Ikke gjør som Jin Cao med mindre du er svært godt trent!

Jin Cao
Alle ultraløpere i Norge må ha sett navnet: Jin Cao.

1_Jin_Cao_IMG_9443_cropped_339x404.jpgHan er ikke norsk, han er kineser, men har bodd og jobbet i Norge siden 2011. Han konkurrerer mer og lengre enn de aller fleste ultraløpere, og definitivt mer og lengre enn alle ultraløpere som bor i Norge. Det finnes tydeligvis ingen distanser og utfordringer denne mannen ikke våger seg på.

Han startet konkurranseåret med det 451 kilometer lange Spin Race (UK), et 173 timer langt eventyr. 14. desember løp han årets 22. ultraløp hvorav 18 er fullført mens fem er avbrutt av ulike årsaker (se liste lenger ned). Når dette skrives er han på vei til Nederland og årets 24. ultraløp - betegnende nok et 24-timersløp. At han også har løpt en del maratonløp i år blir bare en parantes i denne sammenhengen.

3 500 kilometer bortover / 132 km oppover!
Før han løper 24-timersløpet i Nederland har han prestert å løpe 3 358 kilometer i ultraløpskonkurranser i 2013 (passerer dermed helt sikkert 3 500), og kanskje vel så imponerende: samlet høydemeter på disse konkurransene er 132 kilometer eller 132 542 meter!

Det "sprøeste" av løpene han har startet på i år er nok Italienske "Tor des Géants" på 330 kilometer og 24 000 høydemeter. Det måtte han dessverre bryte etter "bare" 206 kilometer pga forkjølelse, men det betyr bare at han prøver igjen senere!

Det er mange som lurer på om du har flyttet permanent til Norge eller jobber her bare for en periode. Kan du fortelle litt om deg selv og tilknytningen til Norge?

Jin_Cao_vinner_Janut230K (136x136).jpg- Etter min doktorgradsstudium og ett år med forskning på pengepolitikken ved Universitetet i München, bestemte jeg meg for å gjøre mer arbeid for den "virkelige verden". Så fikk jeg et jobbtilbud og flyttet til Oslo i 2011. har jeg en fast stilling som forskningsøkonom i Norges Bank, som betyr at jeg kan bo i Norge lenge jeg vil, sier Jin med et smil.Han smiler forresten alltid!

Resten av svaret tar vi på engelsk: -  Since I have been enjoying very much this lovely country, people, and my work, I guess I will continue to stay in Norway for quite some time.

Det betyr også at vi kommer til å se Jin også i mange norske ultraløp de neste årene, blant annet i neste års Salomon XREID Hardangervidda.
 

Jin's løpsliste 2013:


Jin's oppsummering av løpsåret 2013:

It is very good year and I enjoyed a lot -- with some regret though. Including several city marathons, I will participate more than 30 long distance events for the year.

The year started with a very harsh "SPINE Race" in UK, January, running almost 280 miles from England to Scotland, over mountains, moors, with lots of ice and snow. In the last day, we survived one of the strongest snowstorms in a decade in UK and managed to reach the finish line. The SPINE is not only about running, it is more about survival, with a lot of comraderies. It will be a great memory for many years to come.

Dette og neste bilde er fra Spin Race
Kondisreportasje fra Spin Race

Jin_Cao_Junut_2013_vignett.jpgAfter a rather long break with only several short races, I returned to 230km-long "Jurasteig Nonstop Ultra Trail" in April. As one of the longest trail races in Germany, it started to attract more and more good runners and the competition became very tough. Even after running almost 100 miles, I only got a 5-minute lead. But since then I tried hard to hold up my speed without much slowing down, so that I could win the race again and improved the course record by three and a half hours.

Bildet:
Jin i Jurasteig Nonstop Ultra

One week later I started my spring vacation in Japan from running "Sakura-Michi", 250km race from Pacific Ocean to Japanese Sea. I was interrupted by snowstorm after covering 172km. But four days later I continued my journey to Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji, the Asian sister of UTMB. With clear sky and full moon, the view from the tour around Mt. Fuji was breath-taking. Suffering from digestion disorder, I couldn't eat or drink for more than 10 hours before reaching the finish line. But the result -- ranked within top 20% -- seemed not bad.

Kondis reportasje fra Mt. Fuji løpet til Jin

In the end of May I completed one of the longest hiking trails in Germany, 320km "Reinsteig" along the Valley of Rhine. The course, dotted by numerous castles over the cliffs, is quite scenic, and it is a harsh trail as well. With only 2 official aid stations, it was a long battle with fatigue, muddy forestry trails, and storms.

One of the most impressive races in summer was Xreid Hardangervidda. It was a fairly rough course with very little support, while left runners alone most of the time to enjoy the nature. Other than that, people in the Alps seem to be in an arm race -- trail races are getting more and more technical. Some races, like Trail Ticono, are going though areas that one would never thought to be suitable for running -- it makes UTMB or Tor des Geants look like express way. In late summer, one week after finishing UTMB in a very relaxed way, I continued with Tor des Geants -- 330km trail around Valle d'Aosta, Italy. It went on pretty well until I got a severe flu on the third day during the cold night and had to quit. 

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Jin på de siste meterne opp mot Gaustatoppen (foto: Agurtxane Concellon)

Bislett 24h in the end of the year is my favorite Scandinavian running festival. I have to say that I am not mentally tough to do such races, and often get mad after 10 hours. Thanks to the cheerful supporters and fellow runners, I was able to stay on track all the time and made my new personal best for almost 207km. That was one of the happiest moments of the year.

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Jin underveis på Bislett 24-timers (foto:Kjell Vigestad).

There are still two races in the remaining days of the year: 70km Jägerstein in Harz forest as a recovery exercise of Bislett, and followed by a 24h race in the Netherlands right before Christmas feast starts. Next year I will probably focus on several very long runs and reduce the number of races (it is not always pleasant to travel every other weekend).

Jin