La Transjurassienne in danger!!

January 17, 2012

Some of you may be aware of the problems the organization of La Transjurassienne encountered last winter; lack of snow was already a source of concern when just a few hours before the onset of the event, they were notified that they were not allowed to hold the events because of Environmental protection concerns.

Indeed, a beautiful bird, the Western Capercaillie more commonly known as the Wood Grouse, nests in the Jura Massif and in all evidence it needs to be protected; all Nordic lovers are in agreement. The day before the start of the 2011 events of La Transjurassienne, two elected public figures showed up with an official warrant forbidding the events to be held, all in the name of the protection of the Wood Grouse. On Saturday afternoon!!!

Heated negotiations lasting all night were necessary to finally work out an agreement (the snow conditions at the time didn’t leave many alternatives). Unfortunately, the same elected ecologists who oddly enough, would like to see the extinction La Transjurassienne are determined to continue the fight. This time, at just 2 months from the onset of La Transjurassienne events, the Prefect (head civil servant of the Region) informed the organization of La Transjurassienne that their official request for authorization to hold the 2012 events was refused by the Commission of Environmental Protection –the document was signed by a single Expert… anonymously! The events, therefore, cannot legally be held!
Unbelievable when you know to what extent Trans’Organisation goes to in the effort to create an eco-friendly event (like most Nordic races for that matter): car-pooling, using recyclable packaging, ordering products with minimum packaging and using local products to limit the transport distance, progressive elimination of plastic-throw away cups… : environmental protection is already a integral way of reasoning and acting” within the organization of La Transjurassienne.

So the race should be cancelled because the passage of skiers over one weekend could perturb the Wood Grouse’s environment? Curiously enough, before the snow falls, hundreds of vehicles drive over the same roads connecting France and Switzerland every day and no one worries about what impact that could have on the Wood Grouse! 
How can you condemn Nordic skiing in the name of the environment… how can you advocate “getting back to nature” and ban ski lifts and snow making machines!

There is still time to react so that France does not disappear from the face of the Worldloppet International long-distance ski circuit. This is a call to all skiers, in France and all over the World, to send your words of encouragement and support and to testify your commitment; your commitment not only to the Environment but to all popular Cross-Country ski events by sending your testimony to: info@transjurassienne.com.

I’d like to make it clear that I am in no way linked to the Organization of La Transjurassienne and I am not at all insensitive to the importance of fighting for environment. Quite the contrary, I have been passionately committed to ecology and have made my profession out of my convictions working as Director of Sustainable Development in several big cities as well as for regional and local French authorities.

I have always fought against climate change, for bio diversity and against a society that constantly ignores the rights of Nature: that is why I am deeply troubled by the actions of our elected ecologists. Even more so because the battle they are fighting is unjust and because they are projecting a negative image of Ecology, an image they don’t need in these times of social and economic crisis.

You have the power to save La Transjurassienne from the transgressions of these pseudo-ecologists: I’m counting on you, persist and sign…

Boris Petroff, WL master and Director of Urban Ecology.

 

Long distance races in the 2011-2012 season

January 2, 2012

Are you looking for more races? Thomas Huber has put together a list of long-distance races all over the world. Wheather you want more races, variety of races or just something new, have a look at this table.

 

The French Masters were preparing the season 2012

by Boris Petroff

December 7, 2011

They were about twenty, got together on Hervé Courtine's initiative, in the small resort  of Besse in  Auvergne, at the beginning of October.

Every year our French regular runners of the of Worldloppet’s races meet to evoke the past races, exchange addresses and useful informations. And simply for the pleasure to be together.

It was a friendly meeting, without competition (except for drinking wines !) and filled with anecdotes, but very sporty also.
Saturday, at the program, the difficult climbing of the resort of Super-Besse by roller skiing, on the ground of the French championships of this year.

In one of the cars which led the participants at the start, we counted 47 titles of WL Master : 22 for Hannes Larsson, 8 for Boris Petroff, 7 for André Viry, 6 for Hervé Courtine and 4 for Isabelle Petroff … 47 masters in 1 car !

