Last year when I ran in the Mauritanian desert I met a Finnish competitor with ski poles. He was getting teased like mad by everyone asking him if he was expecting it to snow – the temperature was about 50°C! He also had an umbrella for the sun (no, he wasn’t expecting rain either), and I was wondering how he was going to hold it considering he only had one pair of arms and hands. However, during the long desert trail with many stones and obstacles, I got to thinking he may have been onto something with his poles for helping to trudge through soft sand and over rocky outcrops. You never know, they might also have come in handy as a weapon against the odd snake.
I forgot all about the poles until last week when attended a conference at the University of Jyvaskyla in the North of Finland. The venue was picture book setting, huge glassy blue lake surrounded by forest, with a 250km bike path all the way round. The bike path has an ultra smooth surface, with a berth wide enough for a large family car, 100% wheel-friendly. It just beckons you to join the sports train zipping around it. The big trend is of course roller-blading, but with the added feature of doing it with poles. In fact they don’t only roller blade with poles, but fast walking and running with poles also appear to be big non-handicap sports. On the bike paths around where I live, this would quickly turn into a fencing match. I didn’t get to try any of the pole sports myself, and I am not a cross-country skier either, but I have to say it did look tempting. I am sure that the pulsating movement of the arms is an excellent upper body workout to boot.
This trip was also my first experience of the midnight sun. I went running at 5am and could feel the sun already high up and burning the skin of my arms. I could never understand before why the Nordic countries produced such good athletes, due to their harsh long dark winters, but the summer vibe is definitely an inspiration.
Just remember in the summertime, no matter what hour it is, you can be sure that there are some Finns out there training in broad daylight with their pole appendages!
Further Articles by Cassandra under the Women’s section covering :
- No Sweat .. Those Sticky Sweaty Problems
- Periods – Running Red Days
- The run-down on sports bras
- Women only events
- Paula’s pit stop
- Tokyo on a Trot
- The doggone Olympic marathon road
- Running with poles
- Tokyo on a Trot 2
- Footcare for the Woman runner
- Mauritanienne 200 Race Report
- Shoe Generation Gap
- Motivation
- Maintaining motivation
- Security on the run
Who is Cassandra Davis head of the women’s section? | click here |
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