Engadin Skimarathon

March 17, 2006

The 2006 edition, the 38th, took place on March 12. Until now, all Worldloppet races of this season have been tougher than usual, and ESM continued the series. But we prefer tough conditions with abundant snow to the risk of cancellation. The temperature was not extremely cold, around -12C at the start, but there was a strong and cold North wind in the face all the time. This, and some new snow on the track made the progression rather slow. The sun was present intermittently. Two facts demonstrate the hard conditions: the winner's time 1.55.51 was 20 min slower than usual, and of 11947 starters only 10263 finished, in spite of the fact that the organizers extended the cut-off times by half an hour. As shown in the picture which was taken at about 10 km from the finish, skiers tended to form long lines which helped in the struggle against the wind. It is surprizing that the public along the track seemed to be as numerous and supportive as usual. But they could turn their back to the wind!
We wish to send flowers to the organizers for a clever innovation: the volunteers who handed out drinks and food at the food stations had different coloured caps, each colour corresponding to a particular drink or food item. These, and the choices available at each station, were announced in the instructions given before the race, thus depending on your tastes and needs you could memorize the colours and in the race you could identify from far away the right place. There seemed to be some confusion with the colours at some stations, but anyhow, the idea is excellent and other races could apply something similar.

Some results of IAWLS members:

This page was last revised on September 16, 2007