Tio Mila

[mharky]

It's time for the big one! The Tio Mila kicks off today:

Women: 13:45 CET (12:45 UK)
Men: 21:30 CET (20:30 UK)

http://www.10mila.se/

The women have 5 legs, the men 10.

Here are the Brits that I've found on the start list (there may be more):

1) Pippa Whitehouse - Göteborg-Majorna 1
2) Karen Pool - OK PAN-Kristianstad 1
4) Helen Bridle - Göteborg-Majorna 1
4) Rachael Elder - IFK Lidingö SOK 2
4) Helen Palmer - Wing OK 1
5) Grace Elson - Västerås SOK 1
5) Sarah-Jane Gaffney - OK Ravinen 2

1) Dan Marston - Bækkelaget SK 1
1) Neil Northrop - Västerås SOK 1
4) Matt Speake - OK Tisaren 1
4) Nick Barrable - OK Ravinen 1
7) Graham Gristwood - IFK Lidingö SOK 1
10) Scott Fraser - Turun Metsänkävijät 1
10) Jamie Stevenson - OK PAN-Kristianstad 1
10) Jon Duncan - Kristiansand OK 2
10) Ali Brunton - Wing OK 1
10) Kyle Heron - Leksands OK 2

My predictions:
1st Vehkalahden Veikot
2nd Kristiansand OK
3rd Halden SK

[EddieH]

Grace Elson a Brit? Surely an Aussie

[mharky]

She lives and runs in Britain as a BOF member, hence including here. Plus, as you mention, she's Australian. We own Australia.

[andy]

4) Rachael Elder - IFK Lidingö SOK 2

10) Jon Duncan - Kristiansand OK 2

I might be missing something here... but why are these guys in the '2nd' teams for their clubs? Surely they're worthy of a first team place given their track record (and one is a current world relay champion!)

or is there some phenonemon we don't know about here of putting all your top runners in team '2'?

[mharky]

I heard JD didn't come in the top 10 in their selection race and so wasn't in the team, a bit strict but thats what selection races are for I guess. If you look has 9th leg runner is Damien Renard, also a WOC relay medalist.

Can't speak for Rach, but the last 4 legs in the first team are all ranked in the top 25 in Sweden.

[mharky]

Either something dodgy is going on, or women really that bad at orienteering

[frog]

Can someone do an idiot's guide to this as I'd never heard of it until I read that was the reason Scott hadn't done both days of the JK. I presume from the event info on their website that it's a relay race only , but why are our runners competing for foreign teams? Is it like club football when foreign players compete for Celtic and Liverpool because AC Milan aren't allowed to play?
What's the history to it? Why does it have such a big reputation?

[frog]

Why does it say the leg 4 and 5 women have mainly been disqualified? Is that just what they put when they aren't back yet or have they all jumped over a ha ha?

[Tessa]

idiots guide to tio mila:

massive relay. womens 5 legs, happens sat afternoon. mens 10 legs, starts around 11pm (not exactly sure on timings). tio mila means ten miles. miles in scandinavia mean 10km. the mens relay roughly covers this distance. the winners finish around 6am.

its of huge importance to scandinavian clubs. lots of people have heard of it. good positions get you sponsors. big arena, big spectator stuff, tv screen, commentary, thousands of people up all night. when the 1000 mens teams start, the ground shakes and its all very exciting. its the hard core version of jukola (its longer distances and its earlier in the season so its freezing). the orienteering is supposedly a little easier than at jukola though.

for those of us living in more northern climates, this is the start of the orienteering season. its what has been talked about since november. adds to the excitement.

british clubs dont usually go over for it. not sure why, bit of a hassle and prob quite expensive. british runners can join scandianavian clubs and run for them. the situation with foreign runners can get quite complicated so the simple answer is to say that in theory, you can run for a club in your home nation and a club in scandinavia.

come on ntnui...mari fasting last leg...can we get a top 10 or is that just too much?

[mharky]

AC Milan aren't allowed to play what?

[andy]

Why does it say the leg 4 and 5 women have mainly been disqualified? Is that just what they put when they aren't back yet or have they all jumped over a ha ha?

probably because it's the team who are dsq'd from an earlier mispunch

[mharky]

and something very dodgy went one, about the first 30 teams back on 4th leg were down as DSQ for a while. i presume when someone was programming the courses into the computer they got a control wrong, and hence everyone gets DSQ until someone works it out

[frog]

AC Milan can't play football for the English or Scottish premier leagues. I thought it was maybe Scandinavian teams only. Could you have a British team? Sounds fun, thanks for the info.
My disqualified comment was when most of the 4th and 5th legs seemed to have been disqualified

[mharky]

right...

It's a race, any club can enter, there were some Czech teams up there. It's just that everyone tends to run for Scandinavian teams as they are rich and will pay for your entries. I'm sure SYO would do really well, but it would be a very expensive weekend.

[frog]

Why are they rich? Is it just lots of members and hense lots of subscriptions? I suppose I wondered if a country could enter a team, or if a club could be made up from a countries top competitors just for the tio milo, rather than a real British club.