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!Vasaloppet!
Here's an overview of some of the high points of arguably the worlds
greatest cross country ski race. If you have never done it, then try to make the pilgrimage. I just received an e-mail from a friend of mine there who says that there is electricity in the air. Great anticipation for the 80th version of Vasaloppet. I skied it on the 70th anniversary. I hope to ski the 100th at age 77. It is possible I suppose. My buddy is the only nonSwede to ski the race 30 times. After 30 completions the Vasaloppet organization pays your way to and from the race and there is no entry fee. He says that most all of his company at the special dinner for these multi-timers are Swedish farmers. They appear to "wonder" what he is doing there as a foreigner. The video images from the air of the Vasa start are just amazing. Try to get a video, or tune in via the race website: It'll be broadcasted live. The mass of skiers looks like a huge colony of ants or somekind of single cell organism spreading over the surface it rests on. For those of you with an interest in "commercial" shortwave- in 1995 Radio Sweden interviewed me over the telephone to get my account as a Yankee in the race. Frankly I had no idea how to ski it, so I was very conservative. I never had skied more than 60 km. at once before that. Imagine being about one half way through a race at 50 km. The fact that it is "flat" doesn't help much. There is little rest. It took me over 8 hours. I think I could do it in 6.5 or 7 as I am a strong double poler. I get penalized on the hills for my weight. A good start from a good starting place is necessary to be able to "race" this race. I couldn't ski my pace until 30 km. What the following summary doesn't include is the 1994 race that I did. Then Staffan Larsson arrived at the final km. among the race leaders. He had double poled the entire distance with his leg in a full rigid cast. Much of his training was done in a sit ski sled after he hurt his knee on a training run along the Vasaloppet track. And sadly one of the Blomquist brothers died of cancer about ten years ago. I have a video tape of them arriving at the finish together. They look at each other, shrug their shoulders and hoist the garland girl onto their shoulders, carrying her with them across the finish line. May I boldly predict a win for Stanislav Rezac this year. That's my hope, and it is surely a possibility. Gary Jacobson Rosendale, NY From: www.vasaloppet.se The brothers Örjan and Anders Blomquist from IFK Lidingö carry the "garland girl" Karin Värnlund over the finishing line. This is a unique event in Vasaloppet's history. A shared victory - for the first time! Per-Erik Särna-Hedlund and Sven Utterström tried in 1928. Arthur Häggblad and Hjalmar Blomstedt in 1935. Mora-Nisse Karlsson and Anders Törnkvist in 1947. But none of them were allowed to share the victory as the finish referees could separate them out. So in 1988, a unique page of skiing history was written when Örjan and Anders Blomquist succeeded in conciliating the competition jury. And what a way to do it! This was sport and brotherly love at it's best. The moment that the brothers crossed the line together, and with the garland girl in their arms, is one of the finest and happiest moments in Vasaloppet's long history. Everyone wanted the Blomquists to win Vasaloppet. Three years in a row they been cheated of victory by nine seconds in all. And now the popular brothers from Lidingö finally made it - as joint winners! Record participation At the head of the result list for Vasaloppet 2002 was Falun-Borlänges Daniel Tynell. But after him were a further 13,826 names - a record number! This exceeded the previous record from 1996 by 600. The last man in, some eight hours after Tynell, was Karl Höferl from Austria. Unique races 1922 - 1962 1922: The first Vasaloppet. 139 skiers had entered for the race. Of these 119 actually started and only two of them broke off during the race. The surprise winner was the 22 year old Ernst Alm from IFK Norsjö in Västerbotten, whose winning time was 7 hours 32 minutes and 49 seconds. As he finished a laurel wreath was placed over his head by Therese Eliasson from Mora, who thus became the first "kranskulla" (garland girl). In second place, just 5 minutes after Alm, was Oskar Lindberg, also from IFK Norsjö. 