lived in Lawrence for a year or so (2000?). He's a tough guy, like Magnus (but older, so he gets a shorter leg). Raymond has a steady run. 7. 8.2 K (night). Eric Saggars. Eric is running his first Tio Mila for OK. The pressure is high. He might boom in the beginning, but after that the nerves calm down and he has a decent run. 8. 12.7 K (night/dawn). Michael Eglinski. My training has been going ok. I'm not in shape to run 12.7 K. So, I take it steady. No booms, but I still struggle from about 8.5--10.5 km. Then I catch a second wind and bring it in. I've run several crack-of-dawn legs at Tio Mila's in the past and always had decent runs. 9. 6.5 K (day). Terhi Kauppila. Terhi already ran one leg for the women's team. She slept all night and is ready to go again. She's relaxed -- no pressure because people don't expect a young woman to run well against the men. Terhi takes advantage of those expectations and has a stunning run. But, she's worn out as she struggles to the final exchange. 10. 14.3 K (day). Mark "Mook" Everett. Who else. OKs' legendary strongman. Mook has the race we all know he has in him and devours the course. He finishes looking strong. Coaches There is a lot going on at Tio Mila -- stoking the heater in the tents, cooking hot food throughout the night, waking the early morning runners, helping track the progress of the team, giving pep talks to the runners, etc. OK needs a lot of good coaches. We've got them: Peter Gogol, Keith Lay, JJ Cote, Peter Gagarin, Mikell Platt and Fritz Menninger. The coaches have a huge range of skills (these fine folks could nurse you back to health, make a fine home made pizza, while doing your income taxes...and all using words with four letters). posted by Michael | 8:05 PM 
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