ET FRIMAGASIN FRA FINNMARKSLØPET 2015

ET FRIMAGASIN FRA FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
FEATURES Dreaming og the Finnmark Race
The education year Trailbreakers
Why organise a WCh The Finnmark Race
PROFILE FL- 2015 Sigrid Ekran MilosGanda
Elisabeth Uglebakken Vidar Uglebakken
Ralph Johannessen Eveline Koch
VARIOUS Public program
Race map Good cooperation
My lead dog race list
SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge
inviterer til gratis familieforestilling
Balto helt
på viddene
Av RimfRost teAteRensemble
AltA 7. mARs | tAnA 8. mARs | KiRKenes 9. og 10. mARs | KARAsjoK 11. og 12. mARs
Les om forestillingen: snn.no/balto
GRATIS
forestilling
for hele
familien
Balto har prøvd mye – men lykkes aldri helt.
Denne gangen skal han delta i Finnmarksløpet.
Men er han forberedt?
3
Welcome to the
Finnmark Race
World Championship 2015!
The final plans are now laid, and we
look forward to officially welcoming everyone once again to the Finnmark Race
World Championship 2015. High pulse, detailed planning and a lot of hard
work have characterized the past weeks
for everyone involved in this event. That
does not, however, diminish our joy.
tLast year we saw the first Finnmark Junior Race ever, and despite challenging
weather conditions all four participants,
aged 15-18, reached the finish line. Following on from what we have to call a
successful debut race, there will also
be a Finnmark Junior Race this year.
So far, we have 10 teams signed up for
the Junior Race, and 147 participants
for the entire Finnmark Race. This means that we have passed the 2014 signup record of 131 with 16 more teams!
The Finnmark Race is strenuous enough
in and of itself, but this year the contestants also compete for the much-desired award of World Champion in all
classes. Our partners will set up a small
mobile ‘Siida’ (North Sami word for ‘village’) that is meant to create activities
for young and old alike along the trails.
This initiative is based on a desire to
strengthen the public participation and
celebrations during the World Championship. The Siida move from Alta to
Tana Bridge, Kirkenes and Karasjok.
This year, like last year, I wish to express
my deepest gratitude to all those who contribute to making the Finnnmark Race
what it has become today. Thank you to
our volunteers, who take time off from
work, clear their schedule and cancel everything else in order to be here. Thank you
to public and private partners who make
the race possible. Thank you to our staff
who work relentlessly, and last, but not
least; thank you to all the members of the
public who make the race week a festival
for and by the people all the way through.
With this, I bid all participants, partners, volunteers and guest a big, warm
welcome to Finnmark and the Finnmark Race World Championship 2015.
Gunnar Nilssen
Managing Director,
Finnmarksløpet AS
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
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THE NAME CIIKO
This is a free magazine from Finnmarksløpet about the race, mushers, volunteers and our partners. The name Ciiko has
been picked from one of Sven Engholm’s
legendary lead dogs. Ciiko was the first
dog to cross the finish line in the very
first Finnmarksløp in 1981. Sven named
her using the word for bitch in Sami, Ciiku.
Engholm chose to spell it with a ”o” at the
end, and so did we. Not only was Ciiko the
first finishing, she was a fantastic dog and
was obviously used for breeding. In most
of the famous kennels in Norway offspring
are found with pedigree from Ciiko, a
worthy dog to give name to our magazine.
ET FRIMAGASIN FRA FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
LAYOUT
Finnmarksløpet as
PB 1248, 9504 Alta
Trond A. Andersen
Sanna Charlotte Kivijervi
PHOTO COVER
PRINT
CONTACK
Kjell O. Brun
Bjørkmanns as, Alta
[email protected]
www.finnmarkslopet.no
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
5
FOTO: Zbigniew Wantuch
INNHOLD
Profiles FL-2015
Profile FL-1000 Sigrid Ekran . . . . . . . . 18
Profile FL-500 RNB Eveline Koch . . . . 19
Profiel FL-jr Elisabeth Uglebakken . . . 25
Profile FL-500 Milos Gonda . . . . . . . . . 26
Profiel FL-1000 Ralph Johannessen. . 27
Profile FL-500 Vidar Uglebakken . . . . 29
Features
Dreaming of the Finnmark Race . . . . . . 8
The Finnmark Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Trailbreakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Why organise a WCh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Research on the mushers . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Various
The education year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Miy lead dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Race map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Public program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Good cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
Stolt samarbeidspartner
med Finnmarksløpet
Polar Parka
Polar Bib Trousers
Finn flere varme vinterklær på fjallraven.no
7
The Education Year
When a race as big as the Femund Race is
frozen and then cancelled, it is of course
very sad. However, every cloud has a silver lining.
The last year has been a very peculiar year
for mushers and for those of us who organise sled dog races. It all started with
the new race, Hakasleppet, which takes
place in Nordmarka just north of Oslo.
The 2014 participants nearly drowned
in snow and had to look out for flying
spruces. The best fuel for the mushers
was said to be their gallows humour.
Our very own Finnmark Race put both
men, women and dogs to the test. Two
storms and far too warm temperatures
made it one of the toughest races ever.
Hundreds of miles to the west of us,
the Iditarod participants mushed across
hundreds of miles of barren land. Jeff
King had the Youtube mushing hit of all
times with his spectacular GoPro film
cut showing his madman dash down the
inhospitable Dalzell Gorge. Many mushers were injured and had to scratch
from the race in that very same area.
Mr King was all set for his fifth Iditarod
victory when extreme winds blew his
dream to pieces and put both him and
his dogs in a rather dangerous situation.
Nor has the 2015 season in Norway been
a walk in the park. The Gausdal Maraton
participants saw huge amounts of snow,
and while it was not too mean, it was a
rough race. In the northern region of
the country, the participants of the Alta
2-day Race were put to the test. Three
juniors and one 2 x 50 participant were
stuck on the mountains due to severe
weather conditions, and the latter was
not exactly in a good condition when the
snowmobile rescue patrol arrived. The
wind and the low temperatures challenge
you both mentally and physically when
you are forced to lie completely still in
one spot, without being able to move.
This year’s new race, the Bergeby N70,
where the longest trail measured more
than 650 kilometres, got to feel the storm
named ‘Ole’. Wiser from former experiences on the Varanger peninsula, the
organizers chose to stop the race before the weather got too rough to handle.
The largest incident so far this year is, of
course, the Femund Race. Several junior
mushers were stuck on the mountain between Tolga and the finish line in Røros
due to severe weather conditions. True,
everyone are familiar with the rules,
which state that rescue operations are
only to be set in motion when participants have not moved at all in 24 hours,
unless the musher requests to be rescued.
However, there is no parent in the world
who would not worry when their daughter or son are placed in a warm wind bag
on their sled during a raging storm, while
the message you get is that the snowmobile patrols were unable to reach them.
Ylva Fjestad was stuck for the longest time
out of all who were stuck. The 15-yearold was alone for 22 hours with her dogs
before snowcats were able to reach her.
A man on a snowmobile wanted to assist two trailbreaker snowmobiles who
had gotten stuck in the snow. He ended
up in a lonely blizzard without sufficient
security equipment, and from what we
understand; time was on his side when
he was rescued. An hour or two more,
and the situation could have been fatal.
What is the point of this account of
storms and misery during races? The
point is what we are left with when it
is all over. We are left with quite a lot,
actually. All of us who organise sled dog
races learn from past challenges. We learn to get better at readiness, routines,
communication and weather analysis.
Classic Easter weather with sunshine
and just a few sub-zero degrees only
teaches us to use the appropriate sun
block. This year has taught us a lot more.
