Any discussion, questions, comments, etc. about the Tio-Mila should go in this section of the OK forum.

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), April 28, 2000

Answers

In the photo: what is the "varningskontroll"?

-- Gene (gmw@ukans.edu), April 28, 2000.

The "varvningskontrol" is what we would call a spectator control.

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), April 28, 2000.

Here are (supposedly) some of the contenders for the men's 10-Mila. I don't pretend to know much about these clubs, I'm just throwing out some names to watch... what the pundits are saying, basically. I guess I won't try any non-ascii characters either (it just takes too long to figure them out).

• Halden Skiklubb (Thoresen, Sandvik, Bjorsgard, Bjorlo)
• IK Hakarpspojkarna
• Baekkelaget Sportsklubb (Ivarsson, Rostrup, Valstad, H.H. Johansen, Berger)
• OK Orion

I included some individual names here. Of course, IKHP has a lot of the people we've already heard about, including the Devil Runner.

IKHP and OK Orion are considered Sweden's hopes this year, I guess. OK's favorite is IKHP I take it. I wonder if Kent Olsson will run for OK Orion? Maybe not on the first team anymore, I don't know. I'm pretty sure Thoresen won't be running for Halden at least! Both of the Norwegian teams have some outstanding runners. It takes 10 to run the Tio-Mila, so I don't know how much that will mean in the end. Baekkelaget SK won last year's Jukola and Halden won the last Tio-Mila (surprisingly by using a number of non-Scandinavian runners like Urs Fluhmann, Jon Duncan, and Australian journeyman Dickie Jones).

Just for interest here were the standings after last year's nordic relay league...

1. Haldens SK
2. IK Hakarpspojkarna
3. Turun Suunistajat
4. Leksands OK
5. IFK Goteborg
6. Delta

(I think OK Orion mispunched in one of the races).

Here were the top of last year's 10-Mila...

1. Haldens SK
2. Kangasala SK
3. Rajamaen Rykmentti
4. Nydalens SK
5. Pohjantahti SK-Oulu
6. Baekkelagets SK

The Finnish clubs went 2, 3, and 5 last year. Presumably they will contend again.

Here were the top of last year's Jukkola...

1. Baekkelagets
2. Pohjantahti SK
3. Delta
4. Tampereen Pyrint?
5. Kalevan Rasti
6. IK Hakarpspojkarna

This race takes 7 per team so must also be a reasonable judge of a team's depth (OK Orion was 11th).

It is sort of interesting to see the preparations that IKHP is making for their relay. You can find their teams listed on the IKHP web site. Go to the "nyheter" link from there. They have a slate of 7 backup runners as well. It's all looking pretty organized, kind of like what happens when OK shows up at a relays.

In terms of Swedish teams, here are how IKHP and OK Orion stack up in SOFT rankings of individual members: >

	IKHP	OK Orion
21	Fridolf Eskilsson	14	Tobias Andersson
30	Mattias Karlsson	28	Niklas Bratt
31	Andreas Rangert	65	Peter Svedin
34	Klas Karlsson	70	Yuri Omeltchenko
47	Hekan Vhlund	74	Rikard Gunnarsson
51	Ingvar Ekesson	83	Pontus Jonsson
57	Matti Envall	97	Daniel Grahn
176	Kristian Palm	103	Magnus Granqvist
204	Marcus Karlsson	118	Henrik Berlin
231	Mats Granstedt	148	Johan Grahn
232	Lars Svensson	242	Mattias Grahn
270	Bo Granstedt	267	Peter Andersson
283	Joakim Karlsson	300	Anders Hekansson
293	Peter Nilsson	307	Lars-Ola Larsson
298	Mikael Gustafsson	417	Peter Sandqvist
461	Fredrik Svensson	473	Patrik Sjvkvist
472	Gert Jonsson	806	Jonas Olsson
596	Ola Allvin
664	Bengt Vhlund
667	Tobias Holmqvist
735	Mikael Andersson
868	Klaes Axelsson

What I noticed is that IKHP has 7 runners in the top 60, but also only 7 runners in the top 150. Meanwhile OK Orion has 2 runners in the top 60, but 10 runners in the top 150. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the race. Of course, most legs are at night, run in packs, etc. I don't know if any of this is relevant at all, but just whets the appetite!

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), April 28, 2000.

Another team to keep an eye on is my old club -- IFK Lidingo. They've got a very strong team (both in the men's and women's races). The men's team will include Frederick Lowegren (Swedish world cup team), Johan Nasman (former Junior World Champ), and Per Ek (former Swedish team).

Among the women, I think Domnarvet is among the top teams.

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), April 28, 2000.

One thing that might come to play is the fact that a lot of the top team's have runners who were at the recent World Cup races in Japan and Australia. I think most of these runners arrived back in Scandinavia in the middle of this week -- will the exhausting travel and jet lag affect these people?

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), April 28, 2000.

yes, jet lag - something I have in common with the world's best O'ers! That's what caused me to pick up the wrong map at the Troll Cup.

-- Mean Gene (gmw@ukans.edu), April 28, 2000.

The internet coverage has practically stopped!! N3 Sport did post a short review of the Tva-Mila. Apparently Domnarvets got the big lead they did mostly from their 3rd runner, who ran away from the field and handed off with a 6-minute lead.

In case you're wondering, now OK is on a break from the action. We still await news of Sanna's result. The Tio-Mila is apparently underway, but as a couple minutes ago we have absolutely no word from that. The second leg runners should be well into their courses now. --- 2:55 CDT.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), April 29, 2000.