After an amazing and productive week in the ski tunnel in Torsby, it was time for a recovery day and quick travel day to Norway! We flew up to Trondheim and drove just under two hours to a small town called Aure. The town was right on the ocean and surrounded by beautiful mountains! The Norwegian National Team helped us with housing and our team, along with the Swedish, German, and a few Swiss athletes stayed at the Equinor oil plant. It was a massive natural gas refinery but also a world class spot for nordic skiers!
We stayed in dorm style housing and ate all of our meals at the cafeteria! While we were there, there were close to 50 other elite skiers from around Europe. We would try to eat with some new people everyday and just make friends with all of the other athletes. It was interesting to learn all the different approaches to training and racing.
For the first few days, we went out on some of the most beautiful and perfectly paved roads in the world! This place has the best roller skiing I have ever seen! After our morning session we would stop at the nearest bridge, and because Norway is made up of so many Fjords, there is an endless supply of bridges. We would take off our boots and jump off a comfortable height into the ocean! After going to lunch and getting some recovery we headed out on an after run to the top of one of the nearby mountains!
The last three days of this camp and a main reason we went to Norway, was for the Toppidrettsveka race series. The first day was a 54K double pole race. Now this is not a usual event during the winter but a really fun and exciting race to do! All 200 athletes for the race took a ferry to the nearby island of Hitra. We warmed up and got underway along the edge of the island. I was very happy with my performance and was able to stay with the leaders for 45 kilometers. I am already looking forward to coming back next year and competing and contending for the win!
The following day was a classic sprint on the downtown streets of Aure, which was packed with spectators and viewed by 1.3 million people in Europe! The final day was a 15k skate race on a designated roller ski track in Trondheim. This is the location for the 2025 World Championships!
Overall I am leaving this trip with a full jar of motivation and excitement for the upcoming season! It was awesome to be able to train and race with the best skiers in the world and get an idea for where my fitness is currently at! I am very excited to have a really focused fall of training and kicking the season off in Silverstar Canada!