A conducted visit of the Museum of the Ski allowed to discover and especially to admire the ingenuity of the skiers before 1900 (the Museum covers the period of the debuts of the ski until 1920) to find the best wood, give them a good shape and make boots hold on these slats.

Hannes Larsson dedicated his fantastic book “cross-country skiing around the world”

On Sunday, the small troop had still well reduced to climb the summit of Sancy, so much the weather report had degraded... It was an excellent way to prepare the winter and to acclimatize to the most hostile temperatures: wind, rain and temperature around 0 ° Celsius!

Undoubtedly, nothing can stop Worldloppet Masters! 

And the future gets ready :  there were in Besse 4 skiers' generations and future skiers.

For more information, contact hcourtine@orange .fr

Photos by Gilles Bertin and Boris Petroff

 

 

More information about Hannes’ book

by Bengt Karlsson

November 29, 2011

Kava-Pech, the publisher of Hannes’ book “Cross-country Skiing Around the World” , has completed the information on prices, shipping costs and payment methods. You will find everything on their website www.kava-pech.cz.
Christmas is approaching. Hannes’ book is an excellent present to family and friends. You can buy three books for the price of two, and for ten books the discount is 37%.
Hannes will be present at Worldloppet races during the ten weeks of the coming Nordic winter and can sign dedications in the copies purchased by the skiers. Hopefully the books will be available at most Worldloppet races. People who have already read the book are enthusiastic and consider it as a splendid monument to XC skiing and in particular Worldloppet. However, you may wish to see the book before buying it, and this is possible next winter. Hannes’ schedule for next season is:

• Jizerská Padesátka
• Dolomitenlauf
• Marcialonga
• Sapporo Ski Marathon
• La Transjurassienne
• Gatineau Loppet
• Finlandia-hiihto
• Bieg Piastów
• Engadin Skimarathon
• Birkebeinerrennet

Our best wishes to all members for a successful season.

 

 

 

Minutes of IAWLS General Assembly held at Howmans Gap Australia  Friday 26th August  2011

October 24, 2011

Attendence:

Colin Addison (chairperson), Craig Alexander, Judy Barnes, Meg Bate, Rod Clutterbuck, Marg Hayes, Susan Luscombe, John Miller, Nhan Nguyen,  Alan Rae, Doris Trueman, Bruce Wharrie, Robert Palliser, Hannes Larsson, Jurgen Wasner, Minoru Matsuyama, Takashima Kiyohiro, Jan Jasiewicz

Proxies received:  40

Meeting commenced  at 1600hrs, due to lack of quorum the meeting was adjourned and then reopened with those in attendance and the proxies held as the quorum.
Moved:  Jan Jasiewicz  Seconded: Hannes Larsson
All present in favour

Item 1: Acceptance of Presidents Report

Moved: Robert Palliser  Seconded: Judy Barnes
All present in favour, one proxy against

Item 2: Acceptance of the treasurers report
Moved: Bruce Wharrie Seconded: Doris Trueman
Passed unanimous

Item 3: Motion to Re-elect listed Executive Committee members (Christophe Joanblanq)
Moved: Robert Palliser  Seconded:  John Miller
Passed unanimous

Item 4: Motion to elect Bjorn Hanson (USA) to the Executive Committee
Moved: Judy Barnes Seconded: Alan Rae

Item 5: Fixing of IAWLS membership fee to zero
Discussion was held  as to whether a fee should be introduced before the above motion was put
Moved: Bruce Wharrie Seconded: Hannes Larsson

New Business:

Item 6: IAWLS should write to World Loppet  urging that should all other needs be met including safety and snow cover, before accepting nomination, the organisers of the Demino Marathon should consider shifting the race to one week later to avoid a clash with the Birkebiennerennet  in order to maximise participation of Worldloppet Skiers,particularly those from: Australia, Japan, North America and all those with complex travel arrangements.  The formal draft of the letter  to be forwarded to the executive committee by the chair.
Moved: Robert Palliser Seconded: Judy Barnes
Passed  unanimously

