Well, not too surprisingly the ELVIS system crashed immediately, and no results are available yet. On the other hand, the live web feed of the Tio-Mila announcers is great! I think the women have just started changing over to the 3rd leg.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002

Answers

Karin Hellman, IKHP, was just announced at the warning control for leg 3 and is now on the way in to the Finish with a lead of about 1 1/2 minutes, and will be handing over to Anna Envall.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

It's about time for a radio report from the 4th leg; will Anna Envall still be in charge?...waiting...Ok, she's in sight now, and she's still by herself, she's about to punch...and she has. Now Halden and Nydalen and Linne' have punched, all about 50 seconds after IKHP. So those hunting teams have taken in about 1 minute on the lead.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Already it's time for the next radio control, from a control in a green area, and it sounds like Halden and Linne have punched first and IKHP has missed and is now 50 seconds after...and Nydalen is a little after IKHP. It's 8:30, LT (Laramie Time). One of the radio people out at this control is Marita Skogum, former world champ, and current Coach of the Swedish Womens Team.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Soon the leading runners will be at the warning control...8:33 and Halden and Linne' have just been warned and are on the way towards the last control, and IKHP has just punched also.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Now the lead is about to change over to the anchor runners, and it's Halden and Linne' and IKHP changing over at about 8:36.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

I said that Anna Envall missed with the implication that was the reason the other teams got back in front, but actually you can't be sure. All of the legs are forked, and she might have just had a longer and/or harder fork. At any rate, Halden, Linne', and IKHP went out together on the last leg.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

The last leg is about 8.6 kms (depending on the forking) and the expected winning time is 57 minutes, so the race ought to be decided a little bit after 9:30 LT. Heather Munroe is running for Halden; I don't know who Linne' has, and Annette Granstandt is IKHP's runner. Annette has been off to a slow start this year with problems with a very persistent cold, etc. She's apparently OK now, but might not be up to 100% race form yet.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Linne's runner is Backstrom, a name I don't know. Nydalen changed over about 1:45 back, and Annika Zell is running last for them. The next team is 5:30 back, so the odds are very good it's going to be one of these first 4 teams which wins.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

66 teams have gone out on the last leg within 21 minutes.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Linne's runner is Lina Backstrom; she was 8th in the short Elite Series race this past Sunday. Now it's about time for the first radio report and we'll see if the 3 leading teams are still together or not. 9:00 LT now....waiting

Heather Monroe is in sight now...and now Annette is in sight...a minute has gone by with no other team yet...I can't tell if they'ver punched or if it's just a place between controls that they can watch and the runners have to pass by...9:02...2 minutes and no other team yet...now Linne' is coming and they're about 2 1/2 after, and they were at a radio control. So it's Halden, IKHP a little after, and then Linne' 2 1/2 back. 9:04 LT.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Now it's interesting to see if any other teams are even going to have a chance...still no word about Nydalen at 9:05, wait, they've just punched, about 4:45 after. So I think it's down to 3 teams with a chance to win now. 9:06 LT.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

5 kms left in the race...

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

At 9:11 LT, there's just been a report from Marita Skogum in the green area, and IKHP is up by 30 seconds over Halden!

I think the runners proceed from there to a spectator control, and then will run back out into the forest up a ski hill for the final loop in the forest. 9:13 LT now.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

They should be in sight in a few minutes on the ski hill...9:15 LT... Annette is now in sight at 9:16 and no sign of Heather yet...30 seconds...40 seconds...there she is now, 55 seconds back! 9:17 LT at the spectator control.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Waiting to see if there is any other team at all that has a chance to threaten either IKHP or Halden, 9:19 LT now.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

2 1/2 km left in the race now...still waiting for the 3rd team to go through the spectator control...the announcers are discussing who might win if it came down to a sprint between Heather and Annette, and the thought is that Heather would be the strongest...9:21 now and finally Linne' is in sight, looks like they're nearly 5 minutes back, and Nydalen has showed up too. But they have no chance unless Halden and IKHP both miss. Zell is about 50 seconds after Backstrom. 9:22 LT.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Now they've gone out to Bjorn Persson and Marita Skogum hiding at a control in the green area, and they're hoping to have the lead come through soon...9:23 and no sounds of any approaching runners yet...9:24....9:25 and contact has been lost from the forest--oh, no!

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

9:26, they've got only broken contact with the forest now, but Annette has punched and is alone at the control in the green area! Not much left in the race now, so it's looking like IKHP could take their first ever win in the Womens race at Tio-Mila!

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Now we're getting reports from the next radio, manned by a fellow I know named Lillis (who ran for IKHP for several years in the early 90s)...Annette should be showing up in his area soon...9:28...Lillis is saying he's in a small, really thick area that could be tricky and that the runners will need to be very careful, and it's about 500 m from there to the last control...9:29, it sounds like the runners might be in sight--Annette has come from the wrong direction but has punched alone...17 seconds have gone by...27 seconds later Halden punched, but they don't have IKHP in sight--very exciting!

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

It's an easy end to the race to the last control along a powerline, so IKHP should be able to win!

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

They're saying it's too much for Heather to make up, and they're waiting to see the runners show up...9:32...the first runner is...Annette and Heather is right behind!

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Oh, no! Halden sprinted by IKHP in the Finish Chute in what sounds like a very, very exciting end to the race! Wow!

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Whew--very exciting!!! Too bad for IKHP, but it sounds like it must have been a great finish to the race. Exactly the kind of ending you might like to have if you're the organizers and sponsors.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Bakkelagget and Nydalen are together to see who finishes 3rd and 4th. There might be a Finish team there too...Yeah, there is, but forget about trying to spell that.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

It was 5 teams fighting for 3rd, Kavelan Rasti, Tamperen, and Domnarvet plus Bakkelaget and Nydalen.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Womens Race

1. Halden 2. IKHP 3. Baekkalaget 4. Nydalen 5. Tamperen P. 6. Domnarvet 7. Kavelan Rasti

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Great reporting, Swampfox! Just scrolling down the page to get the updates was fine; then reading that Halden was down by 9+ min it seemed such an insurmountable lead. Roaring back to win has got to oneof the best stories in TioM history. Any comparisons to other finishes?

-- mean gene (gmw@ku.edu), April 27, 2002.

I don't know anything about what happened during the first two legs of the race, because I wasn't up yet. And it won't be until later before I hear from anyone from IKHP to find out what might have happened out in the forest over the last 2 legs. I know Karin Hellman (leg 3) did very well, and there's every reason to believe that Anna Envall (4) and Annette (5) did really well too. They're both top orienteers, very stabil, and the differences at the top are so small...

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.

I found a brief report about the Womens race that said there were a lot of misses on the 4th leg, and that Anna Envall was one of the runners who missed, which was where Halden and Linne' took the lead.

Halden was leading after the second leg, so could they really have been down by 9 minutes after the fist leg? Seems pretty impossible.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002.