Gatineau Loppet 2008

March 1, 2008

As usual, the events were distributed over two days. On Saturday Feb 11 there were two Worldloppet races in classic technique: 53 km and 29 km. On Sunday Feb 12 took place the FT races on the same distances. Furthermore various shorter races offered possibilities for all ages and skills to ski on on the Gatineau tracks.

What was not usual was the absence of cold and wind which has often made Gatineau Loppet a real winter sport. Gatineau had record quantities of snow. In the cities people complained that they didn’t know where to put it, but skiers coming from snow-poor Europe jubilated.

Classic races

On Saturday we had   –18C in the morning, warming up to a very mild cold in the afternoon. Skies were blue. Tracks were in excellent conditions, howerer, the crispy snow created a slow race. The courses were the usual ones: first a 9 km loop to the left and back to the stadion, then to the right and up via the Ridge Road to Huron and the Champlain lookout and back via the parkway, the 29 km race cutting off much earlier.

Free technique races  

On Sunday the temperature had risen to about –10C at the start, with blue skies, warming up towards zero during the day. Tracks were much faster than the day before. Slower skiers experienced freezing rain for one or more hours: a rain falling down as water but transforming in ice as soon as it reached the ground, or a skier. Eyeglasses tended to loose their transparency and at the finish the skiers had a layer of ice on their clothing. This was an interesting experience, the main difficulty occurred after the race when trying to reach the car or public transport on icy sidewalks. That’s extreme sport!

As usual Gatineau Loppet organized a nice reception for WL skiers.

Gatineau Loppet had launched a Challenge: ski both the classic and the FT race, 53 km for men and at least 29 km for women. Some 50 skiers accomplished the feat and got a diploma for their performance. A picture of them all was taken in the Mont Bleu gymnasium. This is an ideal place located only 200 m fom the start-finish, in the cafeteria of the premises we could enjoy a   post-race meal and get a massage, if wished..

Some results of IAWLS members:

Feb 16,   53 km CT (364 finishers, winner’s time 2.43.06 )

• John Plaice              AUS 6.03.36
• Phil Shaw                 CAN 2.49.54
• Madis Alev                EST 5.52.17
• Bjarne Andersson       FIN 5.36.47
• Milena Gumeniuk       RUS 4.38.49
• Corrado Ampezzan      ITA 5.21.59
• Carina Hammarstrand SWE 4.56.54

Feb 16, 29 km CT (311 finishers, winner’s time 1.31.00)

• Raimo Kauhanen    FIN 4.03.29
• Franco Milanese     ITA 3.29.31

Feb 17, 53 km FT (377 finishers, winner’s time 2.21.49 )

• Nicolas Bendeli        AUS 4.06.55
• Bjarne Andersson     FIN 5.16.13
• Gerard Mennetrier     FRA 3.38.59
• Franco Milanese       ITA 5.54.49
• Alexei Gumeniuk      RUS 3.17.35
• Jan Jasiewicz              SUI 5.00.55
• Carina Hammarstrand SWE 4.52.06

Feb 17, 29 km FT (283 finishers, winner’s time1.23.21)

• Meg Bate              AUS 4.02.12
• Raimo Kauhanen   FIN 3.58.19

This page was last revised on April 26, 2008