The Nordic Orienteering Tour began last weekend in Oslo, Norway.  This involves 5 stages –  9 races over 8 days in 3 different countries.  It also includes the last events of the 2012 World Cup.   The tour moves onto Sweden on Tuesday and finishes with two days of racing next weekend in Vuokatti, Finland.

The first stage involved a sprint qualification and then the top 30 went through to the final later in the afternoon at the Holmenkollen Ski Centre in Oslo.   Australia had Julian Dent (43^rd), Evan Barr (54^th)and Vanessa Round (42^nd) competing but none were happy with their runs and didn’t progress to the finals, which were won by Simone Niggli, (Switzerland) and Olav Lundanes, (Norway).  This was Simone’s eighth World Cup win this season from the nine races held so far!!      Olav Lundanes was fastest in the men’s qualification and  urged on in the final by the home crowd, he managed to win by the narrowest possible margin, one second!

 Sprint final,Oslo

 Women

 1.Simone Niggli SUI 16:22

 2.Emma Klingenberg DEN 16:42

Men

 1.Olav Lundanes NOR 15:14

 2.Matthias Kyburz SUI 15:15

 3.William Lind SWE 15:51

The  second race last weekend  was a shortened Middle Distance race with a winning time of 30 minutes and a 90-second start interval. The start lists were the sprint results in reverse order.

The Middle distance king Thierry Gueorgiou (France,) showed that he is back on his best form after injury, winning the 4.9 km course (with 290 m climb) by 42 seconds.   Julian Dent had an impressive run finishing 26^th, just 3.28 mins in arrears.

Simone Niggli, (Switzerland) won yet again – this time  by 1.19 over Swiss team mate Judith Wyder.   Vanessa Round had both injury and navigation concerns to finish in 46^thplace, over 8 minutes down on the winner.

  Middle Distance

 Women

 1.Simone Niggli SUI 29:09

 2.Judith Wyder SUI 30:28

 3.Tatyana Ryabkina RUS 31:00

  Men

 1.Thierry Gueorgiou FRA 29:00

 2.Peter Öberg SWE 29:42

 3.Matthias Kyburz SUI 30:06

The next race of the Nordic Tour is on Tuesday, when the Gothenburg northern waterfront will be the venue for an urban Sprint, knock-out style. The finals for the best eight runners start at 17.55 (women) and 18.10 (men), Swedish time.

The final races next weekend are in Finland and these will give both organisers and competitors some insights into what awaits next year at WOC, also in Finland.     There is great coverage on the Nordic Tour website, including maps with route gadget and live TV which is being seen in Sweden, Norway and Finland!    The “World of O” also has good summaries and map discussions.  

Kiwi star and present Canberra Cockatoo, Lizzie Ingham is this month’s athlete interview subject on the IOF website.  “My goal is to be the first Kiwi on the podium at WOC.”   An excellent read.

Congratulations to the many Aussies who competed in the World Rogaining Championships in the Czech Republic last weekend.  ACT stalwarts Julie Quinn and David Baldwin won the veteran mixed category and reportedly covered 135 kilometres in the heavily tracked terrain.  Supervets Geoff Lawford (ACT/Vic) and Rod Gray (Qld) were victorious in their category also.