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Check out the new sport of the week, a 55-year-old who ran a marathon 366 times last year, a 48-hour desert race, and a 17-year-old darts world champion. Check it out.

January 07, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Pre-match briefing

Welcome to 2025! We hope y’all had as great a New Year’s Eve as the chess grandmasters who decided they’d played enough and just stopped playing to share the title.

2025, being an odd-numbered year, is a fairly light year in terms of sports- no Olympics and no FIFA World Cup. However, 2025 is a massive year in women’s sports. This year, we’ll see the Women's Rugby World Cup in England, the UEFA Women's European Championships in Switzerland and the Women's Cricket World Cup in India

Also, a quick heads up: we’re changing our format to make our newsletters short and sweet. It’ll save you (and us) quite a bit of time, but also keep the focus on what we really want to share- the underrated gems in the sports world.

Scout’s Overview
📡 🚨 Weekly Sports Radar: Orienteering

Orienteering is a navigation sport where participants use a map and compass to find checkpoints in diverse terrain. It’s a race against the clock, requiring physical endurance and navigational skills.

Orienteering began in the late 19th century in Sweden as a military training exercise. It evolved into a competitive sport in the early 20th century, with the first public orienteering competition held in Norway in 1897.

The most recent World Orienteering Championship was held in July 2024, with Sweden winning the most medals overall. The sport now has various formats including foot, mountain bike, and ski orienteering.

Athlete of the week: Hilde Dosogne

Venue of the week: Empty Quarter Desert

Hilde Dosogne is a 55-year-old ultra-runner and marathon runner from Belgium.

Fun Fact: in 2024, she ran a marathon 366 times (one each day) to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research.

Yes, you heard us right. A desert. That’s where this year’s Dakar Rally is being held, at Rub' al Khali desert in Saudi Arabia.

Fun Fact: The rally is split into 12 stages, including an insane 48-hour marathon across the desert.

🧤 Fit Check: Calgary Flames Home Jersey

One of our very first subscribers suggested this for our fit check this week, and honestly, it’s a great shout! It’s a clean kit with literal flames (Not LITERAL flames) and a nice design. Keep the suggestions coming!

From the bench
🗞️ In case you were injured:

  • 17-year-old Luke Littler defeated 3-time champion Michael van Gerwen to become the youngest winner of the World Darts Championship

  • Aniol Serrasolses performed the largest ever recorded kayak drop from a glacial waterfall

  • F1 driver Carlos Sainz’s father, Carlos Sainz Sr, flipped over his car during stage 2 at the Dakar Rally. Guess it runs in the blood.

🎯 In over-time:

📊 Analyst’s corner:

  • Tiger Woods’ high-tech indoor golf league tees off this week. 24 mic’d up golf players will play in a 64-by-53-foot golf simulator in front of 1,500 people

And that’s a wrap! We hope you like the shorter format, and if you enjoyed reading The Gameplan, consider forwarding it to your friends & family! If you have some ideas, email us at [email protected].

Signing out,
Wasay (brother #2)

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