Australian on 10-Mila Podium
Australian on 10-Mila PodiumOver the last few years Australians have made regular appearances in top placed teams at 10-Mila: the legendary Swedish relay where teams compete over 10 day and night legs ranging from 7-17km in length. Last year Dave Shepherd, running the long last leg for Göteborg-Majorna, brought the team home in 7th place. In 2003 Rob Walter and Grant Bluett were both members of 4th placed Malungs-Skogsmårdarna. In 2001, Finnish club Turun Suunistajat finished 5th with Troy de Haas in the team. The year before that Grant Bluett ran 9th leg in the Malungs-Skogsmårdarna team that finished 3rd – the best placing of any Australian in 10-Mila….until now that is.
This year David Brickhill-Jones ran first leg for Norwegian super-club Halden SK which finished a very close second to Sweden’s Södertälje-Nykvarn. In a fascinating battle on the last leg (which is traditionally long with no splitting) Halden’s, Tore Sandvik, had to try find a way to drop Södertälje’s young Czech runner Petr Lossman. This he was unable to do and Lossman fulfilled his role exactly as the club tacticians had foreseen it: stay in contact then win the sprint finish. This was the first Swedish victory since 1997 (also Södertälje). The last 8 years have all been won by Norwegian clubs. Of those Halden has won 6 times and been second twice.
For BJ perhaps the toughest part was just to make the team. Halden don’t take risks on team selection for 10-Mila and they have a deep pool of very talented runners to choose from – the best in the world. BJ is a natural first leg runner thriving on the hustle and bustle, the head to head combat, the adrenalin rush. But to get that spot in the team he was up against Björn Eriksen who, as first leg specialist for Halden in recent years, has rarely finished outside the top 20 in any major relay.
A first leg runner cannot win the relay for the team, but he certainly lose it by blowing out in the high pressure. BJ ran a perfect first leg, staying in close contact with the leaders throughout the course but not taking any risks; especially in the last part of the course when the temptation can be to go for the pyrrhic glory of being the first across the line. He finished a comfortable 16th, 1.05 behind the leader.. Rob Walter, again running for Malungs-Skogsmårdarna, also ran a very good first leg, finishing in 37th place. The team was 18th at the finish.
With BJ planning to stay in Norway for some time to come and Halden certain to be out to reclaim what they feel is their rightful place at 10-Mila, maybe we won’t have to wait too long to see an Australian on the highest step of the victory podium.
In just 8 weeks, across the Baltic Sea in Finland, is Jukola, the other mega-relay on the annual calendar (7 legs, over 1000 teams). Troy de Haas has already tasted victory there with Turun Suunistajat in 2001. There will be several Australians running this year in teams with good prospects of repeating that performance.
Rob Plowright