This weekend the Project Topp232023 did start in to his last phase with a Kick-Off camp in Gästrikland. From Friday to Sunday, we did stay in Årsunda.

 

 

 

Friday

 

Some of us already met Friday morning in the middle of a forest to do the first training of this long weekend. It was cold and wet and had some snow on the ground. Nevertheless, it was a good training to start to get familiar with this kind of terrain, that should be quite similar to what awaits us for this year’s 10mila in Skellefteå. Large hills with areas with very few details that require good direction, to really detailed parts with many details and that require that you keep up with every detail you pass.

 

 

After having lunch, we went out again to meet the rest of the camp participants for a night training in a really stony forest. It was cold and had snow on the ground. We did a mass start with forked controls. After everybody was back, we luckily got already served with a nice dinner and could enjoy a warm shower.

 

 
Saturday

Saturday started with breakfast and then we went to the "prio-pass" for the women. Orienteering intervals. We got greeted by the sun while putting on our shoes. But it was also cold with -6 degrees. As in every training there was a little bit of snow on the ground, thanks to the now low temperature even "skare". Which did not make it easier to run fast.

 

 

After lunch we gathered for the Kick-Off meeting. Flavio and Simon informed about what Topp232023 stands for. That the whole club is involved and that everybody can contribute towards our goals next year: Men: Top 23 Tiomila, Women: Top 69 (3x23) in Tiomila and Top 23 in 25 manna, 5 Teams at 25 manna, many relay teams in the DM for the whole club, to summary the goals in short.

Report with the presentation follows soon on the webpage.

Some of these goals will be easier to reach, some need more work to be reached, but nevertheless they all require many people working together in the same direction.

 

 

After the meeting we went out to the "prio-pass" for the men. 4 night-O Intervals. Soon the lights were put on maximum and we set off in to the dark night to chase the checkpoints.

 

 

As we got back some of us could enjoy the sauna, while others had to prepare dinner. Afterwards, after a long day with long trainings and a lot of new information, most went directly to bed.

 

Sunday 

After breakfast and cleaning the house, we set off to our last training, a "langpass" near Storviks Clubhouse. We drove inside the forest and left the cars behind, to be picked up afterwards. Snow and cold temperatures greeted us again. Nevertheless, we all set off and soon afterwards it did not even feel so cold anymore. After a few controls we started to sing "happy birthday" to the birthday child in the middle of the forest and shared some cake which was secretly carried there in a pocket. After 2h30min the last runners reached the finish and luckily, we could take a hot shower and warm up a bit inside Storvik’s clubhouse afterwards. Thank you to Storvik IF for making that possible.

 

 

This also marked the end of the kick off camp. And I think we all could learn a bit how to orienteer in such terrain. And I do not want to miss to thank Joel for organizing many things and setting out many control markers during the last weeks in his home area.

 

The Project Topp232023 did now start for real. The whole club will be needed to make every goal possible. To help you guide what to focus on most, a new training topic will be set out every second week. Keep an eye open for these!