The Fossavatn Marathon in Iceland

January 2, 2009

Story contributed by Nancy Lucienne Caviët (NED). Nancy is a double Worldloppet Master and Global Worldloppet Skier (she was registered as the 7th skier in the world having completed all 14 WL races)

Looking at the working schedule in my job I discovered that if I leave my home on April 30 and come back on May 6, I need to ask for only one day off. Then, looking in the Internet at all cross-country races I saw that there was in Iceland on May 3 the Fossavatn Marathon. So I immediately decided to participate in the Fossavatn 50 km event. The registration was online and I paid in Isafjördur.

Participating in a race is not only skiing, but also making the travel arrangements. After many e-mails I was ready to leave home on April 30. This involved missing the festivals in Holland on the Queen’s birthday, but my passion for X-C skiing was invincible. I took the flight from Amsterdam to Reykjavik where I needed to stay one night before the inland flight to Isafjördur. From the Reykjavik international airport I took the bus to Reykjavik. In Iceland most people can also speak English, so the travelling gave no problems. Except a taxi driver in Reykjavik who did not want to take my skis in his car - they were too long, he said. The walk from the bus terminal to the hotel was rather long. Fortunately, after 3 minutes came another taxi of the same size but the driver was friendlier and I did not need to walk.

Isafjördur is located in the NW corner of Iceland in the West Fjords area. It is only a collection of a few houses. This year, the organizers took the challenge of organizing the race and a big volleyball competition at the same time and prove that they can accommodate many people in Isafjördur. The Fossavatn race may be candidate for entering Worldloppet sometime in the future.

Before leaving Holland, I had found on the website some instructions for the race and the organizers answered immediately all my questions by e-mail. Further instructions were given in Isafjördur. All this worked perfectly.

The race organizers gave us the possibility to see the track the day before the race. A guide showed us the track and gave explanations. When I said see the track I exaggerated; the weather had decided that we did not see much (see picture). But at least we had seen the start area and the snow. We were informed that the next day a bus will pick us up at the hotel at 8 AM and take us to the start.

At breakfast we were told: “do not hurry: the start is delayed 2 hours. The start place has changed and we are going to use another track. The new track is 5 loops of 10 km”. Indeed, the weather was not looking good and the forecast was gloomy, however supposed to be less windy in the afternoon. The bus took us to the new starting place where the start took place at 12 noon. During the race the visibility was much better than the day before. The temperature was around zero and there were wet snow showers and wind. I was really glad with my rain-proof jacket. Most skiers used klister. I had no-wax skis and they turned out to be the best choice for me.

The race was well organized. They had to use plan B because of the weather conditions and the staff made a great job in moving the start from Botnsheidi to Seljallansdalur and making a 10 km loop with a short notice. There was enough food even for the last skiers at the 5 stations located at the start/finish that we passed 5 times. I know that because I was the last skier of the 50 km race. My time was 6.38.42. Of course, there was no problem with obscurity so late in the day because Isafjördur is located near the Arctic Circle and in early May the nights are very short.
Four events took place (the shorter races started 5 minutes after the start of the 50 km race):
  50 km, 42 finishers (29M, 13F); 23 foreigners
  20 km, 78 finishers (56M, 22 F); 7 foreigners
  10 km, 26 finishers (12M, 14F)
  7 km (shortened to 4 km), 57 finishers (12M, 45F)

In the early evening was the price giving ceremony and again something to eat. Late in the evening they organized a party for the people who had enough energy left.

Sunday May 4 was the plane to Reykjavik. Due to bad weather it was delayed 5 hours. In the hotel we were allowed to keep the room until we had to leave for the airport. Monday May 5 I was tourist in Reykjavik, sightseeing and enjoying the geothermally heated Blue Lagoon. On May 6 I had an early flight home. In my backpack lots of memories of a wonderful country and a well organized race.

Since the Worldloppet circuit ends the third Saturday in March, I give here some information for skiers interested in the extension of the ski season in a quite special place. The website of this marathon is www.fossavatn.com . The international airport Keflavik is 45 minutes drive from Reykjavik. The domestic airport is in the city of Reykjavik and the change of flight from international to domestic costs much time. The weather in Iceland can be very windy. On your return trip your domestic flight can be delayed, so plan plenty of time to change from domestic to international flight. A good idea is to plan a touristic stop in Reykjavik.

The Fossavatn Marathon is part of the Nordic Ski marathon cup including also Holmenkollen Ski Marathon in Norway, Oulun Tervahiihto in Finland and Tromedalsloppet in Sweden.

This page was last revised on June 4, 2009