Topic - SnowSport England
early-season race-training camp in Finland (November 2007)
Date first posted on eCommunity - 24
June 2007
Snowsport England Nordic has announced the details
of its 2007 early season, on-snow race training camp. This will be the
fourth consecutive year in which the camp has been run. For the first
two years it was held at Bruksvallarna, in Sweden. But for 2006 it was
moved to Vuokatti Sports Institute, Finland, and that is again the venue
this time. The dates are 3-10 November 2007.
Snowsport England (SSE) says the event is for "skiers who already race,
or those who are thinking of taking part in races in the future". But it
adds: "It should be emphasised that this week is NOT just for
experienced racers; however, it will be assumed that participants will
be able to ski at intermediate level or above and that they will have a
good level of fitness."
Maximum numbers are limited to fourteen participants, with priority
given to members of clubs affiliated to SSE. Six full days coaching will
be provided by the two coaches, Patrick Winterton and Mike Dixon.
Patrick skied with the British Nordic Team for eight years and
represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Calgary in 1988. Mike
is Britain's most successful biathlete. He is the only British athlete
to have competed at six Winter Olympic Games. Both Patrick and Mike are
now commentators for Eurosport TV.
Coaching costs for the week will be £320 per person, with a reduction of
£20 for members of SSE Clubs. In addition participants will have to pay
for (and arrange) their own transport to the venue. (You would take a
scheduled international flight to Helsinki and then a domestic flight to
Kajaani. A shuttle-bus then links Kajaani and Vuokatti. The bus journey
takes about 40 minutes.) Accommodation in 4-person apartments can be
booked through SSE at the further cost of about £295 per person, full
board, and should be paid direct to
the venue at the end of the week. No single rooms are available.
The total cost of the week is therefore likely to be about £900 - maybe
less if you can pick up a good flight deal. For your money you get
a course programme that focuses on technical improvement but also
includes some speed sessions. You get video analysis of your
technique. You also get – if the summary of the 2005 camp is anything to
go by – a very detailed grounding in sports physiology. You can see the
2005 summary if you go to
http://www.escnordic.org.uk/
and then follow the link to Training. The summary covers training
methods: distance work, threshold work, speed, agility and balance. It
also covers training strategies – long-term and pre-race. It looks at
racing strategies: psychology,
nutrition and hydration. And it looks at indicators of performance (for
example VO2max and lactate threshold).
The venue for the camp, Vuokatti Sports Institute, is a very
well-regarded centre for Nordic skiing with a history going back 60
years. It is used by around 50 national teams each year. You can find
more details of the area on the tourist website:
http://www.vuokatti.fi. (From the
home page you can select an English version.) Among the nearby winter
sports facilities are over 200 kilometres of XC track, 150 kilometres of
which are cut for skating. About 30 kilometres of track are illuminated.
There are also 13 downhill/ snowboard pistes, and there is a luge run. A
major year-round attraction is a purpose-built (indoor) ski tunnel, more
than a kilometre in length. (It will be used by the SSE participants, at
extra cost, if conditions are poor.)
For general details of Finland in winter go to the national tourist
office website at
http://www.visitfinland.com. Here, on a dynamic map, you can see the
location of Kajaani, well south of the Arctic Circle, and on the east
side of the country. (http://visitfinland.com/w5/index.nsf/(Pages)/Finland_Map_Dynamic)
For more details of the training camp itself, go to
http://www.escnordic.org.uk/
and then follow the link to Event
Calendar and then to Current Calendar. The training camp details are
in the form of a 330 KB pdf file.
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