Stockholm 2012

Generic information about Stockholm

This year we had a selection policy/process which, in the end worked, after several complaints and oversights. We had a few 'no's and spaces so were able to take everyone we wanted and keep everyone happy. (7 girls and 13 boys). The club hut was pretty full with these numbers which was 1 athlete and 1 coach less than last year. We didn't really suffer from having 4 coaches plus me plus Louise the chef, and it is cheaper of course. This was an issue this year as we were able to do the Swedish Sprint and Night champs. This meant extra expense in entry fees (£101 alone plus a £28.85 ranking fee), car hire, accommodation. OK Ravinen subsidised the club to a large extent, depending on how you want to work it out, to the tune of several £100 pounds per person, as they paid all the entry fees, including the other 5 races we did as well as SM, 'free' (to us) accommodation, including the YH at SM, free £35 Kalas O top for everyone, some free map permissions. We paid the ranking fee and a £120 fee to Ravinen in return. (General summary below of finances.)

As in 2011, we used the washing machines at my flat (3km towards town from the club hut). Paid for most things on my SEK payment cards and used the spot rate for SEK - GBP conversions so overall the tour could save 5 - 10% in costs.

It was certainly its weight in Gold doing SM but it is expensive. Ravinen were noted as the only club to get A finalists in all 6 categories and 13th for Olly Williams in H18 was very good and best Brit on tour.

Next year 2013 the hut is booked for Tues 13th Aug - Monday 26th. Again I am away at WMOC till Mon 14th and ideally, they all go on Sun 25th after the local Long distance race we will do. Next year there are no big races so it will be a much cheaper tour and we can maybe consider another coach. No SM, so no need for hire cars, stay away, eat out, etc. Cheap local races and staying in the club hut all the time. The £2000 grant we get, for which we are very grateful for, which essentially pays for the coaches, will go much further.

I should get a tour report in the DEC issue of CompassSport magazine.

For this years tour I vowed to not train on any area we trained on in 2011. (We had 3 who were here last year) and that worked although a race turned up on a Sprint area we trained on before, which we did, so that one overlap! I plan not to use any areas this year, next year too. There are silly amounts of maps within close useable distance. Using public transport worked well although 2 people lost their cards by the end of the fortnight.

I borrowed my schools SI and reused a lot of maps/exercises from Farsta OLGY and Ravinen technical training so saved a huge amount there. We had some permissions to pay for. I was especially pleased that we could do a proper TrailO course which we had for the OLGY kids earlier in the year, and prepared by one of the Swedish World Champions Martin Fredholm.

Louise managed very well in the kitchen and the coaches in the forests. The athletes were a delight as usual, there was just one issue really of an athlete being 'unwell' and some feeling her approach was spreading negative vibes. It didn't help that she seemed unwilling to help muck in with the communal jobs too.

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