Engadin Skimarathon 2008
March 25, 2008
This year was the 40th anniversary of the Engadin Skimarathon and the first year of the half marathon. Both events started simultaneously in Maloja, with the half marathon ending in Pontresina, the full distance ending in S-Chanf at the usual place.
For 2 weeks prior to the events the weather was unusually warm and much of the snow cover was lost. What remained was very hard packed snow on the portions of the Marathon trail over land, with much of the trail on the lakes looking more like a skating rink than a ski trail. The organisers did an excellent job of preparing the tracks for the Marathon. Snow was moved in to many of the icy trail sections. Even the sections across the lakes had a thin, but sufficient, cover of snow. “Mattress hill” was covered with a large amount of additional snow to make it safer and easier to descend.
The temperature at the start was about -1C and rose only a couple of degrees by the finish as the sky was cloudy for most of the day. The wind was light and blowing down the valley toward the finish. The snow was fast, the winner was Tor Arne Hetland in 1:24:30, a new course record. Fastest woman was Katrin Zeller in 1:33:27, also a new course record.
Some results of IAWLS members:
- Helga Nagl AUT 4.02.5
- Walter Van Roosbroeck BEL 4.44.32
- Radek Ondryas CZE 2.31.49
- Seppo Salisma FIN 2.29. 47
- Daniel Montgermont FRA 2.38.10
- Gitta Bellmann GER 4.18.11
- Einar Yngvason ISL 2.11.22
- Franco Milanese ITA 4.04.20
- Yonel Maniora LUX 2.34.37
- Jorgen Kvaale NOR 3.13.04
- Jacek Jaskowiak POL 2.33.53
- Jan Jasiewicz SUI 3.13.42
- Richard Lovik SWE 3.00.43
- Paul Reznick USA 3.18.23
This page was last revised on June 8, 2008