Ski Saturday!

On Saturday we went to see the penultimate event in the Nordic Ski World Championships – the mens ski juming competition.  For anyone who ever watched ‘Ski Sunday’ on the BBC as a child, this was a spectacular event!

We all used to love watching 'Ski Sunday' at our house.  Apart from a particularly memorable theme tune (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB74Y_jDN6c) it was amazing to sit in our Irish sitting room watching people racing down slaloms and flying out of the ski jump like Eddie the Eagle!  It was like watching aliens on another planet, one that we thought we would probably never visit.  Looking back I realise we had no idea what was actually going on, but it was 'must-see tv' all the same.

So some twenty years later, I’m leaving the appartment where I now live in Oslo on the way to this ski jumping event.  We leave the house at 12.30 on a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies.  We had been warned to leave early as people had missed competitions the previous weekend due to the large crowds attending.  It certainly seemed like the entire country was making its way up to Holmenkollen.  Holmenkollen is home to a new Ski Jump which was completed in February 2010.  It is a fairly intimidating looking construction once you get up close but rest assured; it is Norwegian, and therefore, the best in the world!

We took the express train and arrived in relative comfort with plenty of time to find our seats in advance of the event.  The place was packed, with vuvuzelas and cow bells parping and clanging at every turn.  However, as soon as we got to our seats, we were in for a great show.  We were very lucky that our seats were quite close to the bottom of the runway, so we could see exactly where the jumpers landed.  It was unbelievable to see each competitor come flying out over the jump.  By the end of the day we were all experts on the style that was required to make a long jump.  Although no world records were broken, we did see a jump that was 141 metres long.  It was wind assisted but amazing all the same.

The crowd entertainment before, during and after the event was impressive.  We all found ourselves dancing to some classic hits like A-ha’s ‘Take on Me’ - more for maintaining body heat than any particular fondness for the music it has to be said.  We (the crowd) also apparently broke the Holmenkollen stadium world record for Mexican Waves – although seeing as how the stadium is about a year old, this may not be a particularly fantastic feat!