Item 7: The Executive Committee should create a forum to address the issue of races being booked out before leave and travel arrangements can be organised by those who have complex travel arrangements .
Moved: Jan Jasiewicz, Seconded : Judy Barnes
Passed unanimously

Item 8: Safety issues raised by Jan Jasiewcz, specifically deaths attributable to Hypothermia in the Marcialonga & Vasaloppet and the potential for this in the Bieg Piastow crossover delay.
No formal motion was passed but it was the consensus that the Executive Committee should discuss these issues and consider the papers that Jan has prepared on these issues.

Comments before closure of meeting:
Hannes Larsson a book is being published on his achievements.

John Miller: it should be recognised that IAWLS has had a profound impact on the achievements of all Worldloppet skiers.

Minoru Matsuyama: the Sapporo Ski Marathon is being  moved forward one week due to clashes in the use of the Sapporp Dome, enjoy visiting the Snow Festival after completing your race instead of before.

Meeting  closed at 1702hrs

 

Hannes’ book is now available

October 3, 2011

Our ex-president Hannes Larsson’s book “Cross-Country Skiing Around the World” has appeared. Hereafter is Hannes’ own presentatio:

I was happy to find a Czech publisher, Kava-Pech, whose graphic designer and printing-house made a high quality book. However, the publisher could not take any financial risks. Therefore I paid the totality of the production costs of 2000 books. If all of them are sold, I may recover my investment. But more likely I will lose money. This does not at all worry me. I did not consider this book as a business operation but I wanted to make available to the splendid community of XC skiers my long experience in long distance popular XC ski races.

If not only the technical quality of the book but also its contents are appreciated, I will be happy. I tried to make the texts and the many pictures illustrating it attractive. Aphorisms, anecdotes and tales abound. The first reactions were enthusiastic, for example Worldloppet General Secretary Angelo Corradini’s nice words on Worldloppet’s website, www.worldloppet.com/news.php?id=2303.

This kind of book is not sold in book-shops (except in the Czech Republic where the publisher has a distributor). Individuals can order it from the publisher; however, the sending costs will be added and bank transfers from countries outside the EU may seem expensive. The famous Wordloppet Jubilee book was essentially sold by the race offices. I hope that every Worldloppet race will order a number of books (for big quantities there is a big discount) and sell them in the race offices and at the occasion of the bib distribution. Since 120,000 skiers visit the different Worldloppet races each year, this seems to be the natural channel. Next winter I will be present at most races during all 10 week-ends of the season. There I can write dedications in the books bought by the skiers. My detailed schedule will be shown later.

The website is still being elaborated to include information on shipping costs and best payment methods for different countries. Meanwhile you can send an email to Petr Chrdle, info@kava-pech.cz and ask for a quotation for sending the book to your country.

Kangaroo Hoppet 2011

by Colin Addison

September 19, 2011

Unfortunately 2011 has not been a good snow season, with many weeks of rain alternating with hot sunny weather.  Thus by the time of the Kangaroo Hoppet, many of the usual ski trails were not adequately covered with snow.  The race organisers had to negotiate with the ski lift company to be able to use ski trails around the top of the ski lifts.  Unfortunately some of these trails also had limited snow, so the course was shortened.  The race was started in a saddle near the top of the ski lifts with skiers heading around a loop on the frying pan spur, returning to the start area then another short loop near Mt McKay.  This track was similar to but shorter than the track used in 2006, comprising only 10 km and thus was skied 3 times.  Both loops provide spectacular views of the Australian snowfields.  Competitors for the shorter races only completed the second loop.

The day of the race was warm and sunny, with a cold breeze.  To reduce congestion on the race circuit, the shortest race was started first, with the intermediate distance race commencing after the competitors of the short race had all reached the top of the first hill.  Then the long race commenced, with competitors starting up the steep hill to the frying pan spur.  The track was soft and rapidly became chopped up and challenging to ski, particularly on the downhill sections.  Although it was a shortened course, by the end competitors certainly felt as if they had skied a long race.  Some IAWLS members chose to ski classic technique, which may actually have been an advantage in the conditions.

