Bieg Piastów 2009

April 7, 2009

The 33rd Bieg Piastow was the start of a new phase in the long history of the race; it is now a member of Worldloppet. A total of 3049 skiers from 30 countries participated in the 50 km and 26km races in classical technique on Saturday.
We IAWLS members had several TV and Radio interviews on Friday. It means that this year is very important for Bieg Piastów!
The snow depth was 100 cm, but before the race the temperature was high +6 - 8 degrees and it was rainy, the snow was melting day by day. It was very lucky that there was no rain on the race day but it was foggy and windy, the air and snow temperatures were around 0!! Snow is soft and wet, the strong headwind disturbed skiers on the hillsides but the beautiful Polish forest protected us from strong winds on most of the course. Race course is well arranged for the audience that skiers pass near the main stand four times during the race, it is fun for audience like 0lympic games and World Cup.
There were no bottle necks, no steep up and down hills and no tight turns on the course and we enjoyed skiing this gentle ski course, but finishers time is depend on the waxing (grip wax) and snow conditions. Net distance was 47 - 48 km this year, 1660 finishers in the 50 km race and the winner’s time was 2:17:01.
Congratulations to the first big success as a WL race in 2009!!
Thank you to Mr. Jacek Jaskowiak and to the race organizers !!

Sunday's race was 30 km FT . Winner's time 1.15.07, 468 finishers.

This page was last revised on June 23, 2009