Biathlon-ing....as a spectator

World Cup Biathlon.  "The Russians are here...and they have guns!" - Rick Mercer

So, it seems to be biathlon season around here.  The local biathlon stadium (Kontiolahti, 20km North of the city) has been pretty busy hosting events the past few weeks.  A week ago, April and I spent our Saturday representing 100% of the Canadian fan base at the sprint competition of Biathlon World Cup 8.  Actually, as far as we could tell, we were 2 of 3 Canadians there (2 cheering, 1 racer: Zina Kocher).  I should clarify here that this is not a championship race, rather a single set of races in the entire season of the IBU World Cup Circuit.  Most of the Canadian athletes were spending their weekend at a race in Canmore, Alberta, Canada...home for them!  I was surprised that there was even 1 athlete here in Kontiolahti...I would've made a flag had I known that we had a Canadian to cheer for!

When people gave up on driving and started to walk

Our trip ampumahiihtokeskustaan (to the biathlon centre...yes, it actually is all 1 word)) started with a looooong bus ride.  It was more than an hour to cover the 20km to the stadium from town.  Why?  Well, there was a traffic jam caused by a lack of parking space.  So, cars were parking on the side of the road, which was barely wide enough for 2 lanes of traffic.  At this point, there were parked cars in the righthand lane, people trying to drive closer to the stadium in the left lane, people trying to leave the stadium in the left lane, pedestrians everywhere, and police vans trying to make progress anywhere they could amidst all of this.  Given the amount of parking space and the carrying capacity of the access road, transportation should've been organized like the 2010 olympics with efficient mass-transit busses to the venues.  I can't imagine what would've happened if an emergency vehicle needed immediate access in or out of the stadium.  So, after we survived the craziness of getting there, the only thing we really had left to survive that day was the cold.  It wasn't that bad, maybe -16 or so.  The problem was that we were standing still for a few hours in the snow.  About an hour in, April and I agreed that our feet were probably cold, but we weren't quire sure because we couldn't feel them...but then it got painful.

some of the crowd along the course...notice how everyone looks a little cold?  People were jumping up and down and I'm not sure if it was excitement or simply a matter of survival

The races themselves were great.  We had grounds tickets, which meant that we got to stand along the race course at the range entrance.  We were late for the start of the men's due to the traffic mess, but we got to watch all of the women's.  The German Magdelena Neuner took gold, while the hometown sweetheart Kaisa Mäkäräinen took silver.  Zina Kocher (the sole Canadian) made a VERY respectable 12th place (out of more than 80), shooting 1-1 (that means 8/10 targets hit).  April and I did not attend the pursuit competition the following day, but I looked up the results.  Kaisa took gold, while Zina moved up to 9th.  Nice top 10 finish!  Looking forward, there are a whole lot more Canadians in town now for the IBU World Youth/Junior World Championships Biathlon that are happening this week.  I waved to a couple of guys in Biathlon Canada jackets on Friday while riding my bike to school...and got a blank stare in return.  I wonder if they thought I was a bit creepy?...naaw

Hey look! I found some Finns among the Russians!  Hyvää Suomea!  mmmm...makkarat!

While talking with locals, some confusion often comes up about the definition of biathlon.  In Finnish, it is simply ampumahiihto, or "shoot ski."  Really quite logical.  There is no ambiguity about what the two sports are like in the English "bilathlon."  What is it?  Running & biking....swimming & running....swimming & biking....skiing & ice swimming....??? you get the idea... Anyways, this is one of the Finnish language's few totally logical moments. Yes, I have once again returned to one of my favorite tirades...the Finnish Language.  I am still feeling totally stumped by it.  Occasionally I think I have something figured out and my confidence grows a little...but....then I try using the language and usually there is an exception....or it's not really used in spoken language (yes, spoken and written finnish can be considered different languages).  Please allow me to direct your attention to this website, which gives a simple overview of the word yksi, or one.  I continue to try, but I feel although any progress is discouragingly slow.

Me and a giant biathlon bear...or maybe it's a ampumahiihtokarhu...somehow "biathlon bears" just flows a bit better...

In other non-biathlon news, last Saturday we drove down (130km South) to LUSTO, the Finnish Forestry museum.  It was really interesting (ok, so I have a biased opinion because I like both forests and Finland).  There was a display of machinery (new and old), wood science-y stuff, forest industry history, forest management techniques, intricate dioramas, a tree made of chainsaws, the forests' role in Finnish culture, and of course lots of information on the pioneers of finnish forestry.  Wow, those were a bunch of tough, stubborn men and women.  Oh yes, and they had a simulator, which we may have spent a few turns on felling and bucking imaginary pine trees.  nice!  I think one of the biggest testaments to Finnish culture in this museum was not intended to be a cultural display.  They have a whole room called the "Silence Room" dedicated solely to the solitude and lack of noise in a tranquil forest. Seriously.  It is one of the things I appreciate most about working in the forest, but to have a whole museum display on it...well, that's just Finnish!

skating disco...interestante!

It feels like spring is finally coming.  We have surpassed 9 hours of daylight and we have almost achieved above 0 temperatures.  But, it does continue to snow.  Last week, wait...no...2 weeks ago there was an "ice disco" and live concert at Ilosaari (happy island) which is a venue on an island in the river in town.  They cleared the snow off a section of river and we skated on the natural ice...it was full of holes of unknown origin that occasionally would swallow your foot whole causing you to crash.  One of the more...um...interesting?... parts of the evening was attending my first rap concert ever...in Finnish.  Did I understand anything? Well, I heard the word viina a few times...

Kontiolahti biathlon stadium today at World Youth/Juniors during zero

Anyways, I'm looking forward to some spring ice fishing soon!