Most importantly: We have never
educated so many mushers during a
year as we have during the past year.
Lying still in a windbag, hoping for
the weather to improve so that one
can continue, or for someone to come
and show the way. You learn from that.
You get to test your limits, equipment,
dogs and your own mental strength.
Mushing from one stick to the next. Not
seeing your lead dogs, or anything but
a white bliss. That is when you learn to
use your GPS, and perhaps you learn to
take the weather reports more seriously.
A few may choose to pack up and leave
the mushing sport altogether, however,
most are probably just more triggered
to continue participating in this unique
combination of sport and outdoor living.
Congratulations on graduating to all of
you who fought and fought with the forces of nature during this past year. We
who organise the longest sled dog racing
competition in Europe are most please to
see so many mushers graduate with a pass!
Happy trails!
Best regards Trond A. Andersen,
presse- og informasjonsansvarlig.
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
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Dreaming of
the Finnmark Race
Marit Beate Kasin and Team Vinterdans
(Winter Dance) have never participated
in the Finnmark Race before. This year,
however, she will be on the starting line of
the FL-1000 race.
TEKST:
FOTO:
Trond A. Andersen
Private / Cathrine Dokken
- The Finnmark Race has been a dream ever
since I started mushing in 2008. I have to
admit that at first it seemed like an unlikely
dream. Yet with dedicated work and targeted training, we have slowly come to realise that we will actually be able to do it. We
have had a great training and race season
so far, and I can hardly wait to lift the snow
anchor in Alta and hit the trails, Kasin says.
The dog-loving girl from Notodden, southern Norway, was no rookie to working with
dogs when she got into mushing. She grew
up with Riesenschnauzer and Akita, and had
her own Border Collie at the age of 12. However, working with dogs as a pack was a new
and challenging experience. There have been
many funny moments, in particular during
the early years, with much trying and failing.
- I can still remember our first sled trip. We did
not know how the brakes worked, so Susana
ran behind the team and I while holding tightly on to a rope and trying to slow us down.
We did not get that far, Kasin reminisces.
A lot has happened since then. Marit soon got
the hang of it and has performed well in races
during the past few years. This year she finished
3rd at Gausdal Marathon 300. She considers
having only 15 dogs in training an advantage:
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
Marit Beate Kasin med treåringen Nanuk, som er eget opprett fra
et kull hvor alle går på finnmarksspannet. Foto: prvat
- That is how many dogs I can train well, without having to take two rides or leave dogs at
home. There are pros and cons with having
so few dogs. I must be very careful and preempt injuries all the time, however, it also
gives me ample time for that special extra
contact with the dogs. I can let them all run
loose at the same time and really ‘see’ each
of them. I try to balance a full-time job with
training dogs and occasionally myself. That
means a lot of training in the dark, after
work in the winter, but with training seasons
like this one, it is just a pleasure, Kasin says.
and more active mushers here, Kasin says.
Now she dreams of organising a spring race
in Valdres and Jotunheimen, just like Pasvik
Trail in the northernmost parts of Norway. –
There are many amazing and beautiful areas
in Valdres and the mountain region around
us that I would love to share with others.
This is what mushing means to us; packing
the bag and the sled in order to go far, preferably along new trains and discovering
new places. That is why I am so incredibly
excited about the journey we are about to undertake across Finnmarksvidda, says Kasin.
She and her partner Susana live on a farm in
a mountain village in Valdres, about 2.5 hrs
drive north-west of Oslo. It is a free and good
life, living at the border of Jotunheimen, one
of the highest mountain massifs in Northern
Europe. 80% of all Norwegian mountaintops
that exceed 2,000 m.a.s.l. are located here, in
the wild and beautiful high mountains that
are covered with snow from October to May.
The team for the journey north is ready; Silje and Kjell Skattebo are joining forces with
herself and chief handler Susana. The dog
team looks good, and soon the wait is over:
- Valdres is a musher’s Mecca. We have recently had 100 kilometres of new trails approved
in the neighbourhood, and the mushing environment is growing. This year we had eight
local teams signed on for the Femund Race,
and seven of them were at the starting line
in Røros. It is great to see that there are more
- It will be fabulous to get to see all of Finnmark
from the sled. We are going to perform and enjoy ourselves, and put into practise everything
we have learned and trained for. Most important of all, we are just going to be present in
the moment. The dogs are excellent trainers in
that respect; they just live in the here and now.
We are to gather memories and magic, one
moment after the other. Out of all the people
in the world, only 140 get to participate in the
Finnmark Race this year. Imagine our luck!
9
Aouuuuu, hundene og Marit er klar for FL-1000.
Foto: Cathrine Dokken
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
10
The Finnmark Race
– Constantly evolving
Since 1981, people and dogs have competed
about arriving first at the finish line of the Finnmark Race. The start and finish line have always
been in Alta municipality; however, a lot has
changed during 35 years with one of the toughest sleddog races in the world.
Niels Westphal
Diverse
TEKST:
FOTO:
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
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Three men and a few more dogs were on the
start line in Gargia, south of Alta city centre,
in 1981, to commence the first Finnmark
Race ever. Little did those three know about
how the Finnmark Race was to develop over
the next 35 years. Today the race consists of
several races. The longest trail has become
even longer, and its route has changed many
times. The award money has grown significantly. The interest from media and the public
has exploded and the number of participants
is ever increasing. This year we have 150
mushers signed on in four different classes,
with further mushers on the waiting list.
Only one class
When the three participants of the first
Finnmark Race started, there was just one
class in the race. The trail crossed the plains
and mountains in the western parts of Finnmark County, and both start and finish took
place at Strand Camping, a few kilometres
south of Alta city centre. The trail measured
some 250 kilometres, and no snowmobiles broken trail. During the following years,
the trail distances varied, though gradually
it increased over time. The number of kilometres to cover did not change the results,
however. Sven Engholm won each time.
In 1985, the race was organised into two
classes. This presented participants with
the opportunity to run either in the ‘limited’
class with a maximum of eight dogs in front
of the sled, or in the ‘open’ class with no regulation on the number of dogs. The distance was some 700 km, and it was the same
for both classes. In addition to having one
winner in each class, the fastest team of all,
regardless of class, was named Champion.
However, the new features of the race did
not prevent Sven Engholm from winning
again. Even when racing in the ‘limited’ class
in 1986 with only eight dogs in front of the
sled, he was the fastest musher of them all.
The Alaskan role model
After a while the title of Champion was disused,
and in 1992 the two classes went their separate
ways. The limited class race got a shorter trail,
whereas the open class race got a longer trail
than before. The trail now extended an extra
round to Skaidi, where the weather is often
very rough, and it also went to Stabbursnes in
Porsanger, which meant that the total distance
was more than 900 kilometres. Nevertheless,
there was still a vivid debate about whether
the Finnmark Race should have one or two
classes. Rita Hallvig, Race Marshall for this
year’s Finnmark Race, participated in the limited class in 1993, for the first time. She recalls
endless discussions at the many members’ and
annual meetings of Alta Sleddog Association.
- Many mushers wanted to have just one class,
based on the model from the Iditarod, and they
argued that it would be easier to manage just
one race. However, the musher population was
divided and the topic was frequently on the
agenda. In 1997 the annual meeting of the local association decided to not continue having
a ‘limited’ class and aim for just one class in the
Finnmark Race for a trial period of two years.
En fjern forløper til LED-hodelykte..?
Sven Engholm en gang på 80-tallet. Foto: ukjent
- The argument was that this would allow for testing how it would work out,
in particular with regard to the number of participants, Rita Hallvig says.
