Finlandia 2011

By Thomas Huber

March 13, 2011

The Finlandia weekend had very good snow conditions and moderate temperatures. Some days before it had nearly minus 30 degrees. So snow was cold and dry. It was just a pity of the organisers that the tracks were not well, very soft at most parts. Around Honsjo the track was perfect, so that shows it was possible. Finnish people told me that the track which is not a permanent track (between km 15-40). Was just groomed 1 or 2 days before the race the first time. That explains why the cold and dry snow was so soft. A bit laisy from the organisers, which promise always to do the best.

The opposite was the worldloppet master party on Friday evening with the finnish masters, Pauli Siitonen and Juha Mieto. The meal was very nice and the party very familiar and warm.

Around 3500 people started for the main race on Saturday over 50k in classic style. It was around minus 7 degrees at the start and minus 2 at the finish in the afternoon. Always cloudy and wind made the feeling a bit colder, especially at the parts out of the forest. Start with wave mechanism worked well. Everything was well organised. At the last food stations they offered beer, for some a reason to stay longer there.
Just the meal after the race is an easy one, just a soup and bread, could be better. Winner time of Svärd (SWE) was 2.21 hours. The race was this season included in the FIS Marathon Cup, so 20-30 strong racers were additional at the start as in the years before.

A new record then on Sunday for 50k freestyle marathon. Around 1400 participants made the race by similar conditions. It was an idea warmer and less wind as the day before, sometimes with sunshine. Here it gave 2 winners, they had exactly the same time, a Russian and a Finnish won in 2.10 hours. Tracks had the same problem as in classic too, partially very soft. The last 10 kilometer are the most difficult one, the heavy profile and 40 kilometers already in the legs. For a hugh number of skiers hard work to climb the these short but steep uphills.

Nice that there was a beamer with live report from the Nordic worldchampionchips in the tent were the meal was given out.
As summary the weekend was great, luck with the weather, worldloppet is becoming more and more popular, on Saturday afternoon new worldloppet passports were sold out in the registration office.

Results 50k classic:

Result 50k freestyle:

This page was last revised on September 20, 2011