Opening Ceremonies

Internet is sporadic where we are, but I'll do my best to post when possible. 

After our official training day at Kantiolahti, it was back to Joensuu for the opening ceremonies. We all had high hopes on the entertainment portion of the ceremony after last years' fireworks extravaganza in the Czech Republic. The Finnish kept it simple, with speeches from dignitaries followed by an amusing Finnish Capoeira Dance troupe performance. We were in and out of there within an hour. Now it's time to focus on tomorrow.

Our Opening Ceremony entertainment.
More photos HERE

 Tomorrow's race is the Individual Competition, which means I will be racing 5 laps of 2.5 kilometers, with a stage of shooting in between each lap. For each missed target, one minute is added to my time, which means if I miss all of my targets I will have 20 minutes of penalties. Let’s hope I don’t miss.

I’m not a huge fan of this format of racing because it’s much easier to win the race on the range instead of through physical endurance and overall performance. The race is also the longest of the competition this week, and I seem to do better in the sprints. With that in mind I have to be extremely smart and relaxed while racing tomorrow, and hopefully achieve an acceptable result that I can build upon.

I feel one hundred times better than I did yesterday, and I'm ready to slay it tomorrow.