The removing of the ‘limited’ class soon proved to be a mistake. The number of participants in 1998 was less than half of what it had
been in the year before, and the number was
even lower in 1999. Thus, in 2000 the shorter
distance was re-introduced, and was to be called ‘limited class’ for a few more years. It was a
success from the start, and the 2000 race saw
a record high number of participants, both in
the limited class as well as for the race in total.
- Some of the discussants would have liked to try out having just one class for a few
more years, but the debate about whether
or not to have a limited class never really returned. Rita Hallvig says. In 1999, there were 16 participants in the Finnmark
Race. The following year they were 62.
Rennleder i Finnmarksløpet, Rita Hallvig
Foto: Trond A. Andersen
In 1999, there were 16 participants
in the Finnmark Race. The following
year they were 62
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
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1
The Finnmark Race goes corporate
The 2001 had a very noble participant. The
Norwegian Princess Märtha Louise was the race’s guest of honour and sat in Roger Dahl’s sled
from the start line in Bossekop to the re-start
in Sorrisniva. The media attention that followed the princess renewed an ongoing debate
about the future of the race. Was it still to be
based exclusively on volunteer efforts, or was
one to try to organise it in a way that provided
financial basis for employing a CEO to take the
race and the organisation onwards? The latter
option was chosen, and in that same year, a limited company was established. Alta Sleddog
Association was the largest owner, alongside
with five private investors. Gunnar Nilssen is
at present acting CEO of the company, and he
is also one of the five original investors in the
race and has been around since the beginning.
- All of us who were asked to join in the establishing of the company had our background from
the tourism industry in Finnmark. We thought
the race had a significant potential for playing a
role in boosting the entire tourism industry in
the county, and in particular, during the winter season, what with winter tourism being in
an early phase back then, Gunnar Nilssen says.
The first and most important goal was to find
the right CEO, a goal that was reached with assistance from the then-SND (today: Innovation Norway). - Having SND on board was a key
factor during the start-up phase, Nilssen says.
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
1. Gunnar Nilssen er en av eierne som har lagt ned
utallige dugnadstimer for å løfte Finnmarksløpet.
Foto: Trond A. Andersen
2. Inger-Marie Haaland ble første kvinne til å
vinne FL-1000 . Foto: Kjell O. Brun
3. Lars Monsen er en av Norges største kjendiser.
Friluftsmannen har gitt sporten og Finnmarksløpet mye PR. Foto: Therese N. Andersen
4. Fra 2009 har NRK sendt daglige sendinger fra
Finnmarksløpet. En utrolig viktig faktor for løpets framgang. Foto: Gunnar Outstad
5. Friske fraspark. Hundekjøring er ingen lett øvelse. Deltakerne sparker, springer og hjelper hundene så godt de kan. Foto: Geir Stian A. Larsen
Bringing all of Finnmark on board
The next key milestone in the Finnmark
Race history happened in 2003. The FL-1000
trail was adjusted and prolonged to also reach Kirkenes, which led the race through
new municipalities like Karasjok, Tana,
Nesseby and Sør-Varanger. Gunnar Nilssen
considers this one of the most important
milestones of the race’s 35 years of history.
- Having the race go all the way to Kirkenes
and back made it become a race for the entire county. It tied east and west, coast and
inland together, and the Finnmark Race became a joint project for the entire county,
he says. The new municipalities were very
enthusiastic towards the race. The new, exciting and demanding trail from Alta to Kirkenes and back also sparked a renewed interest
from mushers both at home and from abroad.
Internet boost
Once upon a time, not too long ago, a local
journalist compared the Finnmark Race with
watching paint dry. His argument was that it
was impossible to actually follow the race. After the mushers had started off in Alta, they
were never seen again. No one knew who
was in the lead at any given point of time,
nor did one know what was going on at the
checkpoints or, even, who eventually won the
race. With a bit of luck, the local newspapers
would cover the story a couple of days later.
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Then came internet. In 2004, the web interest exploded, and since then the Finnmark
Race has established its own press centre
during that the race covers updated news
and results 24/7. In recent years GPS tracking
of each musher has become common, there are live web cameras from checkpoints
and live shows streamed online. Last year
the race web site had nearly one million visitors during the week of the race, in addition to hundreds of followers in social media.
NRK on board
For a long time it was hard to capture the interest of other media. Local media would cover
the race closely, but on a national level there
would only be the random article now and
then, and infrequent stories on TV sport shows.
- As early as in 2001, we had a meeting
with Vegard Ulvang, who was one of our
first sponsors. He praised the race; however, he was also crystal clear that this would
not take off until we got on national TV.
His input helped motivate us to work with
long-term goals in mind in order to achieve this, says acting CEO Gunnar Nilssen.
And long-term it had to be. Only in 2009 did
NRK (the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) get on board, and every year since they have
had daily live shows from the Finnmark Race.
- It was the achieving of an old goal, and it has
contributed most positively to the public attention towards the Finnmark Race, says Nilssen.
Women win
For a long period of time, mushing was a sport
dominated by mature men with big beards, as
was the Finnmark Race. Men were in significant majority, though this was to change. An
increasing number of women participated in
the race, in particular in the FL-500 race, and
in 2005, Hilde Askildt became the first female
gold medallist when she won, and Katy Meier
won the silver medal. The next year Erle Franzen won, with Nina Skramstad bringing home
the bronze medal. In 2006 women won all the
medals of the FL-500, when Elisabeth Edland
won and was followed by Kati Meier and Mona
Kolstad. Later that year May-Conny Johansen was the only woman to start the longest
race. She beat almost all the men and became
the first woman to win a medal in that race.
I think we pay more attention to detail, and
perhaps we are a bit more caring by nature, which of course benefits the dogs, said
May-Conny in order to explain her success.
Three years later a woman finally brought
the FL-1000 gold medal home. Inger-Marie
Haaland entered the annals with her victory
in 2009, and when she repeated that achievement three years later, the female dominance
was overwhelming, with Katy Meier winning
the FL-500 that year. - Women are often too
humble in male dominated arenas. Women
who really want to, can make it anywhere, Haaland said to the press after her race.
There are still more men than women on the
start line in Alta, but the number of female participants is increasing, and they keep
winning. Last year Sigrid Ekran became the
second woman ever to win the FL-1000 race,
while Ronny Wingren from Finland just barely managed to fence off the veterans Hilde
Askildt and Elisabeth Edland in the FL-500.
Ready for the young
Experience is a key factor for succeeding in
sleddog racing. The young mushers do not
have an easy job trying to make their way into
competitions, nor is it easy for them to gain
experience, as there are relatively few races
for junior mushers. Therefore the Finnmark
Race introduced a junior race last year, where four bold and skilled mushers aged 15-17
participated. Erik Loftsgård made history
when he won the first FL-Junior Race ever.
The victorious young man was overflowed
with joy upon winning and had his future
plans ready: - We are thinking in a longer
term to participate in the FL-500 race and
perform well there in a few years, said the
17-year old upon finishing the race. This
year there are as many as ten mushers signed up for the 200 km long FL-Junior Race.
What happens next during and to the Finnmark Race remains to be seen. The only
thing that is for certain is that the race will
continue evolving in the years to come.
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
OFFICIAL
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FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
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15
My lead dog
- 30 mushers tell of their lead dog experiences
Books about long distance sled dog racing are few and far between,
particularly in Norway. However, in a few days’ time a breath of fresh
air hits the bookshelves. The title is ‘Min lederhund’ – ‘My lead dog’.
We have asked author Inger Ellen Eftevand Orvin to write a few words
about the background for and contents of this book.