Congratulations to race organisers for managing to conduct a race with such challenging conditions.  I’m sure all were happy to complete the race and I hope all enjoyed the day.

Results of some IAWLS members are:

Marg Hayes	AUS	2:05:20
Doris Trueman	AUS	2:11:35
Robert Palliser	CAN	2:15:16
Craig Alexander	AUS	2:31:26
Minoru Matsuyama	JPN	2:46:08
Rod Clutterbuck	AUS	2:58:14
Colin Addison	AUS	3:02:12
Jürgen Wasner	GER	3:04:39
Judy Barnes	AUS	3:05:31
Hannes Larsson	FRA	3:05:37
Jay Wiener	USA	3:11:52
Susan Luscombe	AUS	3:54:12
Kiyohiro Takashima	JPN	4:03:29
Jan Jasiewicz	SUI	4:42:11

Birkebeiner

John Miller	AUS	1:16:20
Bruce Wharrie	AUS	0:39:59

 

Early registration for some races

September 12, 2011

Some of the more popular races are selling out their starting slots early. During the last few years registration for Vasaloppet, Birkebeinerrennet and Marcialonga has closed early. This may also happen for more races as Worldloppet races get more popular. Every year we hear from desperate overseas skiers that have made their travel arrangements but can not get a starting bib. Sometimes an organization will make exceptions and add a few skiers but it is also common that the request is denied. It is important that you apply early and that you are familiar with the policies of the different races.

We recently sent an inquiry to Birkebeinerrennet to ask if they would make exceptions for overseas skiers that apply late. Their policy is that they have 1500 start numbers reserved for skiers living outside Norway and that registration starts on October 19 for these skiers. The general registration starts on November 2.

We are happy to publish the policy of other races if they provide us with the information.

 

Invitation to the IAWLS 2011 General Assembly

August 7, 2011

 

Invitation to the IAWLS 2011 General Assembly

16:00 Friday, August 26th, 2011

Howmanns Gap, Falls Creek, Australia

 

 The following documents are attached for your perusal: Agenda, President’s Report, Treasurer’s Report, and Proxy with the presentation of Executive Committee Candidates.

The Executive Committee hopes that you will be able to attend. Should this not be possible please complete the PROXY and return it via email to bengt@worldloppetskier.com at least 1 week prior to the assembly, not later than August 19th, 2011

We remind you that as per the statutes, only those whose membership was approved by the Executive Committee at least 2 weeks prior to the Assembly will be able to participate in the meeting and vote on any motions which are presented. If you have colleagues who are interested in IAWLS, they are welcome to attend the meeting as observers.

 

Canadian Birkebeiner

by Nancy L. Caviët

July 24, 2011

The Canadian Birkebeiner is not a member of worldloppet, but it is a great race.
The first time I heard about the Canadian Birkebeiner was during a chat after a worldloppet race. Many good idea arise in the bar. They told me if you have done the American Birkebeiner, the Norwegian Birkebeiner and the Canadian Birkebeiner the long distance than you get a special award. The Haakon Haakonson award. I looked at the website of the Canadian Birkebeiner www.canadianbirkie.com
It was true. I already did the American Birkebeiner and the Norwegian Birkebeiner. So I decided to participate in the Canadian Birkebeiner. The race will be held every year the second Saturday of February. It is a race in classical style. So no skating. It is held at the east site of Edmonton, Alberta in Canada. Travel logistic is easy. Edmonton has an international airport.
Just book a plane to Edmonton. At the airport you take a taxi to your hotel or you rent a car. Eventually you need a car in Edmonton. Like in the USA. It is about a 45 minutes’ drive to get in Edmonton city. You can train at the tracks in one of the city parks or you drive to Cooking Lake Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area. That is the area where the race will be held. It is 45 to 60 minute drive from Edmonton city. For the people who have no car there is at the race day a bus from Edmonton Hotel & Convention Centre to the start in Ukrainian cultural Heritage village and a bus back from the finish line in Waskegan staging Area. Start and finish is in Cooking Lake Blackfoot Recreation area. There is a choice of races: 55 k withe backpack, 55 k without backpack, 31 k , 13 k, 4k and 2.5 k.
The 13k, 4k and the 2.5 k start and finish in Waskegan staging Area. The day before the race you pick up your bibs at Edmonton Hotel & Convention Centre. The organization is always willing to help. At the day of the race the weather was 'crazy” much to warm. Normally the high temp is minus 5 degree Celsius. Now it was:
(Observations Updated: Saturday February 12 2011,21:00 )

