Holmenkollstafetten 2010
Holmenkollstafetten is the biggest relay in the world. It’s organised through the streets of Oslo – from Bislett Stadion to Holmenkollen and back. The relay consists of 15 legs with different length and type – from short legs on track to long legs in steep hills. This year’s edition had over 1900 teams in the different classes..
I’ve been thinking about running the Holmenkollstafetten for a while, but never did it. This year I got the opportunity to represent the local track and field club – KIF, in the Elite-class. The big surprise came with the team selections, where they put me on the last leg.
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The team ran stable, and was keeping a top-5 place after 10 legs. When I took over the baton, the team was on the 9th place. The last leg is 650 m long, and starts just outside Bislett Stadion. It consists of 100 m on road, and the rest is on the track.
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I tried to push as hard as I could, but my feet weren’t fast enough for such a sprint. On the last leg I ran against some of the best 400m runners in Norway (among them the Norwegian champion on 400m).
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I lost two positions in the last 150 m, and the final result for out team was the 11th place, 2:55 behind the winners Tjalve. On my 650 m, I lost more than 20 seconds to the best sprinters. Kind of disappointing. The distance to the 5th team in the results was no more than 31 seconds. If I could only run a bit faster …
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But I never even dreamed about running on Bislett Stadion, the place where the Golden League takes place each year! It was an experience of a lifetime! Thanks KIF for giving me this opportunity!
