Birkebeinerrennet

In the weeks before Birkebeinerrennet it seemed that the last race of the 2006-7 Worldloppet calendar would provide a good ending to a difficult season during which several races were cancelled or shortened due to lack of snow caused by unseasonably warm temperatures. There was plenty of snow on the Birkebeiner race course. Race morning was clear, with the temperature about -3C in the start area. There had been no new snow for several days. Repeated thawing during the days and freezing at night had resulted in hard, glazed tracks and an easy waxing klister day.

The well organized start procedure began on time with the 70 and over age group starting first. This was followed by the elite wave at 08:00 and waves 1 through 6 at 5 minute intervals. Then came the announcement of a 30 minute delay for further start groups because of strong winds (20m/sec) at the higher elevations on the trail. After the 30 minutes, the winds had increased to 30m/sec (over 100kph) and the race was aborted for safety reasons. Those who had started were stopped and told to ski back to the start area. The buses which had delivered skiers to the start had to be called back.

Much confusion and disorganisation followed. Most announcements were in Norwegian making it difficult for foreign skiers to understand what was taking place. Return of clothing bags took a long time as these had been loaded for the trip to Lillehammer. When the buses arrived at the start area some only took skiers as far as Rena for transfer to other busses going to Lillehammer. There was no organized loading area at the start or in Rena. Skiers lined up where the previous bus had stopped only to find that the next bus stopped elsewhere to load. Fortunately, everyone maintained their composure during the confusion and eventually got to their destinations.

Skiers were understandably disappointed with the cancellation of the race but agreed that it was the correct decision in the circumstances. It snowed about 15cm Saturday night and the sky cleared Sunday morning, with only a light breeze during the day. It was most unfortunate that the strong winds of Saturday had not been anticipated early enough to postpone the race until Sunday when it could have been held in quite good conditions. The Birkebeinerrennet website had actually posted the possibility of delaying the race for one day in the case of adverse weather. [April 2, 2007]

This page was last revised on September 8, 2007