Looks like they've got some decent online coverage of Oringen at:

http://www.5d2001.net/

They've got a live webcam at the finish area. You can also check results by club or category.

-- Michael (meglinski@yahoo.com), July 22, 2001

Answers

Nice site, when it works. We see that Spike is 31st after day 1, some 7 minutes back. Meanwhile Mary lies well inside twice the winner's time, and not far off of 50% back in fact. We are expecting big things from Mary this year! Fritz has similarly showed a promising result... this after arriving in Sweden off the plane the morning of the first day at Oringen! Apparently the passport came through!

Swedish elite observers will also note that IKHP's Mattias Karlsson leads H21E over a strong field. Is this revenge over those selected to the Swedish WOC team?

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 22, 2001.

Vagnis couldn't follow up yesterday's win with another one today, but it looks like he's around 9th or so overall even after a less burnin' run today.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), July 23, 2001.

I've been checking the live webcam frequently to see if NN~^\ has been going over regularly to wave to the world, which is of course glued to the creen hoping to catch a glimpse of NN~^\ waving to the world. It all seems circular to me.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), July 23, 2001.

The fact that Spike has not yet blogged today leaves those of us left behind with little else to do all day but stare at the live webcam.

Could OK be obliged to at least arrange for a group photo at the webcam at some point? Please let us know when it will be so we can download the image!

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 23, 2001.

But what did Spike do today?

-- Snorkel (danielmeenehan@aol.com), July 23, 2001.

As for what Spike did today, I am going to guess he had a run that he wasn't wholly pleased with. But surely better days lie ahead! (Lay ahead?)

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), July 24, 2001.

A top ten finish for Spike today at the Oringen! Winsplits Online seems to have the results earliest, or their website isn't broken down like 5d2001.net. Spike apparently struggled just a bit (or possibly took it extremely cautiously and very slow?) to the first control. From there, ke clicked into gear and started picking off the others, one by one. By the finish he had pulled himself up into 10th place on the day.

Mary apparently struggled just a bit, but with Arja Hannus in the field nothing was going to be easy! Look for Mary to finish off the last 2 days of the Oringen with a flurry!

The open classes are not posted to Winsplits, I think. We'll have to wait for the other results to see how Fritz did.

Also of not, Mattias "Vagnis" Karlsson came up with a 2nd place showing today and with 2 more runs like he had on the 1st and 3rd days, he will post a strong final result. Perhaps that's why Mats Troeng and Thomas Asp decided they were better off not showing up to the start... now who is to say they wouldn't have run better?

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 24, 2001.

Troeng and Asp are getting set to head on over to Finland. I'm sure their WOC plans never had them running all of the 5-Day. (Same holds for Engstrom).

The fellow leading M21 now is another old Hakarpspojkarna hand. Johan Ivarsson in fact still runs for IKHP - when he runs in the various Swedish championships. (Or at least he did until recently.) Because of what happened with Johan, IKHP is now very vigilant when any of their boys start showing interest for a Norwegian girl!

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), July 24, 2001.

Expect to see Spike move into the top 20!!! If not by tomorrow, then after the chase start anyway.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 24, 2001.

I ran Direct 6 days one and two. Magnus kindly helped me to get switched to Open 6 thereafter. Look for splits in either. It is the same course. Seems I'm direct day one and open thereafter on the splits. Note that the open times would place in the bottom half of the direct field.

-- Frederick Menninger (fpmenninger@hotmail.com), July 25, 2001.

Is Spike actually running the whole 5-Days? I thought I remembered his saying that he was also skipping out early to head for Finland.

Among the other impressive performances from Americans is Suzanne Armstrong, formerly of SLOC and now attending college in Massachusetts. Starting out with a third-place on the opening day, she has held in there with strong runs and sits in second overall in D20 after three runs, less than two minutes off of the lead.

-- J-J (jjcote@juno.com), July 25, 2001.

Mike is not running the full five days. He left today for Finland, while Fritz and I enjoyed the rest day. Mike was improving day by day, which bodes well for WOC, but it's too bad he couldn't complete the five days and beat some of his former club mates.

-- Mary (maprunner@juno.com), July 25, 2001.