The idea of collecting good lead dog
stories into a book came to me when I in
the early 2000s visited Harald Tunheims
dog yard in Alta. I left with two important achievements – one was a dog that
was to mean a lot to my family, the other
was a story about a lead dog that turned
the whole dog team around on-trail in the
Alaskan wilderness, in order to pick up its
owner, the musher. I had never heard of
anything like it before. I was already fascinated with the relationship between musher and lead dog, and I had gained enough
experience as a musher to understand
that it requires a lot of time, patience and
competence to train a dog in order for it
FOTO: Privat
The book ‘My lead dog’ did not become a
recipe. Rather, it became a collection of
stories about the ultimate challenges the
musher faces in cooperation with his or
her lead dogs. Race experiences matter in
most of these stories. That is where the
relationship between dog and musher are
put to the test, when facing all elements
over a longer period of time. That is where you can tell whether you have succeeded with your training and building of
relationships. Some mushers tell about
a particular dog, others tell of experiences with several dogs. For some, training
matters. For others, the selection of lead
dog talents is the key success factor. What
they all have in common, is that there
is a moment that they will never forget.
to be a lead dog of that calibre. I did, at the
time, not pay too much attention to the
fact that it also required a talented dog.
to emphasize that this book is not in any
way a ranking of either dogs or mushers.
The best stories may not even be told yet.
Like so many good ideas, this one, too,
was shelved. Until the Finnmark Race
2014. Being an armchair musher, I saw
Ronny Frydenlund cross the finishing
line while his old lead dog Herman was
waiting in the finish area. That was when
I decided – Herman just had to be in my
book! During the past few months, I have
been on an exciting adventure. Some
stories have just come to me, others I
have had to dig up. It is important for me
Mushing is an experience sport. ‘Min lederhund’ – ‘My lead dog’ – presents the reader with a unique opportunity to participate in thousands of kilometres on the sled.
Good read!
Kind regards,
Author Inger Elle Eftevand Orvin
More information and ordering
available at www.minlederhund.no
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
16
Nordkapp
Honningsvåg
Havøysund
NORSKEHAVET
889
N
OT N
ANGE
REVSB
E 69
LAKSEFJORDEN
Kjøllefjord
PORS
Hammerfest
94
FI N NMAR
98
E6
ALTAFJORDEN
Le
Lakselv
Skoganvarre
Start og mål
Alta
E6
E6
Jotka
TROMS
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
Løypas lengste etappe:
Karasjok - Alta 141 km
93
Karasjok
Suossjavri
92
Jergul
17
Mehamn
B A RE N T S H AVE T
TANAFJORDEN
Berlevåg
888
Båtsfjord
Vardø
891
890
E 75
98
Tana bru
K
VA R A N G E RFJO R D E N
Vadsø
Varangerbotn
E6
886
Sirma
E6
Neiden
Kirkenes
FINLAND
Levajok
885
UTSNITT
Nikel
E 75
1.000 km tilsvarer
avstanden fra Oslo
til Mo i Rana
RUSSLAND
FL-junior (maks. seks hunder i spannet).
Ellentjern
FL-500 (maks. åtte hunder i spannet).
FL-1000 (åpen klasse, inntil 14 hunder).
30 km
©
Visit our website:
http://www.nyhetsgrafikk.no/
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
Kilde: www.finnmarkslopet.no
18
PROFILE FL-1000: SIGRID EKRAN
During that time she has learned to master
the Alaskan wilderness on her own, with
dogs, she has raced three Iditarods and thus
earned $ 45,400 in rewards from the world’s
longest sleddog race. She has won the longest Femund Race twice, last time in 2011 –
which earned her the World Champion title.
She has received multiple Best Dog Care
Awards, and last year she put the jewel in
the crown by winning her first victory in
the FL-1000 race. Nor do we forget that she
wedged in between Roger Dahl and her tutor,
Robert Sørlie, in 2011. She finished 2nd that
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
year, and Robert had to let go of the cabin he
would otherwise have won, based on best accumulated position for the 2010-2011 period.
Sigrid lives her dream life at a farm in Lomsjødalen, together with her boyfriend, handlers
and just over 30 huskies. When the mushing season is over, she will often go on exciting expeditions – preferably as a guide. A few years ago,
she declined to appear on Norway’s largest prime time talk show. In 2014, the show, largest
of its kind in Scandinavia, was more successful at its attempt. We got to meet a cool lady
who was neither a primadonna nor uptight in
any way, and she even demonstrated how to
relieve oneself while standing on a dogsled.
I will eat my favourite hat if there isn’t
a biography about her before too long.
In 2015 she may enter our annals as the
first musher ever to win the FL-1000 two
consecutive years, ever since the race
trail started going to Kirkenes and back.
FOTO: Kjell O. Brun
Sigrid is the reigning World Champion and
also reigning FL-1000 champion. Despite
her young age, she can look back upon an
amazing mushing career so far. This sport
requires, as much knowledge as physical stamina and it is not uncommon for mushers
to have passed 40 years of age when they
start performing really well. Sigrid is only
34 and has only been mushing for a decade.
Tlf: 483 01 700
19
PROFILE FL-500 RNB: EVELINE KOCH
Eveline is an exciting profile. She originally comes from the Netherlands, though
she has lived in Sweden for 13 years and
participates under the blue-and-yellow
flag. She runs the Vargvass Kennel together with the most famous Siberian Husky
breeder in the Nordic countries, Karsten
Grønås. Vargvass is well known for its
excellent competition lines in their dogs,
and this has resulted in several top placements for races in mid- and long distance.
Up until now Karsten has been the one
to join the long races, whereas Eveline
has joined the mid-distance races. Now
that Mr Grønås has retired from race
participation, Eveline is the chief musher. Maybe that’s not such a bad idea –
she recently finished 3rd in the 300 km
long Tobacco Trail race, in competition
with many good Alaskan Husky teams.
- Well, of course, we hope for cold temperatures, Eveline says with a laugh. Siberian Huskies are robust dogs with thick fur,
and they perform well in extreme cold
weather, whereas they are not too keen
on mild temperatures. It is hard for them
to regulate their body temperatures with
their thick fur. When asked why Siberians
usually cannot quite compete with the
speed of mixed-breed dogs such as Alaskan Huskies, she mentions two factors.
One is that the dogs do not like to exhaust themselves completely. The other is
that it is harder to breed when there are
few breeding lines to choose from. 95%
of all Siberian Huskies have been bred
for show purposes, and they are photo
models rather than marathon athletes. –
They are not interesting for our purposes,
is Eveline’s clear-cut statement. She will
compete with 10 other teams about the
WCh gold medal in the FL-500RNB class.
FOTO: Privat
Before we start talking about Eveline,
we should probably explain what the FL5000RNB class is all about. When there
is a World Championship, it is a requirement that there is a separate class for
the pure-breed polar dogs. All the participants in the FL-500RNB use the same
trail at the same time as the ordinary FL500 competition. They compete about the
same money and gift awards. In addition
to this, however, there will be a separate
list of results and separate medals for the
pure-breed dogs. Greenland dogs, Alaskan Malamutes, Samoyeds and of course,
Siberian Huskies are the pure-breed polar
dogs used for sleddog racing. The Siberians are the fastest of the four, and they are
the ones who are pulling Eveline’s sled.
I must confess to not knowing too much
about her competitors, though we have
a feeling that Eveline Koch might just
earn a medal in this year’s race. There
must be some leeway for gut feelings!