	Temp	Dew Point	Feels like	wind k/h	relative humidity
Sat 00:00	3	-6	-	W9	52
Sat 01:00	2	-7	-	SW7	51
Sat 02:00	1	-7	-	SW9	55
Sat 03:00	0	-8	-	SW4	55
Sat 04:00	1	-8	-	SW9	51
Sat 05:00	1	-8	-2	S11	51
Sat 06:00	1	-8	-	S9	51
Sat 07:00	0	-9	-	S4	51
Sat 08:00	0	-8	-4	SW11	55
Sat 09:00	0	-8	-	S6	55
Sat 10:00	0	-8	-	S9	55
Sat 11:00	2	-8	-1	S11	47
Sat 12:00	4	-7	-	S6	44
Sat 13:00	5	-6	-	S9	45
Sat 14:00	4	-5	-	-	52
Sat 15:00	3	-4	-	-	60
Sat 16:00	5	-5	-	SE11	48
Sat 17:00	3	-4	-	-	60
Sat 18:00	5	-5	-	SW7	52

So the ski needed the sticky soft wax.
The start is at 9:00 am and the finish closes at 17:15
I did the 55 k without backpack. It is a very nice track. No scary hills but rolling. Up and down and up and down. At every kilometre there was a sign. So you always know how far to go. There are enough food station and also there was enough for the slow skiers. The track was well prepared.
At the finish line I got a participation medal and the Haakon Haakonson award.

Following some statistics about the race:

55 k with backpack

• competitors 167
• woman 25
• man 142
• from Canada 165
• from USA 2
• time winner: 3:03

55 k without backpack

• competitors 238
• woman 56
• man 182
• from Canada 233
• from USA 4
• from Netherlands 1
• time winner 2:49

31 k

• competitors 529
• from Canada 529
• woman 216
• man 313
• time winner 1:31
  
  

 

Birkebeinerrennet 2011

by Boris Petroff

May 11, 2011

Vasa or Birkie ? 16000 skiers in Norway, the same number that were in the Vasaloppet ! Which one is the biggest? It doesn’t matter: I don’t understand why people want to decree that a race is bigger than another one because it has more participants.
It’s a good thing that J50, Marcialonga, Tartu, Vasa, Engadin or Birkebeiner have every year more participants. And it’s not necessary to order them by number.

16000 skiers at the Birkebeiner and no bottleneck! That is fantastic. Of course the start is ideal in Rena. But… it’s possible because the race is “only” 54 kilometers long. The first wave leaves at 7.00 and the last à 10.20. If the Birkie were as long the Vasa (90 km) it would be impossible for the slow skiers (those who need twelve hours to do the race) to finish in time (before 8 at night) !

This year, the tracks in the Birkebeiner where very good and easy to wax. The landscape is wild and hard. And hard … is the run with more than 1000 meters to climb with a rucksack and a little front-wind. But there are so many spectators and the atmosphere is particularly nice.

The Birkebeiner is very important for the Norwegians and a lot of firms support employees to do the race. In this race you are never too old!! Except if you are more than hundred years old! 218 older than 70 finished the race and 12 women. The oldest was Tollef Sverdrup : he was 92 and did the race in 8h49m : just one minute after my wife Isabelle ! And Marty Lund-Johanson (she is older than 80) finished in only 7h14m! Fantastic Norwegians.