1923: First woman in Vasaloppet Margit Nordin from Grängesberg made skiing history as the first woman to complete Vasaloppet. Her time was 10 hours 9 minutes and 42 seconds. Margit was acclaimed at the finish as the gifted skier she was, but shortly afterwards it was decided that women were not eligible to take part in the race. 1925: First live radio transmission from Vasaloppet. Radio broadcasting began in Sweden on 1 January 1925 and the radio service, with support from enthusiasts in the local Falun radio club, wanted to try a direct transmission from Vasaloppet. Sven Jerring was entrusted with reporting from the finish in Mora. Sven went on the air at 13.00 but just 30 seconds later the winner, Sven Utterström, reached the finish! Chaos ensued, but this was the beginning of an incredible radio epoch from Vasaloppet, with Sven at the microphone. He covered his last race in 1973. 1928: Shared victory, but no shared jubilation! Sweden's two best skiers, Sven "Uttern" Utterström from Boden and Per-Erik "Särna" Hedlund, were the best of friends and wanted to share the victory. They crossed the finishing line side by side but the competition jury judged Hedlund the winner. Utterström and Hedlund refused to accept the jury's decision and angrily handed back their prizes. 1931: First Mora Winner Vasaloppet celebrated its 10th anniversary when Mora's Anders Ström, after a heroic spurt, gave IFK Mora its first Vasaloppet victory. Anders overtook Hilding Olsson in a finishing dash and won with a margin of only seven seconds. 1940: Häggblads fourth victory. Arthur Häggblad from IFK Umeå wins Vasaloppet for the fourth time. The always reliable Häggblad put on a burst of speed after Oxberg, and paraded before a thrilled public over the finishing line. Of course, this year Vasaloppet was overshadowed by the outbreak of war. However, it was decided to hold the race and the surplus income from Vasaloppet was donated to Finland Aid and to Swedish soldiers serving on the country's borders. 1943: Mora-Nisses first victory. At the age of 25, Nils Karlsson, later known to everyone as "Mora-Nisse", made his Vasaloppet début. He won and his sister Elsa, who was kranskulla that year, placed the victory wreath on her brother's shoulders. 1944: Mora-Nisse narrowly misses victory A huge crowd waited at the finish expecting to see Mora-Nisse claim his second victory, and the local favourite was in the lead right up to the finishing straight. But there came a challenge from the little known Gösta Andersson, from IFK Umeå, which led to a terrific duel. Gösta chose to move out to the right where he got better glide. Mora-Nisse could find no reply, and had to accept defeat, just 1 second after Gösta Andersson's sensational victory in a new record time of 5 hours, 18 minutes and 43 seconds. 1947: Shared medal After a tough battle, Mora-Nisse Karlsson and Anders Törnkvist, fellow club members, decided to share the victory. Arm in arm, they skied over the finishing line - but the competition jury nevertheless judged Mora-Nisse the winner. "Anders is just as much the winner as I am", said Mora-Nisse,and the pair of them went to a jeweller's to get the prestigious winning medal cut in half! 1950: The biggest winning margin Mora-Nisse was in great form and there was no one even close to challenging him. His winning margin over the second man, Martin Karlsson from Hofors, was all of 21 minutes! 1954: First foreign winner At his fourth attempt the Finnish ski orienteerer won Vasaloppet. Although he was not one Finland's absolute top skiers, his staying power and technique meant that Vasaloppet suited him perfectly. His winning margin was all of 10 minutes! 1961: New records David "Dalle" Johansson from Delsbo was the sensational winner of the 38th Vasaloppet, a race which began with a record - 1,444 starters - and which also finished with a new record time. "Dalle" won with a time of 4 hours, 45 minutes and 10 seconds. For the first time, the race start was in Berga by. 1962: Janne Stefansson's first victory A classic race with three skiing "giants" as front runners - Sixten Jernberg, Assar Rönnlund and Janne Stefansson. Assar Rönnlund relaxed his grip before the Eldris checkpoint and, at the finish, Sixten Jernberg had to yield to Janne Stefansson. A tactical triumph for the Sälen skier. Unique races 1965 - 2003 1965: Janne Stefansson's record time 4 hours, 45 minutes and 3 seconds. This incredible record time - on wooden skis! - was set by Janne Stefansson who won by a margin of over 6 minutes before Bjarne Andersson, IFK Mora. 