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
20
Trailbreakers
Drives 25,000 km before the Finnmark Race
When the first dog team hits the trails of the Finnmark Race on 7 March, two men
on snowmobiles are out there a bit ahead of the dogs. These are the trailbreakers,
and their job is to make sure the trail is in order before the dog teams arrive. For the
trailbreakers, the race started weeks earlier.t
Niels Westphal
Løypekjørere og Trond A. Andersen
TEKST:
FOTO:
- In eastern Finnmark the trail job started at
the end of January. We would have loved to
start then out west too, however, the ‘Ole’
storm forced us to postpone it for another
week, says Trail Manager Magne Johansen.
The Finnmark Race trail network stretches
across 1,200 kilometres across most of Norway’s largest county. While some part of the
trail follows regular snowmobile trails, large
parts of the race trail has to be set and marked by the race trailbreakers. That job has
to start long before the race commences.
Never identical trail
Magne Johansen has worked on the Finnmark Race trails for 28 years. This year he
leads a group of 25 men who drive at least 25,000 kilometres on snowmobiles in
order to make the best possible trails for
mushers and their dogs. For anyone who
enjoys riding a snowmobile it might sounds like a dream job. However, for Magne
and his crew, who all do this as volunteers,
the focus is not on riding snowmobiles.
- It is hardly about riding the snowmobiles at all. It is more about hours spent on
hard work, marking the trails, clearing
through woods and a lot of thinking and
planning both ahead and along the way in
order to choose the best routes, he says.
Even if the trail has been planned on
the map prior to the trailbreakers hitting the trails with their snowmobiFINNMARKSLØPET 2015
les, many larger and smaller decisions have to be made along the way.
- We make choices the whole time. On the
rivers, we might run into surface water,
which we have to find ways of avoiding.
The wind may have created snowdrifts
or snow overhangs that we need to take
into consideration, or it may have blown
away the snow and left areas barren, so
that we have to adjust the trail accordingly. The trail is hardly ever identical
from one year to the next, and adjustments
are made continuously, says Johansen.
Local know-how
The trailbreaking crew live scattered around the county, and they are all familiar
with the peculiarities of their respective
sections of the trail. That local expertise is
decisive for finding the best trail choices, in
particular if storms, cold or thaw requires
that changes be made to the trail during an
ongoing race. Experience and local expertise can also be crucial for making the right
decisions when the conditions get rough.
- Last year the snowmobiles had to turn
around between Skoganvarre and Levajok and return during the race. They had
problems with one of the snowmobiles
and the wind tore the windscreen of the
other snowmobile. It was crucial that
our crew there were experienced enough
to take that hard, but correct decision
about turning around, says Johansen.
21
According to Magne Johansen, recruiting trailbreaking crew has never been
a problem. Most members of the crew
have served for years and prefer to recruit their own people. – Those who are on
the crew already prefer to recruit people
they know. If you are to be out in the mountains through all kinds of weather it is
important to know who you have with you
and that you can rely on them, he says.
Focus on security
Both prior to and during the race the trailbreaking crew can run into all kinds of
weather. Strong winds, freezing cold, heavy
showers and blizzards. Most things are normal during the Finnmark Race. This year
Magne and his crew have increased their
focus on security, also for their own crew.
- We have gone through our security
again, having a.o. the experiences from
this year’s Femund Race in mind. We are
making sure that all snowmobile trailbreakers bring with them windbags and other security equipment when they are out.
This might of course also come in han-
dy should a musher get in trouble so that
we have to assist, the Trail Manager says.
Soon after his conversation with Ciiko, he
puts his snowmobile gear back on again.
This time the Alta River trail is to be prepared. Once the race is over, however, going on a snowmobile trip does not exactly
appear tempting for Magne Johansen¬.
- After the Finnmark Race is over, I
think a snowmobile is the last thing
I want to see, he says with a smile.
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22
Why organise a WCh
– and what is the IFSS?
Last things first; the IFSS – the International Federation of Sleddog Sport – is
the international sleddog federation, i.e.
the overarching unit that organises all
sleddog racing across the world, whichever area of the sport. ‘All’ sleddog racing
means ‘all kinds’ of races, be it cross-country competitions with bikes, carts or
even canicross (where one person runs in
the terrain with one dog in front of him/
her), sleddog racing in sprint, mid-distance or long distance races, as well as
‘ski-dog’, or ‘Nordic style’ as we prefer
to call it in Norway, where the two-legged athlete follows the dog/s on skis.
Sleddog racing is done in different ways
around the world. The conditions in
Australia are much different from those in Norway; hence, the way one organises and exercises the sport, as well as
the challenges one faces, are also quite
different from one another. Nevertheless, it is all sleddog racing. While Norwegians have insulated dog houses due
to the cold, the dog houses in Australia
have air conditioning. Where we have to
take reindeer and sheep into consideration, snakes in the dog pen are the major
challenge Down Under. The political and
climate conditions differ too. While we
in Norway argue about whether or not to
give ulcers medicine to our dogs during
races, and vaccinating them against flu or
not, the Dutch do not permit training or
competing with anything but polar breeds. In South Africa all kinds of sleddog
racing is prohibited, whatever the dog
race. While we in Norway discuss whether or not the Femund Race should be cancelled when the wind reaches hurricane
speed or when the temperatures are 40 C
below zero, competitions in Mexico have
to finish by 7 a.m. due to the hot climate.
The national sleddog federations around
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
the world are constitutive members of
the IFSS. The largest part of the members come from the Scandinavian countries, the USA and Canada, however,
Germany, France, Poland and the Czech
Republic are also significant members.
Some countries have large and strong
federations. Norway with its 5,000 members, Finland with its 15,000 and some
great sleddog nations have weak national federations, such as the USA and
Canada with fewer than 500 members.
Both historically and culturally, Norway
has a quite different tradition and history
of sleddog racing from that of the rest
of the world. We are proud of our polar
explorer Roald Amundsen, and many contemporary mushers started their sleddog
racing career operating sleddog driven
‘ambulance sleds’ on ski slopes around the
country. In North America, the Indians’
hunting traditions and later the gold rush
in Alaska laid the foundations for the
sport. The Iditarod, and perhaps even
the Finnmark Race, was inspired by the
diphtheria medicine relay race from Fairbanks to Nome in 1924. That was also the
race that made Leonard Seppala famous.
People in the rest of the world do not
ski, but they read Jack London and find
Siberian Huskies, as well as other polar
breed dogs, quite charming and pretty.
After a while they found out that the
dogs needed training too – and perhaps to compete with other huskies? The
desire to preserve the breed’s unique
features while also seeing them compete with likeminded dogs has been a clear guide line in the breeding work. The
main point has arguably been to preserve
the polar breeds, even though they pull
a bit slower along the trail. Many polar
dog enthusiasts in Norway consider this
quite useless; however, there is no gene-
ral agreement on this in Norway either.
Many parts of Europe take pride in
mushing pure-breed dogs. Many of the
IFSS countries prefer to use polar breeds, and many of their activities spring
from the polar breed societies. There
are several international associations
for mushing with pure-breed dogs; however, whether or not these associations are members of the IFSS varies.
Sadly, we have come to see during recent
years that not everyone recognise the
importance of having a clean and doping
free sport. Cheaters have found their way
into sleddog racing too. Even though the
problem has not been too extensive so far,
it is nevertheless a very serious one. The
use of doping in a dog-based sport takes
on an extra dimension, as animal welfare
standards come into consideration. For
true animal lovers this also carries a third
dimension: People can chose whether or
not to use doping, whereas the dogs are
at the mercy of their owners. That is one
of the reasons why the IFSS pays a lot of
attention to doping, even though the problem has not been too extensive so far.
