When Stephan
and I decided that I
would complete the season
with a 20km in the Norwegian
and Nordic Championship
in Copenhagen on the
7th of October it was
because we wanted me
to walk another good
20km. We hoped for good
conditions both at home,
to prepare good and
in Copenhagen for the
race. In the days before
the race I checked the
weather forecast for
Copenhagen many times,
I was afraid that it
would be just as cold
there as it got last
week at home in Norway.
Therefore I was also
not so sure about how
fast I could walk. I
decided to "take
it easy and see"!
The Scandinavian
country's of Sweden,
Denmark and Norway have
had their national long
distance championships
together for some years
now. Since we are not
so many race walkers
left in Scandinavia,
it is better that we
all walk together!!
This year it was also
time for the Nordic
Championships again
(every second year)
and therefore it was
perfect to have all
the Championships together
in one race. I think
this is a very good
idea, maybe other small
nations have an interest
to join the cooperation??
In Copenhagen
the 50km race started
at 10 o'clock, the 20km
race at 11 o'clock.
We were
lucky with the conditions
in Copenhagen. It was
warmer than at home
and the wind didn't
feel cold. We had 15-16°c,
only 3 minutes of light
rain during the whole
championship, but we
had a pretty strong
wind. We walked on a
nice 2 km course in
the Valby Park.
The Park has a lot of
big trees that protected
us from most of the
wind and only 400m of
headwind per lap was
not to bad. It was very
good conditions to be
October in Scandinavia.
My brother
Erik was ready to do
a good debut on the
50km distance, but still
Stephan told him to
take it easy and do
it as a hard training.
He wanted him to have
a good experience with
the 50km. Erik did just
as Stephan told him,
he took it easy. It
was really strange to
see him walk that slow,
normally he is walking
4 min. pace ( 4 min/km)
or faster when he is
competing, but in Copenhagen
he started just under
5 min. pace, because
of the long distance
of 50km... Erik was
patient and he did very
well. He passed 25km
just under 2 hours and
then he walked almost
6 minutes faster for
the last 25km. He was
happy to become Norwegian
Champion again, but
for the first time on
50km. His time of 3h54:37
is six minutes faster
than the best debut
time of a Norwegian
before. He also won
the Nordic Championship
:-)
I started
my race as planned with
Stephan. Not so fast
the first kilometer
and then increase the
speed down to 4:30 pace
for the first 10km.
That was almost what
I did, I managed to
keep the pace until
8 km, but I felt good
and I wanted to walk
faster. I pushed a little
on the pace and passed
10km in 45.04. I walked
faster and faster every
lap and I passed 15km
in 1h06:50 (10-15km:
21:46) and I still felt
good :-) Finally I didn't
have to think about
if my stomach would
be ok, or if I would
get pain again where
I got injured this spring,
or, or, or..... It was
such a good feeling!
I just focused on one
lap at the time, walked
them faster and faster
and I finished the race
with a very good feeling.
Finally since six years
I could just walk!!!!!
21:33 for the last 5km
gave me a winning time
of 1h28:23. It is my
second fastest time
ever, it's a championships
record for both the
Nordic- and the Norwegian
Championship and it's
a club record. But best
of all, with this race
I managed to climb back
up on the podium, now
I am ranked top 3 in
the World! This was
a very good end to a
good comeback season
which started with some
trouble :-)
The Men's
20km was won by Robert
Heffernan from Ireland,
he did a good 20km and
finished in 1h.22:24,
Jamie Costin, also from
Ireland was second.
I am really happy to
have Jamie back in the
race walk circus after
his serious injury just
before the Olympic Games
in Athens 2004.