1971: First Norwegian victory Ole Ellefsäter won after leading for most of the race. He was barely two minutes before Bjarne Andersson, IFK Mora, who in fact had suggested to Ellefsäter that he should take part! After the race, the historic Norwegian winner praised the terrific support and service he had received during the race from the local club, IFK Mora. 1973: 50th anniversary Vasaloppet's 50th race was won by the Finn, Pauli Siitonen, but without him knowing it! Thomas Magnusson, from Delsbo, had a very good lead for most of the time, but had stopped for re-waxing in Hemus. Siitonen saw no sign of the Swedish star in front of him and thought, as he crossed the finishing line, that he was taking second place. His joy was in no way diminished when it became clear to him that he was, in fact, the winner of the 50th Vasaloppet. 1975: First German victory Gert-Dietmar Klause, from what was then East Germany (DDR),triumphed, but displayed no particular joy at having won the world's biggest ski race. He was very closely watched by the East German security police and made only the very briefest comment on his victory. 1977: First Russian victory 31 year old Ivan Garanin won Vasaloppet after a burst of speed by which he broke loose from the Finn Jorma Kinnunen in a final tussle. His time margin was 1 minute and 13 seconds, and in third place was Orsa's Tommy Limby. 1978: First French victory Jean-Paul Pierrat raised his arms to the sky as he came to the finish as the first Frenchman to win Vasaloppet. It was something of a tactical triumph for Pierrat; a thaw had set it, and he kept a very cool head in difficult conditions. After a burst of speed in Eldris, with his first rate skis, no one could stop the vigorous Frenchman. Pierrat won two minutes before IFK Mora's Tommy Jönsson. 1979: Ola Hassis breaks record Ola Hassis, from Orsa, pinned his hopes on glide wax with a little grip wax, but he was really relying on his very strong arms. And this was the deciding factor. In a tough fight to the finish there was no one who could overpower Ola who set a new record of 4 hours, 5 minutes and 58 seconds. 1981: Lundbäck crowns his career Sven-Åke Lundbäck won Olympic gold in Sapporo (1972), World Championship gold in Lahtis (1978), as well as 10 gold medals in the Swedish National Championships. When he now won Vasaloppet, it was the crowning moment of a fantastic skiing career, with victories in all the major competitions. 1982 First disqualification The Frenchman Jean-Paul Pierrat made his mark again but, this time, in a more negative sense. Pierrat was first over the finishing line, but was disqualified by the competition jury after a protest. Pierrat had changed skis during the race. Lasse Frykberg, IFK Mora, who had been second, was declared the rightful winner. 1987: The coldest race The thermometer showed around -30°C at the start in Berga by when the starter, Erik Åhs, sent the skiers on their way. Anders Larsson, from Bondsjöhöjden, won this coldest ever Vasaloppet in a time of 4 hours, 20 minutes and twenty seconds. 1990: Cancelled A hard day for the Vasaloppet organisers. Extremely mild weather had turned the snow into water on long stretches between Sälen and Mora. For the first time in recent history Vasaloppet had to be cancelled. 1998: A new record time Peter Göransson from Åsarna IK wrote himself into Vasaloppet's history with a record time of 3 hours, 38 minutes, and 57 seconds. He won a few centimetres before Staffan Larsson, IFK Mora, who had led the race until one metre before the finish. In 2003 the record still stands. 1999: Revenge Staffan Larsson was back in the hunt again after the previous year's disappointment. This time Staffan was totally uncompromising, and came to the finish as the undisputed runaway winner in a time of 4 hours, 31 minutes and 37 seconds. Seldom has Vasaloppet had such a popular winner. |
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!Vasaloppet!
Alas. It is not going to be broadcasted live over the internet. But you can
follow the progress of skiers by way of their computer chips that trigger timing at various stations along the course. Can anyone in Sweden give us live commentary in English? That way we can wake up and read the results at breakfast. It'll be Abba herring for me- the one with the market name "Swedish spices". Gary Jacobson Rosendale, NY |
#3
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!Vasaloppet!
"Gary Jacobson" wrote in message .. .
