Narve wins Hytteplanmila at 27:56

THE NARVE DOG

I can add that Axel Vang Christensen recently was runner up after JOEL IBLER LILLESØ(OE) in the famous EREMITAGE run in "Dyrehaven" (the Deer Garden; just north of Copenhagen).

Joel broke the long standing course record (set by the wellknown Danish runner Henrik Joergensen who won the London Marathon in 1988) and Axel was very close to the same longstanding record.

So Axel seems to be back on track after he apparently has had a period with injuries. Interesting to see if he is running at the European X country champs in 1,5 month. It is the last year he is eligible since he turned NINETEEN in July.

Is that the 10k that Kilian tried, and got dusted by children and found out that his little 28 minute time trials translate into 30 flat when the course is measured and timed?

and Monseth is actually born in 2010 while Halle Haugen is from 2009.

29:59 but yes.

I can smell another TRP video coming, given they just saw fit to publish a video about a 12-year old.

Øyen is a major talent, at Jakob Ingebrigtsen level I suspect. I think I read once that he runs about 100-140 km per week when not competing; double threshold and one hard session.

This assumes that all things are equal. In this case, they are not equal. One makes up much of the uphill over the last 200m, and anybody can push themselves hard at that point. In addition, the downhill is long and gradual, and segues into a flat section, i.e. it helps you get into a good rhythm and feel good psychologically at the critical part in a 10km where you need to keep up the pace. Moreover, which is very important, the uphill before it is not too bad; another poster described it as undulating, though there is definite ascent in total. Of course one needs to be strong, but if so one does not drop all that much speed, it is not steep, and occurs early on after a very easy opening.

I should say that I do think that with a perfect disposition of effort, a completely flat course will be faster. But the average runner will not run perfectly, and in total I think it possible that more people will run something closer to their potential on this kind of course where one has some 'assistance' in the middle. As I say, the statistics seem to support this; no other 10km race in Norway comes close in terms of fast times (there is definitely a self-fulfilling aspect to it, with people having it as a goal race, along with the other factors I mentioned, but not to an extent that can be easily explained away).