Jon Tvedt

[harry]

I am saddened to hear that Jon Tvedt (42) died yesterday while out on a training run up Gullfjellet with this brother and a friend. Although the cause of death is not yet clear, it is thought to have involved a combination of exhuastion and cold. The weather conditions were poor. It shocks me to think that this could happen to someone so seemingly invincible and experienced in mountain running and training and should act as a further warning to all runners never to train when ill, particularly in the mountains.

Jon Tvedt was well known in Norway, particularly in the endurance running community. As well as being a top orienteer in the 1990s (5 x Norwegian Champion at Ultra Long distance, 4th at WOC classic distance 1993, Nordic Champion in 1993) Jon went on to become a true legend in mountain racing in Norway and internationally. In 2008 he was still near his peak in mountain racing, only narrowly beaten at Skaala by 2008 (and multiple) World Mountain running Champion Jonathan Wyatt and winning just about every other race in Norway. Tvedt, a family man with three children, devoted his life to sport and running with daily training runs in the mountains around Bergen.
Naturally our thoughts go out to his young family we can be sure that his incredible records will stand for many years and that he lived his life to the full.

[Gross]

Sad news

[Big Jon]

My condolences to all his family and friends.
Jon was a tough orienteer and to hear of his death during a run is a real shock.

[Scotia]

Great guy -

I remember the first time i met him. It was at the World Mountain Running Champs in New Zealand 2005. He was the sole Norwegian walking (with a limp) in front of our Scottish team during the opening ceremony march. I decided to go and talk to him as i was just about to move to Norway as soon as i got back.

He was there on his own and was looking for things to do - spent a great week doing hill running and visiting tea cafe's with him and Martin Hyman. It was only after about a week of hanging out that we found out that we both were orienteers and he told me some amazing stories - one thing that sticks out was when he lived in Halden and used to travel to training on a 1960's mo-ped no matter how cold, icy or snowy it was.

He led for the first lap of the Trophy but had to pull out due to his achilles injury.

Pleasure to have had the company of the guy for this short time in Wellington.

Scott

Ewan found this documentary of him - http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/293423

[Kitch]

A true individual and unconventional character.

[harry]

Thanks whoever posted the tribute video.
There will be a run in memory of Jon up Stoltzekleiven tomorrow.
http://stoltzen.no/index.php?option=com ... cle&id=126

[Big Jon]

Thanks for the wonderful video of Jon - pure poetry in motion as he flows up the mountain. A great tribute to a great man.

[Mrs H]

This must be the second or third time in the history of Nopesport that we are left to mourn the death of a seemingly superhuman orienteering hero - a world beater - an icon - a family man.

Harry hints at the dangers of training when unwell - but what exactly is happening here - what are these dangers that seem to attack the very last people we would expect to be vulnerable and most importantly how can we avoid reading such sad stories in the future?

[mharky]

Probably worth asking a doctor about that Mrs H

[Big Jon]

The most common (though thankfully rare) cause of death due to training when ill is when a virus affects the heart and the athlete carries on training or returns to training too soon. Dave Menzies (EUOC) and Mike Wells-Coles are the two that spring to my mind in the UK. I don't know if this was a contributing factor in Jon Tevdt's death but it is possible. Unfortunately this is not going to go away, the athletes who are most likely to suffer are those who are very driven and single minded in their determination to train to their limit and push themselves every day. These are the ones who will succeed and achieve greatness in orienteering and other sports. These are also the ones who will be most at risk.
Educating top athletes of the need to ensure full recovery from illness, especially viral, will reduce but not eliminate this risk.

[harry]

From what I've read about what happened to Jon Tvedt I get the impression that it was more that he began to feel bad whilst out and had to stop and the group of 3 were not dressed/ equipped to be out standing/sitting on the mountain in those conditions, and that maybe it was more of a cold/ exposure/ exhaustion thing than the infection of the pericardium that Big Jon is talking about.

The training/ illness/ recovery balance is so difficult. We can only do what feels right for us and as Big Jon says the ones who always go on the safe side might not get enough adaptation and not reach their potential. You feel that it's the ones who are just absolutely bloody minded to keep pushing the limits who are going to make it. (Of course orienteering is more complex because of the technical aspects).

I read a blog post by Marianne Andersen yesterday (known to train upwards of 900 hours a year) and she's basically saying she's sick of having to justify the way she trains to people who think she's crazy, it works for her, her best year was when she trained 964 hours and that volume is nothing compared to some swimmers, xc skiers. She's in another league but I know how she feels. I like to think I know my body best.

But I still get ill! Everybody does, especially in winter.
The best / only way is to just gradually increase training volume/ intensity over a lot of years and really get to know your body and how it responds to different training. With illness err on the safe side, so you can recover as quickly as possible, and try to get a feel for occasions when some low intensity can help and when you definitely have to rest (like if you have a fever).

However smart / sensible you are, sometimes even the greatest athletes, like Jon Tvedt, can get unlucky, which sadly in this case led to this great tragedy.

[harry]

Feel a bit silly using the word "sensible" with Jon Tvedt in the post above. The man raced up big mountains, often covered with huge boulders, that most people would have trouble walking up. It's hard to describe but mountain walkers (real tough Norwegian ones, & they have bigger tougher mountains than we do..) would just stand and stare in absolute complete disbelief when they saw him pass by.
I doubt he ever aspired to be thought of as sensible but he did talk a lot of sense about training having suffered a lot with overtraining problems in his late teens /early 20s.