Pictures from Ice Speedskating

My friend and I are huge fans of cheap city trips and we have some good adresses to book cheap flights. So, when we were planning our travel to the World Allrounds in Hamar, Norway, we couldn't find a ticket to Oslo that was cheap enough. But we did find an affordable ticket to Stockholm- Sweden.

And that's why we were travelling to Hamar via Stockholm. On tuesday we left from the local airport to Stockholm. The flight was fast and nice and soon we found ourselves in a Ford Focus Wagon, driving through the Swedish country-side. For two girls who both have a little box on wheels, this felt like living life the extra-de-luxe style.

We arrived in Stockholm and had 2 amazing days. What a nice and friendly town. The old city center was pretty and pleasant. The people were friendly and we had a blast going in and out every souvernir shop and shooting pics of our selves.

On thursday we left for a long roadtrip to Norway. We stopped at the local Bauhaus to get some new sticks for the Forza Enrico banner and we decided to visit the mother-ship of mother-ships: Ikea in Sweden. We had a nice breackfast and in little over 7 hours we arrived in a small town, close to the norwegian airport.

We would stay with Kirsti, a mutal friend who loves speedskating and is a highly skilled and wellknown speedskating photographer. You can visit her website: www.speedskatingphotos-by-biseth.com.

On friday we visited Oslo and prepared for the tournament to come.

I was quite nervous as I have never been to the Vikingskipet in Hamar before and from what I've seen on tv it was a great place to see some speedskating. We drove to Hamar and we could walk in the Vikingskipet without any troubles. No waiting in line, no pushing, no shoving and no running. We found a great spot, just at the 1.500m start and waiting for the things to happen.

And I must say, I was overwhelmed. I've never been to such an imposing icerink. The roof is amazing and the lines of the wooden beams almost hypnotise you. Soon, the event started and we had a great time. There were a lot of norwegian and dutch fans, and the athmosphere was enthousiastic. We were all there for 1 common goal: to have a great time and watch some nice speedskating.

The ladies kicked off with the 500m that Nesbitt won. Martina Sablikova did really well and was ahead of her closest opponants for the title. The men 500m was exciting, because Sven Kramer didn't do as well as he might have wanted to and Havard Bokko skated to a time of 35,99. But, Denny Morrison was faster and skated to 35,55 a seasons best for him.

The 3.000m ladies was next and was won by Martina Sablikova. She was steady in the lead and seemed to go straight for the title. The 5.000m men was exciting and at that time, the vikingskipet was packed. It seemed like half of Norway was there at the icerink. Sven Kramer didn't start in the last pair and had to set a time for the rest. He was in the lead by the end of day 1.

In a heavy snowblizzard we drove home. Normally it would take 1 hour to drive back from Hamar, but now it took us 2,5 hours. All stressed out we finnaly made it home. It snowed so badly, they even had to close the airport. Therefor we decided to leave earlier on sunday and at 10 o' clock we were at the oval. We had to wait a short while, but again, without any problems, we got inside the Vikingskipet.

Today wasn't nearly as packed as the day before and with the start of the 1.500m right in front of us, we had a nice spot at the oval. I met with some familiar faces again and heared Claudia Pechstein was out. She had a high fever and stayed in bed that day. This news gave a big blow to the biggest dutch Claudia Pechstein fan.

But soon the championship started again and Kristina Groves won the 1.500m ladies. The 1.500m men was tradition one of the most exciting races during the allround competition. My favorite had to race against my friends favorite. This caused some friendly rivalery on the stands. Enrico Fabris and Denny Morrison set out for a great race. Too bad, they didn't beat the best time at that moment and neither of them ended up on the podium at this distance. At that moment, I could feel people moving in on me and the excitement was bussing in the air. It was time for Sven Kramer against Havard Bokko.

I must admit, I can't remember the last time I saw such an exciting race. At home, I watched it over and over, but on tv it doesn't capture the madness going on at the icerink at that time. The crowd went mad when Havard Bokko was in the lead. The dutch fans cheered for Sven Kramer and the whole icerink was standing, afraid to miss a little bit of the race. When Havard Bokko came over the finishline as the winner, a huge smile broke through on all the stands. What an amazing race.

Unfortunatly, it didn't change anything in the overall classification, but it was a race to remember! The ladies 5.000m was won by Martina Sablikova and at the moment she realized she also won the overall championship, she jumped up in the air. Threw herself in the arms of coach Petr Novak and made a spontanuous victory lap around the track.

The mens 10.000 meter was a real fight. Havard Bokko and Sven Kramer made it into a real spectacle. They challenged each other and one lap Kramer was leading the race, the other Bokko took over and was leading. It was an amazing fight with some weird laptimes, but it was exciting to watch. Who ever thinks the 10.000meters should be skipped from the programme because it's boring, should watch this race. But, Sven Kramer was too strong for Havard Bokko and at the end, he skated away from his opponent and won the 10k and the World Allround Championship title. This for the 3rd time in a row making him already a legend.

After the victory ceremonie we left Hamar and we left the Vikingskipet. It was amazing to go there once and see the Norwegian Oval and experiance the atmosphere. The championship was exciting and we saw some amazing races and had a good time.

On monday the snowing had stopped and we drove from Norway back to Sweden in a winter wonder land. The sky was crips and clear and bright blue. The roads were clean and everywhere we looked we saw heaps and heaps of snow, making it like a magical christmas card where we had to drive though.

After a nice tour around the Swedish countryside we arrived at the airport and crashed in a hotel. What an exhausting week it had been! On tuesday we flew home, back to Holland and said goodbye. But not for long, because we would meet again on Saturday for the World Cup in Heerenveen.