Here's an overview of some of the high points of arguably the worlds greatest cross country ski race. If you have never done it, then try to make the pilgrimage. The start in the middle of nowhere stinks, the traffic jam right after the start stinks, the long, boring - if skiing can ever be boring - "transport passages" stink, but it´s still the greatest ski race with the greatest history, the greatest sense of tradition, the greatest national attention and the greatest amount of "there´s something special in the atmosphere today"! version of Vasaloppet. I skied it on the 70th anniversary. I hope to ski the 100th at age 77. It is possible I suppose. Oh yes: two guys did their 50th Vasaloppet/Öppet Spår; the other was 72 and the other 76 - and his time was 8:52:40! OTOH a meteorologist has expressed his doubt whether the race will survive until its 110th anniversary, at least in the present form and on the present date - "white winters" willl become rarer and much shorter still... My buddy is the only nonSwede to ski the race 30 times. After 30 completions the Vasaloppet organization pays your way to and from the race and there is no entry fee. He says that most all of his company at the special dinner for these multi-timers are Swedish farmers. They appear to "wonder" what he is doing there as a foreigner. If he sticks to if a few more years, he will have the company of a Scotsman (now residing in Sweden) who has done the race every year since 1978. BTW your buddy would surely have deserved to be mentioned by name also:-) (A quick Google search gave no result, but I found out that 70 such skiers turned up for the Öppet Spår.) The video images from the air of the Vasa start are just amazing. Try to get a video, or tune in via the race website: It'll be broadcasted live. OTOH Finlandiahiihto got two minutes (and a 30-minute "human interest" story a week later)... May I boldly predict a win for Stanislav Rezac this year. That's my hope, and it is surely a possibility. Seconded. 1954: First foreign winner At his fourth attempt the Finnish ski orienteerer won Vasaloppet. Although he was not one Finland's absolute top skiers, his staying power and technique meant that Vasaloppet suited him perfectly. His winning margin was all of 10 minutes! That would be Pekka Kuvaja. He was a 50km specialist *and* an orienteerer (not a ski orienteerer; I don´t think the sport existed way back then.) He´d been second in 1951 and 1952. 1971: First Norwegian victory All together now: "...and the last Norwegian victory!":-) Well, in any case, the *only* Norwegian victory. So far... FWIW, 2004 Öppet Spår: Prince Carl Philip (~25) finishes in 6:21:52 and breaks the Bernadotte family record of 7:09:45 set by his father King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1987 (at ~40). Last but not least, 2004: Anders (who got wimpy after his bout of flu) wonders what he might´ve done from start group three (which was ridiculously easy to get seeded in via the Finlandia). Anders |
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!Vasaloppet!
"Gary Jacobson" wrote in message . ..
Can anyone in Sweden give us live commentary in English? Janne has a "previous appointment", you know! Besides, you are asking someone to spend the best (skiing) part of Sunday indoors:-) Anders (who´ll be rooting for Beckie and Sara in Lahti - and who´ll watch the Vasaloppet on video) |
#5
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!Vasaloppet!
Anders Lustig wrote:
"Gary Jacobson" wrote in message .. . May I boldly predict a win for Stanislav Rezac this year. That's my hope, and it is surely a possibility. Seconded. I'm hoping for one of the Aukland brothers, Jørgen has been very close a few times, and Anders did win Marcialonga. 1971: First Norwegian victory All together now: "...and the last Norwegian victory!":-) Well, in any case, the *only* Norwegian victory. So far... I know!!! :-( Terje -- - "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching" |
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!Vasaloppet!
The FrontRunner is in the Elite Wave for the Vasaloppet this year. He
finished around 500th the last time he did it. Nordic Norm (John O'Connell) did the Half Vasa. It was Orjan Blomquist who died. Anders does color commentary on the Vasaloppet broadcast. Jay Tegeder ""I faders spar for framtids segrar" "Gary Jacobson" wrote in message . .. Alas. It is not going to be broadcasted live over the internet. But you can follow the progress of skiers by way of their computer chips that trigger timing at various stations along the course. Can anyone in Sweden give us live commentary in English? That way we can wake up and read the results at breakfast. It'll be Abba herring for me- the one with the market name "Swedish spices". Gary Jacobson Rosendale, NY |
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!Vasaloppet!
