Nice description, Terje! There you have the difference between
Norwegian skiing and just about everything in the U.S. but the Rose Bowl
parade. And all for individual start races! (the Germans also show up
in big numbers, but overnight?) Your comments about the course
correspond to what can be seen in the results
(http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.ht...&raceid=3D9452). Most of
the top 10 after the 1st and 2nd laps dropped 10-20 places by the end
and vice-versa, with Cottrer's DNF after leading by 1:10 at 33.4k mark
being primo case. In the women's race Sachenbacher was able beat
Beckie Scott for third by sticking with Neumannova for much of the
final lap. This all seems apropos to the discussion about mass start vs
individual start and the challenges of each on a hard course. I wonder
if a mass start 50k (or 30K for the women) on that course wouldn't
allow some separation at the top, unless everyone decided to hold
back. =20

BTW, what happened with Bjoergen (DNF)? Her falling results this week
after Mora suggest that her recovery either turned out to be not as
strong as she was hoping, or perhaps that she got a little carried away
in winning the Vasaloppet. It will be interesting in China and Japan
for the overall championship, with Scott now down by only 46 points. =20

Gene

Terje Mathisen wrote:

Last night was the traditional 'night before 5-Mila' in Holmenkollen,
I met up with a set of friends near Frognerseteren, and then we skied
most of the trail using our night-O headlamps.
=20
It was a lot of fun, with huge groups of people camping out to=20
celebrate the ski race the day after (today).
=20
In some spots there were so many campfires near the top of a hill,
that it was actually somewhat hard to breathe properly. :-)
=20
Anyway, the longest stretch without any trailside campers must have
been about 1 km, shortly before the bottom turnaround point at
Ullev=E5lseter.
=20
The rest of the trail had people all around it, most sleeping
overnight in military/lavvo style tents, but many just laying out
their pads underneath the nearest spruce tree.
=20
Today the actual race was just as exciting as usual, with the
longtime clear leader (Piller Cotterer) bonking completely on the
last lap, allowing the swede, Anders S=F6dergren, to finally get his
well-deserved win.
=20
Anders also had some problems at the end of the final lap, dropping
2/3 of the 1 minute he had on Di Centa, but he still won.
=20
At the other end of the spectrum, Tom Reichelt of germany had a=20
career-best day, acending from 28th rank on the first lap, via 10th
on the second to a podium finish.
=20
Two relatively young men, Geir Ludvig Aasen and John Anders Gaustad
in 5th and 6th place were the top norwegian finishers, in front of
Skjeldal in 7th and Estil in 9th.
=20
Petter Northug had promised that he wouldn't retire, he cruised
through the race with 40, 37 and 15 as his lap placements.
=20
BTW, even though Nordmarka is very hilly, the 50 K (16.7 km) loop is=20
simply brutal: It sort of follows the lighted trail between
Ullev=E5lseter and Frognerseteren, except that it climbs up and down
the hillside all the time, with steep uphills alternating with short,
twisty downhills, giving _very_ little rest. I'm simply amazed that
anyone can ski it three times in a row, and still make it look almost
effortless. :-)
=20
Terje
--=20
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"