The National Nordic Foundation, or NNF, supports international ski development in several ways, including underwriting American junior skiers participating in International Junior Camp in Norway. This year’s camp was held in Sjusjøen earlier this month; nine American athletes were there, supported by U.S. Ski Team coach Greta Anderson.
This three-part update on camp in Sjusjøen, plus a pre-camp trip to Oslo, comes to you from Murphy Kimball, Maeve Ingelfinger, and Neve Gerard. Murphy’s club team is Alaska Winter Stars and his college team is the University of Alaska Anchorage; Maeve’s teams are Glacier Nordic and Dartmouth College; Neve’s teams are Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation and the University of Utah. It takes a village.
This post is reprinted here with permission from Greta Anderson of the USST. International development trips like this are an NNF pillar project, and are funded in part by individual contributions from readers like you.
Here’s Murphy Kimball to start things off:
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DAYS 1-5 Update From Murphy Kimball (Alaska Winter Stars and University of Alaska Anchorage ski team)
Hallo, this is a Murphy Kimball checking in from Oslo, Norway. We have been at pre camp for 6 days, and today we make the journey to Sjusjøen for the first day of the International Junior Camp.
The past few days have been filled with lots of exploration of Oslo using the public transportation and getting the body feeling good after the long travel to get here. We have done a few sessions on the famous Holmenkollen ski trails where there’s an awesome rollerski track, as well as rollerskiing around Oslo with the famous American skier Peter Wolter. Some other highlights from this first week include the breakfast at The Scandic Holmenkollen, an adventure on a floating sauna, and dinner with Australian National Team member Hugo Hinckfuss. Looking forward to learning from the rest of the world and training hard.
DAYS 5–10 Update from Maeve Ingelfinger (Glacier Nordic and Dartmouth Ski Team)
Right now, thanks to the support of the National Nordic Foundation, I and eight other athletes from the U.S. are on day six of the international junior camp held in Sjusjøen, Norway.
The training so far has been intense and full of fun. We started our first full day with level 4 bounding intervals, which means our heart rates were near their max for approximately 40 minutes. From there, we’ve had distance skis and a classic sprint simulation with 4 heats of head-to-head racing against some of the best juniors in the world.
Each evening, world class skiers and trainers have given presentations on everything from the importance of sleep to personal advice from World Cup skiers such as Tiril and Lotta Udnes Weng (both of Norway), Sjur Røthe (Norway), Kateřina Janatová (Czech Republic), and James Clugnet (Great Britain). After a day and a half of training in the pouring rain, the group set out this morning to complete many of our first marathon through the Norwegian bogs reaching up to our thighs. Despite the wet conditions, spirits were high as our watches reached 26.2 miles.
This camp has been full of fun, friends, and learning opportunities. Here, we’ve had the chance to test ourselves against international athletes, compare training methods, utilize a multitude of high level coaches, and question the Nordic world’s top athletes. I am so grateful to NNF for making it possible for me and the other U.S. athletes to attend this camp and for giving us the opportunity to take away many valuable lessons in skiing and culture from Norway and the athletes of over 15 different nations.
Camp Wrap Update from Neve Gerard (Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation and University of Utah Ski Team)
Hi everyone,
This is Neve Gerard, checking in from Sjusjøen, Norway, where myself and eight other U.S. athletes have spent the last week at International Junior Camp. We flew into Oslo and spent a week training there to get adjusted to the time change before taking the train two hours up to Sjusjøen and joining over 80 athletes from 15 different countries for a big week of training! In Oslo for our precamp, we trained at Hollmenkollen rollerski track, took the train exploring Oslo, and spent an afternoon on a sauna-boat!
On our first full day in Sjusjøen, we did bounding intervals. It was really fun to be able to train in such a big group of strong athletes and see what everyone does differently. The workout was 6 x 5 minutes, and everyone started together, so it was fun to see who we could hang on to. We made our way up a dirt road, and once we reached the top we turned onto a trail, which took us down a long 10km cool down into town. The views were awesome and our spirits were high.
A highlight for me was the marathon day. We ran through the Norwegian bogs, small towns, and around lakes. At our halfway mark, we enjoyed baked goods at one of the coaches’ cabins, which helped us push through the next 13 miles. The group split in half around mile 20, with some athletes opting for a shorter route, but all the U.S. athletes decided to finish off the marathon. Five-and-a-half hours later, our watches hit 26.2 miles and we celebrated by jumping into the lake.
In addition to a lot of hours of hard training, we also got to listen to presentations from World Cup athletes and coaches every night. We were able to learn about training, sleep, and hear from inspiring people. This was a cool opportunity to ask questions in person.
Between training, we were able to socialize with the other countries which was very valuable, in not only making international friends, but also comparing training and being able to see how different countries train and race.
Thanks so much to NNF for helping fund this amazing trip. It was a great experience that we won’t forget.
Tusen Takk! (thanks so much)
Neve Gerard