As stated above, much of the sleddog racing sport in large parts of the world has
its origins in the polar breed dog environments, and that is why RNB (Registered
Nordic Breed) will be a separate race
class in the WCh and the Finnmark Race.
For a long period of time, long-distance
mushing was in many respects a branch of its own, slightly apart from other
sleddog sports. You would mostly find
Norwegians and Alaskans racing long
distances, whereas the rest of the world preferred to keep it shorter. Training
conditions were, of course, a part of the
explanation. The world outside of Alaska
and Norway did not realise how great and
exciting long distance mushing is, and it
was only when Norway hosted the 2011
World Championships that long distance
was established as a separate WCh class.
Many good and large things stem from
a narrow start, so also the IFSS and the
Finnmark Race. The Finnmark Race had
three participating teams in 1983 and
covered some 200 kilometres. Today the
race holds WCh status. Participants from
more than a dozen countries line up to
start, and a Junior Class has been established as a separate WCh class for the first
time ever. Much of this is possible because the Finnmark Race has adapted and
adjusted to the requirements asked of all
potential WCh candidates, also abroad.
The Finnmark Race has been cooperating
well and has demonstrated excellent ability to adjust its magnificent event into suiting also the WCh requirements, according to international rules and standards.
Classes and distances have been adjusted,
procedures for foreign national team
mushers have been established, as has
cooperation with the IFSS about administration procedures and DID, doping test
and procedures are in place, technical delegates and Race Marshal are approved by
the IFSS, ceremonies have been adjusted,
international representatives are even
invited, and there are uniquely WCh designed clothes and other effects in place.
Thus, many small and some large adjustments and initiatives that when
combined demonstrate that the Finnmark Race is an excellent World Championship and at the same time a unique
long distance race with rich traditions.
On behalf of the IFSS, I wish everyone
involved the best of luck with this year’s
race. Both participants and organisers,
not to mention the hundreds of volunteers who do an amazing job in Alta, along
the trail and at the checkpoints. This
will be a memorable experience for all!
All the best for the Race, and congratulations on the World Championship!
Arild Eidsvold
IFSS
Vice President
The race follows the WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) rules and the
Finnmark Race has good cooperation
with the Norwegian Food Safety Authorities, which also hold supervisory
powers regarding animal welfare. The
FSA is often more active and careful with visits and controlling activities when there is a WCh in Norway.
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
PUBLIKUMSPROGRAM FL-2015
FOTO: Geir SSan Altmann Larsen
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
25
PROFIL FL-junior: ELISABETH UGLEBAKKEN
In 2015, her dream comes true – she is to
participate in the Finnmark Race. At the
age of 16, she has to join the Junior class of
the race. And Elisabeth has used the season well. She qualified for the race through
winning the Alta 2-Day race, followed by
a new victory a month later in Troms
Quest. Her team proved to be very fast.
During the Alta 2-Day Race all the junior mushers got to taste proper winter
storms. Elisabeth was one of the mushers
who did not get stuck on the mountain
with a total whiteout, but it was nevertheless a rough race for her too. – In the
mountains I managed to stay calm and
focused even though the weather was
rough. The dogs sensed that, and everything went well. Once I arrived at the checkpoint and had cared for the dogs, I had
a bit of a reaction when I heard that many
of the others were stuck on the mountain.
I got tremendous respect for the forces of
nature after that experience, and I always
bring a windbag and a sleeping bag for
extreme colds when I train in the mountains now, the 16-year old emphasizes.
Now she can hardly wait to cross the
starting line in Alta’s main street. – It
has given me goose bumps when my
dad has hit the trails there, with thousands of people cheering him on. Imagine, this time it’s me! I am so lucky to
get to do this, Elisabeth Uglebakken says.
She is definitely one of the favourites to
winning a medal at the FL-Junior Race.
FOTO: Trond A. Andersen
A few years ago, Elisabeth was handler
for her father Vidar during the FL-500
race. That sparked her dream about
one day starting the race on her own.
Da vi het Økonor telte vi
hundespann på
Finnmarksløpet. Det gjør
vi forsatt.
Vis oss din lidenskap - få enda bedre resultater!
Økonor i Alta er nå Accountor.
Accountor, Løkkeveien 9, 9510 Alta
www.accountor.no
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
Foto: Kjell O. Brun
Vi liker å telle. Siden vi startet tellingen har vi vokst fra 50 mennesker til å bli den
største leverandøren av regnskaps- og rådgivingstjenester i Nord-Europa.
Hele tiden med en sterk overbevisning: Bak alle suksesser ligger lidenskap.
Vår lidenskap er å hjelpe andre å skape resultater.
26
PROFILE FL-500: MILOS GONDA
FOTO:
It is easy to describe Milos Gonda from
Slovakia. He is one of the most obvious
winning candidates. We do, of course,
have to take a closer look at the 37-year
old who lives in Sweden. The 2015 race
will be the second time he participates
in the FL-500 race. His first attempt did
not go too well, that is, in the eyes of
his competitors. He performed strongly throughout the entire race and finished first, well ahead of # 2 and 3.
Not only does he have strong dogs, he is
also very fit himself. He has participated
four times in the French Alp Race ‘La
Grande Odyssèe’ – we are talking about
a race trail that literally runs up more or
less vertical downhill ski slopes. He won
it once and finished 2nd the other three
times. That is nothing but impressive.
He has also entered the Pasvik Trail race
twice, finishing 1st once and 2nd once.
He has also won the most prestigious
race in northern Sweden, Tobacco Trail.
This constitutes pretty much his entire
race career. Milos either wins or finishes 2nd – what a legacy! It will be hard
to keep him away from the medals, and
the gold medal just might go to Slovakia.
Illustrasjonsfoto: Tine Poppe
Ida trenger en tydelig og omtenksom voksen i livet sitt
Et meningsfylt oppdrag i eget hjem? Noen barn og unge har behov for ekstra
oppfølging. I et statlig familiehjem har en av de voksne oppdraget som fosterforelder på heltid.
Hammerfest 466 15 420
Tromsø
466 15 430
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
Sortland
Bodø
466 15 440
466 15 450
27
PROFILE FL-1000: RALPH JOHANNESSEN
Johannessen has participated in the FL1000 race all but 11 times. During his first
few years it went so-so, and he scratched
three consecutive years around the turn
of the millennium. However, like we have
said before; this a sport of experience. Ralph has experienced a lot. Even though he
has only one victory in the FL-1000 race,
his dogs have three. His former teamma-
te Inger-Marie Haaland has lead the dog
team in to two victories. When she won in
2009, one started talking about the super
handler. Having a sharp eye for detail and
tactics from the side-line, Ralph was in on
the sport. With time, we have seen more
super-handlers appear; however, Ralph got
tired of standing on the side-line. Now he
is competing for himself, and he does so
thoroughly. If he is on the starting line, he’s
there to win. He does not save resources for
later races – competition is competition.
Mr Johannessen has a lot of paybacks
due. He has not raced since 2011, when
he had to scratch, which was a major disappointment after his winning the 2010
race. Now he is all in for a new ATV,
NOK 70,000, a World Champion title –
and probably half the kingdom as well.
FOTO:
Few mushers have more sparkle in their eyes
than this man from Bergen, Norway. An
uncompromising competitor who manages
to race with top-notch dog teams year after
year, and in all competitions he enters into.
Last year he had to realise that his Iditarod
debut did not go quite as planned, though
that was in no way due to faults with the dog
team. It was more the forces of nature and
near-death experiences on-trail that made
Ralph cross the finish line in Nome as # 22.
terapi & velvære
Stolt samarbeidspartner.
