Let the race season begin
Well that's me out in Idre, Sweden this week in the run up to my first qualification races next weekend. The British Nordic Youth Team headed out on Sunday and we have a week of training on snow and getting to know the course before the actual races next Saturday and Sunday.
My best chance of qualification is the 1km sprint on the Saturday. I'm quite good at the high speed, high tempo races and it's in skate technique which is my favourite of the 2 cross country ski styles. Then the following day, it's a 10km skate (or freestyle) race which I'll be going out full bore to see if I can get a top result in this first meet. I've been working hard all summer to get to this stage, but it's so easy to crash out or make the slightest mistake that can cost you seconds.
I'm out here with a few of the GB youth team and we're all competing for places at the European Youth Olympics in February. We'll be up against the best of the Swedes and the Norwegians who are the top nations when it comes to cross country skiing - but our senior athletes are starting to break into the top 10 in the world now so we have some great inspiration to go that one better.
In the meantime, my crowdfunder appeal has been doing well and I've reached £1,000 towards my overall £1,500 target. Huge thanks to all that have donated and supported me - I look forward to doing you all proud this weekend and getting on my way to qualification. If you've not had a chance to take a look at my Plede Sport page then please drop in by https://www.pledgesports.org/projects/brodie-murray-youth-olympic-dream-2/ any contribution would be very well received.
I've not been resting on my laurels and I've been continually training during November. One such example is a 10km race I did in the town of Brodie in Moray, NE Scotland. No, it's not where I was named after but it was an ideal opportunity for me to run in a race named after me. Anyway, I managed to come in as 3rd senior men's runner but there was some serious runners that day. I really pushed myself on the final 1km, so much so, that I ended up bring up my breakfast on the finish line. My dad did get a photo but it's not something I'd like to push out to the wider world, so here's one of me heading off at the start instead.