Birkebeiner could be the best way to finish the Worldloppet season. But is not because ….

• there is no tent in Rena to wait before the start (I waited from 6h30 to 9h00 on the snow…)
• I was waiting half on hour to buy the bus ticket in Lillehammer
• the start fees are really to expensive and don’t include the bus shuttle from finish to start
• I could not found the shuttle between Olympiapark and railway station (where we took the bus in the morning) and nobody inform me
• there is no bag to put our clothes (from start to finish)
• the bags where mixed on each line at the finish place
• and it’s difficult to register : not to late not to early !

As Thomas Huber says : “Birkebeiner and Vasaloppet have the luck to be absolute traditional races, thats the reason for so much request of participants. Both are a hugh businesses, advertising, television and so on are more important then the demand from the skiers. The relation of start fee and what they offer is for many not acceptable.”

And for the next year I suggest to the Birkebeiner organization to change the name of the race : Volkswagenrennet would be more convenient !

Some results:

Marg Hayes	AUS	5h44m
Robert Palliser	CAN	4h24m
Grant McLeod	CAN	5h43m
Corrado Ampezzan	ITA	6h54m
Hannes Larsson	FRA	6h04m
Isabelle Petroff	FRA	6h48m
Boris Petroff	FRA	4h58m
André Viry	FRA	7h16m
Svein Harald Karlson	NOR	4h20m
Steiman Kvaale	NOR	4h31m
Odd Arve Rakstad	NOR	4h06m
Ola Svenneby	NOR	4h20m
Sergeï  Ivanov	RUS	3h13m

Engadin 2011

by Lars Vagle

May 2, 2011

The valley of Engadin hosted once again an easy marathon and good atmosphere. Engadin is a nice place to be a tourist for the days leading up to race day. Lots of skitracks groomed every day and you can test the marathon track anytime. Apart from skiing there are also many other touristic things to do in Engadin so everytime I go there is something new.

The racestart is done with five start times spreading out the twelve thousand skiers and avoiding the big congestions some other big races have in the start. On race day temperatures where milder than normal. At race start I registered only -2C making the waitingtime a lot warmer than last time. It had not been snowing for days but on race morning it fell down making the first 15km soft. Midway in race it got windy but that turned into comfortable wind in the back when we left Pontresina. Around Samedan snowfall had been little and tracks were harder giving some extra speed including wind in the back pushing us. Just before finish area temps were a few plus degrees and softer snow. Ok for skaters. For those doing classic skiing some started off fine with violet wax and ended up with some soft klisterwax in the end if you wanted grip. The best waxing for classic looked like being zero-ski or “rubbed-ski” as they are called.

Organizers did an excellent job as always. Logistics from all parts of valley were fine to start - and later from finish back to hotel. The “Olympic-village” is a nice place to visit before race day and the Worldloppet meeting on Saturday is a good place to meet others that like to travel far to worldloppet races. Next time you come too?

Some results of IAWLS skiers:

Hannes Larsson	FRA	3:15:56
Robert Palliser	CAN	2:40:40
Piotr Szkarlat	POL	2:27:42

 

 

Race evaluation

January 27, 2009

We are introducing a new tool that should facilitate the way you express your comments and opinions about Worldloppet races. It is a comprehensive questionnaire covering all aspects of races that are of our interest. If you want to criticize, praise or just comment any aspect of the race please fill in the appropriate box and submit it. You do not have to fill in all the boxes, just the item that is of your interest. At the end of the season we shall compile all the remarks and send a letter to race organizers passing on your opinions. Your comments will be of great value to us. Look for the Race Evaluation link at the left of the page.

 

Communicate

You can write to the Executive Committee, iawls@worldloppetskier.com . All questions, comments and suggestions are welcome. The Executive Committee can read e-mails in 12 languages: Czech, Danish, English, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish and Swedish. We have also main correspondents in Russia who can help us with the Russian language.

This page was last revised on January 17, 2012