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Monday, June 20, 2005 Jukola notesI spent a little time this weekend following Jukola coverage on the web. Here are a few notes:Check out the maps. This is a great collection of Jukola maps going all the way back to 1949! Map fanatics should sit at the computer with a cup of good coffee, call work and tell them you're sick, and spend the day exploring the collection. I was especially interested in watching Kristiansand OKs first leg runners. Ivar Haugen won the first leg last year, but was put on the 2nd KOK team this year. That selection was controversial enough to make the local Norwegian newspaper. Arild Nomeland was put on the first leg for the first team. I was interested to see how the two KOK teams would manage. I'm guessing Haugen was annoyed. Some people perform best when they've got something to prove. On the other hand, some people collapse if they don't feel they've got the confidence of the selectors. What about Nomeland? Taking the place of someone as strong as Haugen must have been tough. In a way, Nomeland would be in a no-win situation. If he had trouble, his selection would be second guessed. He couldn't do better than Haugen did last year. You can't reach any conclusions based on just one race. But, Haugen ran well. He brought KOK 2 in 15th place, 1:31 back of the leader. Nomeland had a decent race going, then lost it right at the end. Nomeland finished 85th, 2:45 back of the leader. Nomeland described his race on his web page. He just ran out of energy, losing 1:30 in the last couple of kilometers. As I was watching the results come in, I was pulling for Haugen to have a good race. I was also pulling for Nomeland to have a good race. So, I was sorry to see his result slip near the end of the race. I think KOK was disappointed with their final result (13th place), but I wasn't suprised they didn't run as well as they might have hoped. A bunch of the first team just returned from a training camp in Japan, after hitting something of a peak at the Nordic Champs. It'd have been amazing if they managed to put everything together and win Jukola. posted by Michael | 8:39 PM
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