Vasaloppet 2009

March 25, 2009

Öppet Spår

Vasaloppet  Öppet  Spår is a good opportunity for all skiers who want to test their endurance on the 90 km course but wish to avoid a huge bottleneck that stops skiers on the first uphill in the main race.
It is run on Sunday and Monday, a week before the main race. Flow start is between 7 and 8 in the morning. Every skier has just to cross the starting line and thanks to the chip his performance time starts running. Despite non-competitive event which an Öppet  Spår is supposed to be you may see many skiers struggling very hard to achieve the best result. This year skier were slowed considerably on Sunday by a heavy snowfall. The course was faster on Monday and skiers could enjoy even some sunshine at noon. As usually drinking/food stations were very well organized with good variety of drinks and food. The track was in good conditions as organizers continued grooming after the  snowfall.
Vasaloppet Öppet  Spår was again very relaxing and non-stressing skiing experience run in the joyful and friendly atmosphere.

Öppet Spår counts as a qualification race for reseeding in Vasaloppet. No wonder that skiers want to make a good time, being the fastest skier in Öppet Spår is a prestigious result.

Vasaloppet

Vasaloppet! What else can we write about the most famous race in the world, even known by my porter in Paris ?!
Rather cold and snowing some times during the race but not really bad weather, very good snow, no waxing problems  (except for me who put an horrible green wax)  and always so much people.
15 000 on Sunday but 30 000 people during the week before. The feast in Mora on the Vasagatan, a fantastic ski business …and the pleasure to meet friends coming from everywhere in the world. The best meeting point is the restaurant Oscar where Chinese people serve you italian food! Not too expensive…
Always so much people during the race and the famous bottleneck:
 “Vasaloppet is what it is. Considering that, the pre-start is great fun and works well.    Bottlenecks: my lack of experience and failure to comprehend the logistics of starting 15000 people, meant that I started at gate 10, at the rear of the field. It took me 1hour and 45 minutes to ski 12.5km. This significantly delayed my completion of the race. The bottleneck 2 km from the start is a disaster which will influence my decision to return.” said Doug from Australia.
“Bottlenecks: Everyone knows, STAY RIGHT!...   Other: Cannot wait to do it again” answered Bjorn from USA…
“The bottleneck is a delicate question, Vasa refuses to recognize that there is a problem. I propose the following simple statements :  Vasaloppet had widened the track in the first climb and counted on a reduction of the bottleneck. Skiers who started at the end of group 8 needed 60 min to reach the 3 km point, meaning a time loss of 40 minutes. Skiers who started in group 10 needed 75 minutes to reach the 3 km point, thus they lost 50 minutes in the bottleneck. This shows that the widening of the track was inefficient” notes our expert Hannes Larsson (18 times Master).
And except this question, every thing is fantastic with the Vasa organization. Expensive but high quality. 15000 at the start, only one to finish first.  
Oskar Svärd, Daniel Tynell, Anders and Jörgen Aukland who wins before the Vasa were favorites  but Rezac and Erikson and Cattaneo…wanted also pass the line in first.
This year, for the third time, Daniel Tynell wins in 4h10m : a rather slow time due to the snow falling. The first woman is Sandra Hansson finished in 4h43m. The last (13 254th in 12 hours and 38 minutes) was  Göran Lundgran.
This year, the Vasaloppet was a great Day for Angelo Corradini, the Worldloppet chief : “ it was my 60th Birthday , skiing VL with my sons Denis and Luca (in 8h07m). It’s a super experience to remember.”
It’s funny… because this year I’m 60 old, and I run with my two sons, Alexis and Romain (Petroff)  !!!!

The Vasaloppet: a family meeting….

Some Iawls results:

This page was last revised on June 23, 2009