Sapporo International Ski Marathon in 2008

February 14, 2008 by Michael Leaney

The 28th Sapporo International Ski Marathon was held on Sunday 10 February, 2008. Beautiful clear skies and sunshine greeted about 2,000 skiers taking part in the 50km, 25km, 10km, 5km and 3km races. This was my 5th time at skiing the Sapporo Marathon and the weather was the best I've experienced. There hadn't been any fresh snow for a few days in Sapporo so the track was very fast! For the first time, the 50km race was started in 2 waves. The 1st wave at 8.50am followed 10 minutes later by the 2nd. This cleared up much of the congestion that has normally effected the first 10 kilometres of the race. It also meant that the 25km participants only caught the tail end of the 50km race before the 25km trail turns off.
With beautiful sunshine and the temperature about zero, the trails were a joy...but the uphills were still steep with burning legs and the killer hill at the 41.5km mark was a wipe out for many skiers. Everyone looks forward to the 8km of downhill that follows to the finish line.
The trail was in very good condition with corn snow and very fast downhill sections. Some of the short steep uphill pinches were a bit chopped up to the slower skiers. Big smiles as always at the food stations...no doubt the excellent conditions added to the positive atmosphere.
A smaller contingent of international skiers this year...about 40 in total; Russia, Slovenia, Finland, Australia, UK, Ireland (yes), USA, Canada, Switzerland, Italy and France were represented.
Post race the talk was about how tough but how much everyone enjoyed the 28th Sapporo International Ski Marathon.
Winner 50km - Takaski Shindo, Japan [2:26:22] Winner 25km - Mitsuhiro Shindo, Japan [1:10:17] Both are in the Japanese Defense Force.

This page was last revised on March 19, 2008