Discussion: FWOC Alumni enter two Jukola teams

Last year Vancouver (GVOC) put together what I believe is the first Canadian team ever to run in the Jukola relay. They had outstanding performances from all their runners and exceeded their goal of finishing in the top half, placing 631st out of 1323 teams. Following in the footsteps of this great accomplishment Calgary (FWOC) has entered two teams in this year’s race – a women’s team (in the Venla race, during the day) and a men’s team (in the Jukola race, starting at 11pm).

This year the organizers are expecting a record number of teams, over 2300 in all, 1400 in Jukola and 900 in Venla. That is over 12,500 runners!

Here are the team members and running orders.

Men:
Martin Pardoe – FWOC alumni, former Canadian M21E champion
James Baker – FWOC alumni, often-time M35 champ in Canada & US, now living in UK
Thomas Nipen – FWOC alumni, too fast for Calgary now living in Vancouver
Olav Nipen – FWOC alumni, more Canadian champs than any other Norwegian, sagest of the bunch
Mark Gibbard – FWOC alumni, co-founder of Barebones, now living in Stockholm
Adrian Zissos – FWOC member, co-founder of Barebones
Brent Langbakk – interloper, but otherwise nice guy

Women:
Pippa McNeil – FWOC wannabe, Yukon lynchpin, recovering from persistent injury
Suzanne Pearson – new mum, would-be FWOC member if she ever moved “home” from Whistler
Anita Brattland – old mum, FWOC alumni, now living in Stockholm
Charlotte MacNaughton – FWOC member, COF president, all-round sweetie

Jukola website:
http://www.jukola2007.net/virkia/jukola.nsf/sp?ope...).

Great to hear about this!
I´m practically a FWOC member myself - or at least I was around when the club started in the 1980ies (although I was a member of the now defunct Calgary Kangaroos club) and AOA was one big family...
See you in Finland!

How come I was not invited? My wife is from Calgary, and I have visited and ran at your premier "O" area (aka Nose Hill ha ha ha).
(I'm not dead yet)

good luck FWOC..

Go FWOC! We have already seen some suspicious looking FWOC agents lurking around here. So good results can be expected.

Ross, you are of course invited to do the 4th leg for FWOC. I can run Jukola every year, while it is more a "once in my life time" opportunity for you. In addition, I can offer the shortest leg (7.5-7.7 km, 45 min winning time), and you will also increase the Calgary connection as your wife has probablly lived more winters than me in Calgary. My stay in Calgary was 6 winters.

Best of luck FWOC. Need to do this myself sometime soon. See you all in Sask.

From the FWOC Venla team roster:
Charlotte MacNaughton – FWOC member, COF president, all-round sweetie

Nice! I want to be announced as "all-round sweetie" some time when I'm standing on the pre-start platform at WOC.

Jukola is a blast. Good luck FWOC teams!

Last year the NA-Jukola contingent was CSU vs. GVOC - this year apparently it's DVOA vs. FWOC... And new for 2007 - Venla teams from both.

Eric, 'all around sweetie' sounds way better than 'interloper' doesn't it?

ntr-lpr
NOUN: 1. One that interferes with the affairs of others, often for selfish reasons; a meddler. 2. One that intrudes in a place, situation, or activity: “When these interlopers choke out native species, ecologists see a danger signal” (William K. Stevens, New York Times December 18, 1990). 3. Archaic a. One that trespasses on a trade monopoly, as by conducting unauthorized trade in an area designated to a chartered company. b. A ship or other vessel used in such trade.

maybe I should offer my spot to Ross...