Vi er vokst opp i nord, vi skal leve i nord
og vi skal utvikle verdiene i nord.
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
grafisk styling: zipmedia | foto: shutterstock.com
28
Good cooperation gives great results!
Ishavskraft is the largest supplier of power in Troms and Finnmark,
and the company is owned by the people living there. The will to
cooperate and win characterises both two- and four-legged participants in the Finnmark Race. The same values have contributed to
Ishavskraft today being a significant national supplier of renewable
energy and future-oriented energy solutions.
Teaming up with the environment
- When we say ‘environment’, one of the things
we refer to are the surroundings – both the
vulnerable Arctic and majestic landscape that
surrounds us, and also all the local good forces
who contribute to a high quality of life up here,
the forces that make us enjoy life and living
here in the north, says Stig A. Hanssen, Marketing Director of Ishavskraft. The company
is strongly engaged in environmental issues,
which also leads to good results in the market.
- We do, for instance, appreciate the fact that
the inhabitants of our capital can travel with
public transportation that runs on renewable
energy from Ishavskraft for many years to
come, Hanssen says with pleasure, adding that
buildings such as the Opera House, the ParliaFINNMARKSLØPET 2015
ment, the Sami Parliament and the University
of Oslo also run on pure electric power from
Northern Norway. Ishavskraft also help their
customers use energy more wisely, so that
they need less of it, thereby reducing costs
for both the customers and the environment.
Ishavskraft leaves its mark where you live
Conscious and professional power supply customers in our two northernmost counties have enabled Ishavskraft to compete on a national basis.
- Our #1 priority will always be to ensure that
our customers receive the best products and
the best service available, says the Marketing
Director. The company wishes to give back
to the society that they are a part of and has
a.o. created specific funds together with the
sports federations in Troms and Finnmark in
order to provide for new activities among children and youth. The company also supports
local cultural initiatives, organisers, teams
and associations in their efforts to create
a vivid civil society to the benefit of us all.
- The Finnmark Race is a great example of how
cooperation between nature, people and animals creates developments and leads to results.
As a proud sponsor of the Finnmark Race, we
contribute to creating a bit of excitement in
our everyday life. Ishavskraft leaves its mark
where you live, Hanssen says with enthusiasm. He wishes the organisers, participants,
partners, and not to mention the large number
of volunteers, all the best for this year’s race.
29
PROFILE FL-500: VIDAR UGLEBAKKEN
with two dog teams in each. His daughter
Elisabeth has won two junior races out of
two possible. His nephew Ole Christian
has won two 8-dog team races out of two
possible. In other words, all signs speak
of high promises. The question is whether the musher himself will be race ready.
- I think I will start the race myself, and
we are in it to compete. Ole Christian
is an excellent musher, and we stand
a fair chance if it is he on the sled. The
question is only whether he and the
dogs know each other well enough. He
will no doubt be among the favourites.
FOTO:
The first thing that has to be said before
we start talking about Vidar, is that he
might not actually join the race. Team
Uglebakken has one of Norway’s best dog
teams, most likely. However, the musher
is a different story. Vidar hurt his leg last
autumn, and the plaster was only removed
one month before the race commences.
Vidar is not sure if he will be fit enough to
start, and if not, then that’s quite sad. In
2010, he joined his first Finnmark Race,
finishing in 8th place of the FL-500 and
receiving the Rooky of the Year Award.
The following year he finished 10th, before living it up with a 4th place last year.
In 2015, the team has started two races,
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
30
Research on the mushers
Long distance mushing is primarily about outdoor living and sporting competitions. However, mushing can also be decisive for choosing where to live,
what to do and other important decisions in life. Research on mushers participating in the Finnmark Race and the Femund Race proves this.
Source: «Friluftsliv i langdistanse sledehundekjøring» [Outdoor living in long distance sled dog racing] by Rune Waaler and Tor Oskar Thomassen, University of Tromsø.
Researchers Rune Waaler and Tor Oskar
Thomassen at the University of Tromsø have
cooperated with colleagues at the University
Colleges in Trøndelag and Buskerud and asked mushers participating in the 2013 and
2014 Finnmark Race and the 2014 Femund
Race a series of questions regarding their
motivation and thoughts about mushing. 125
respondents answered the questionnaire.
The answers demonstrate that choosing to
take up mushing can be a life-changing decision. 63 % of the mushers said that their
being into mushing has been decisive for
their choice of residence, either by moving
to where they now live or by choosing to
stay where they are because the place is well
suited for mushing. Both outdoor life and
training opportunities are decisive for mushers when they chose where to settle down.
Outdoor life and dogs
Most mushers consider their activity to be a
sport as well as an outdoor life choice. However, when asked about why they first started
mushing, their main motivation proves to be
the outdoor living life style and the focus on
dogs. That said, there are clear differences depending on which races the mushers participate in. For the participants of the shortest race,
the Femund 400 Race, the sport-and-competition aspect of mushing is far less important,
whereas spending time in the outdoors and
being close to their dogs matters far more.
For the participants of the longest races, the
Femund 600 Race and the Finnmark Race FL1000, outdoor living and being close to the dogs
is still very important. However, competing
and participating on a competitive level in the
sport also plays a significant part in their motivation. On a general basis, the research results
show that outdoor life matters more to rookies, whereas the sports- and competitive elements matter more with increased experience.
Other alternatives, such as ‘getting into the
mushing environment’ or ‘fascination for
polar heroes’ matter the least for all mushers regardless of which race they participate in. Nevertheless, it is interesting to
note that these alternatives rank higher
among participants of the Femund Race
than among those of the Finnmark Race.
All-consuming activity
A common feature for all respondents is that
mushing takes up a lot of their time. The
survey proves that the participants of the
Finnmark Race FL-1000 spend more than
50 hours per week from November to April,
while time spent is at its lowest during the
summer months, with an average of just
over 20 hours per week. The mushers who
participate in the longest races clearly spend
the most time mushing, and it is in particular the participants of the Finnmark Race
FL-1000 who stand out, with a significantly
higher number of hours spent on their sport
during the winter months. The differences
are smaller during summer and autumn.
Given how much time they spend on their sport
it may not come as a surprise that 93% of the
mushers have mushing as their main interest.
We can assume that the 7% who do not
have mushing as their main interest may
be handlers, or people who do not own the
dog-team they participated with, but rath-
er rented it for the duration of the Femund
or Finnmark Race, the researchers write.
Expensive and delightful
The research results show that many mushers
have had other interests and hobbies before,
but that that has come to an end. Mushing takes
up all of their time. It does not appear from the
investigations whether mushing also requires
all of their money; however, the scientists have
asked whether mushing is work or a hobby.
- The main impression we are left with is
that mushers do not make money from
their mushing, the researchers state.
More mushers are able to generate income
from their mushing among the participants
of the Finnmark Race than those of the Femund Race. The research data also show
that those making money are most likely to
be among the most experienced mushers,
among those with the highest amount of
dogs and those who participate in the longest distance races. Eight people claim to
have all their income from mushing. However, the expenses are also significant.
Even though the mushers were not asked specifically about how much money they spend on
their mushing, the researchers have discussed
this issue with several mushers. Many suggest
that in order to be ready to start the Finnmark
Race they will spend close to NOK 150,000
(€ 17,000+). These expenses cover a.o. dog
food, veterinary costs, petrol/fuel for cars and
ATVs, maintenance of sleds, lines, harnesses
and other equipment, as well as personal
equipment and costs during the race itself.
Mushing is definitely expensive, but it’s delightful too.