On 5 Mar 2004, Anders Lustig wrote:
"Gary Jacobson" wrote in message .. . At his fourth attempt the Finnish ski orienteerer won Vasaloppet. That would be Pekka Kuvaja. He was a 50km specialist *and* an orienteerer (not a ski orienteerer; I don't think the sport existed way back then.) According to the book "Orienteering" (Hans Bengtsson,1977) the first civilian Ski-O competition was held in Sweden Mar 4, 1900! The first civilian dry-land O competition was in Norway Oct 7 1900. Before that there were O competitions (on and off skis) in the military. The book also makes the claim that the 1949 Olympic Conference in Rome gave Ski-O "Olympic Status"! Vasaloppet is still on my "to do" list- probably the Öppet Spår. I've visited the VL area twice in summer on bicycle tours, spent several hours in the VL museum in Mora. I cycled the VL route (on the paved highway which parallels the trail) and it sure didn't seem flat to me! On VL Sunday, 1995, I was in Gjøvik, Norway and watched the start live on Swedish TV- I could have stayed inside all day watching but the skiing around Gjøvik was SO GOOD that day! Not quite live TV coverage but there is a camera overlooking the street at the finish area that updates its picture every 5 seconds. You can see skiers go by but you can't read their bib numbers! "http://kamera.mora.se/" The camera at the start is only updated ever 24 hours "http://mora.vasaloppet.se/DagensBild/content.html" It looks like it has been sunny in Mora for the last few days. -- David Dermott , Wolfville Ridge, Nova Scotia, Canada email: WWW pages: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/dermott/ |
#8
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!Vasaloppet!
On Fri, 5 Mar 2004, David Dermott wrote: According to the book "Orienteering" (Hans Bengtsson,1977) the first civilian Ski-O competition was held in Sweden Mar 4, 1900! The first civilian dry-land O competition was in Norway Oct 7 1900. Before that there were O competitions (on and off skis) in the military. The book also makes the claim that the 1949 Olympic Conference in Rome gave Ski-O "Olympic Status"! Yes but that doesn't require games organizers to actually include the sport in their games. While ski-O has been an Olympic approved sport for a long time it has never actually been included in the games. There have been several attempts to get it included but the O' crowd doesn't seem to have whatever it takes to entice organizers to include it. (Read however you like.) Vasaloppet is still on my "to do" list- probably the ppet Spr. I've visited the VL area twice in summer on bicycle tours, spent several hours in the VL museum in Mora. I cycled the VL route (on the paved highway which parallels the trail) and it sure didn't seem flat to me! We skied Oppet Spr once. My impression was that while it's not pancake flat, there were few sizable climbs. It was a warm-ish day with temps hovering close to 0 C. People were having waxing fits all along the way. At one point our kick became non-existant. Having already tired of messing with wax we just said "oh bother" and proceeded to double-pole the next 20 km until the kick returned. Turned out to be not all that difficult at all. We were passing tons of people, even during this section, both uphill and down. The most important thing at this point was to look ahead and keep jumping from one track to the next so we could carry our downhill momentum into the next uphill and not get stuck behind someone and have to slow down. (In other words it's better to DP half or 1/3 of an uphill than to DP all of it!) -Mitch |
#9
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!Vasaloppet!
David Dermott wrote:
According to the book "Orienteering" (Hans Bengtsson,1977) the first civilian Ski-O competition was held in Sweden Mar 4, 1900! The first civilian dry-land O competition was in Norway Oct 7 1900. Before that there were O competitions (on and off skis) in the military. This is correct, more or less: The first orienteering competion ever was held in Norway a few years earlier, and it was organized by the military. However, I believe it was open for civilians as well. (But I guess the Swedes would like to pretend/believe they were first. :-) The book also makes the claim that the 1949 Olympic Conference in Rome gave Ski-O "Olympic Status"! This just means that there's national federations for Ski-O in enough countries to qualify for the winter olympics. This limit is significantly lower than the one required for a summer sport. Terje -- - "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching" |
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!Vasaloppet!
On Fri, 5 Mar 2004, Terje Mathisen wrote: The book also makes the claim that the 1949 Olympic Conference in Rome gave Ski-O "Olympic Status"! This just means that there's national federations for Ski-O in enough countries to qualify for the winter olympics. This limit is significantly lower than the one required for a summer sport. Plus it's not just a simple matter of meeting a qualifying standard. It's all very much politics. At one point we were being told that the summer games were "full". If any new sport wished to be included in the summer games they had to not only meet whatever current qualifying standard was in place at the time, they also had to propose which currently included sport should be kicked out. Now, who wants to play that game? (!) Meanwhile the story was that the winter games were not "full" and therefore there was room yet to add more sports. One of the primary problems with getting ski-O added has been the difficulty of showing it on TV. Oh, that and the fact that the vast majority of Americans has no idea what it is. (Even the ones who think they do know.) Another problem has been that there would be scheduling congestion trying to get at whatever x-c ski trails are available. There's already cross country, biathlon, and nordic combined vying for trail time. -Mitch |
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