Sapporo Ski Marathon 2007

This was the sixth Worldloppet race in the 2006-2007 calendar and the first which was not cancelled or shortened. What a pleasure to see the abundant snow! On the race morning, February 11, we had 10 cm of new snow and the snow was still falling, promising a tough race. But about half an hour after the start the snowfall stopped and we had a beautiful day. The temperature at the start was just below freezing; during the day it hovered around zero. The course groomed in the morning remained reasonably good; on the last 20 km the glide improved because the snow surface hardened and showed a glazed aspect.

Many classic skiers participated in the race. They did not have ideal conditions because classic ski tracks existed only on short stretches. This course is in many places so narrow that it allows only one skater at a time. The Sapporo Ski Marathon course is one of the most challenging of all Worldloppet races with continuous bumps and turns and technical descents. No risk to be bored! The most difficult climb is between 42 and 43 km, probably only very fast skiers are able to skate it up without stopping for a rest.

The start and finish are at the Sapporo Dome, a huge sports/concert complex. Changing rooms and showers are available inside where also diplomas and stamps in Worldloppet passports are delivered. This is very convenient for the skiers who can leave their clothing bags in the changing rooms, walk to the start distant 700 m (most of it skiable) and walk 100 m from the finish to the Dome for changing, diplomas and stamps.

As usual, the participants, amongst which there were 90 foreigners, enjoyed the friendly welcome and good service. A nice reception for Worldloppet skiers was organized inside the Dome on the day before the race.

The short race of 25 km started 20 minutes after the 50 km race. It seems interesting to increase this time interval in future races in order to make it easier to the fast short race skiers to overtake the slowest long race skiers.

The 50 km race had 671 participants with the winner's time being 2:42:15. The 25 km race had 621 participants with the winner's time being 1:18:22.

This page was last revised on September 7, 2007