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
31
Over time, the Finnmark Race has developed a wide range of race related products. Husky eyes and our logo fit onto most products, just as we predicted, and
the response to our products is excellent.
However, not everyone is aware that we sell spin-off products throughout all the
year, not just during the season. Those who take an interest in mushing are engaged in the sport year-round, regardless of green grass and high temperatures.
Our summer collection has been very popular, however, the best response by
far has been that of the ladies’ shirt with the statement «Der menn er menn og
kvinner vinner!» [Where men are men and women win!]. We got the inspiration
from the Iditarod quote «Where men are men and women win the Iditarod» after
Suzann Butcher won that race four out of five years in Alaska a few years back.
Back in Norway, women performed well in 2014 and won six out of nine medals.
No wonder that we leave room for women to sparkle a bit extra!
2015 is the year when for the first time ever a World Championship is to take
place in Finnmark. We do not see that opportunity every year. Many products in
our range are related to the World Championship. Following a good dialogue and
cooperation with the NHF (the Norwegian Sleddog Federation) and the IFSS, we
are very pleased with the result of our WCh Collection. We hope our audience is
pleased too.
We have three shops that are open year-round. These are the Finnmark Race offices, our web shop and our own shop-in-shop section at Sport1 Alta. Immediately
prior to and during the race we move the shop from our offices on the 1st floor
of the Kunnskapsparken office building to a more prominent place on the ground
floor of the same building.
In our shop you will find everything from mouse mats to outdoor
jackets. We have several cool new products in our range, and we
hope you will like them. You are most welcome to either one
of our three shops!
Jannicke Mannsverk, Sales Manager, Finnmarksløpet AS
Vi ønsker arrangør
og deltakere
lykke til i årets løp!
Betongelementer
Ferdigbetong
Avløpssystemer i betong
Tlf. 78 44 92 00 - [email protected] - www.jaro.no
2015 FINNMARKSLØPET
Race list FL-2015
(20th february - 2015)
FL-500/500RNB
FINNMARKSLØPET 2015
51 Erik Martinez RNB FRA
52 Lars Erik Gausen NOR
53 Victor Halvorsen NOR
54 Ole Sigleif Johansen NOR
55 Marco Wyss SWI
56 Jan Slosar SVK
57 Anna Dorthea Yri NOR
58 Helle Seiertun Bjerke NOR
59 Terje Svendsrud NOR
60 Kristian Lauvland NOR
61 Daniel Juillaguet FRA
62 Andreas Tømmervik NOR
63 Ronny Wingren FIN
64 Silje Holmen Larsen NOR
65 Ove Grytbak
NOR
66 Daniel Schwarz FIN
67 Vidar Aastrøm NOR
68 Niklas Rogne NOR
69 Erik Loftsgård NOR
70 Catherine Fontaine RNBFRA
71 Tomas Nyheim Lambela NOR
72 Eileen Strøm NOR
73 Stein Tage Domaas NOR
74 Kent-Gjøran Svendsen NOR
75 Marte Stensland
Jørgensen RNB
NOR
76 Ørnulf Jacobsen NOR
77 John Øivind Selmer
NOR
78 Berit Astrid Utsi NOR
79 Sunniva Høiseth
NOR
FL-1000
01 Sigrid Ekran
NOR
02 Jean Philippe Pontier FRA
03 Kjell Brennodden NOR
04 Nina Skramstad NOR
05 Emil Inauen SWI
06 Bjørnar Andersen NOR
07 Birgitte Næss Wærner NOR
08 Steinar Kristensen NOR
09 Ronny Frydenlund NOR
10 Ketil Reitan NOR
11 Tom Frode Johansen NOR
12 Yngve Fagerli NOR
13 May-Conny Johansen NOR
14 Roy-Åge Jensen Ugseth NOR
15 Kristian Walseth NOR
16 Kenneth Nilsen NOR
17 Jan Vidar Dahle NOR
18 Bjørn-Hugo KristoffersenNOR
19 Lars Monsen NOR
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Stein Håvard Fjestad NOR
Roger Fossøy NOR
Amund Rognes Kokkvoll NOR
Philip Ross GBR
Petter Karlsson SWE
Thomas Selvik Erlandsen NOR
Jo Jøldal NOR
Marit Beate Kasin NOR
Mel Andrews GBR
Hugo Hansen NOR
Bernd Helmich GER
Wolfgang Simon-Nilsen NOR
Leif Herleiksplass NOR
Arnt Ola Skjerve NOR
Magnus Gorter Voie NOR
Inger-Marie Haaland NOR
Petter Jahnsen NOR
Bernhard Schuchert GER
Dag Torulf Olsen NOR
Sébastien Vergnaud FRA
Jan Øystein Dervo NOR
Tore Bergby NOR
Harald Tunheim NOR
Per Weddegjerde NOR
Thomas Rosencrantz SWI
Juha Hokka FIN
Hendrik Stachnau GER
Ralph Johannessen NOR
Miquel-Angel Martinez ESP
Dag Broch NOR
Marçal Rocias Palau ESP
Tove Sørensen NOR
Mikael Jutila FIN
Bernhard Klammer AUT
Magne Storstein NOR
Krister Höök
NOR
Jo Are Brennodden NOR
FL-junior
01 Anette Børve Hernes
NOR
02 Guro Krempig
NOR
03 Mina Skjøthaug
Karlstrøm
NOR
04 Charlotte Linnéa
Rehnlund NOR
05 Hanna Lyrek NOR
06 Aud Kristin Bjørgum NOR
07 Elisabeth Uglebakken NOR
08 Helene Strøm NOR
09 Sofie Beddari NOR
FOTO: STEINAR VIK
01 Janne Rosenlind
NOR
02 Hilde Askildt NOR
03 Kim L. Utstøl NOR
04 Egil Eliassen NOR
05 Espen Hamnvik NOR
06 Leif Wilhelmsen NOR
07 Robin Johansen NOR
08 Ole Wingren FIN
09 Jørn Roger Strifeldt NOR
10 Berit Seljestokken NOR
11 Paavonpoika Kärenlampi
Ptri P.
FIN
12 Yngve Opgård NOR
13 Geir Wiik NOR
14 Sanja Heikkila FIN
15 Michael Shelkovin RNB RUS
16 Mailene Skjølås NOR
17 Trond Morten Helgesen NOR
18 Egil Lønne NOR
19 Martin André Aslaksen NOR
20 Lasse Gjerde NOR
21 Eveline KochRNB
SWE
22 Istvan Drahos HUN
23 Marianne Dahlen NOR
24 Marianne Skjøthaug NOR
25 Vidar Uglebakken NOR
26 Helene Gran Øverli NOR
27 Milos Gonda SVK
28 Tore Figenschau NOR
29 Ludovic Farcy RNB FRA
30 Bente Levorsen NOR
31 Jose Sacristan ESP
32 Heidi Vogel RNB
GER
33 Taisto Torneus SWE
34 Torkil Hansen NOR
35 Vidar Myklevoll NOR
36 Øyvind Jakobsen NOR
37 Baltasar Gallardo
Gonzalez RNB
ESP
38 Jim-Ove Pedersen NOR
39 Michael Hess RNB
GER
40 Helge Hoftun NOR
41 Mikael Sundström FIN
42 Kjell Roar Åsvestad NOR
43 Elisabeth Edland NOR
44 Sølvi Monsen NOR
45 Alexander Schwarz FIN
46 Tom Hardy NOR
47 Hannu Tirkkonen RNBFIN
48 Karianne Reitan Hansen NOR
49 Christian Høy Knudsen NOR
50 Jørn Sødahl Kvam NOR