Birkebeinerrennet
Birkebeinerrennet (lit. The Birkebeiner race) is a long-distance cross-country ski marathon held annually in Norway. It is Norway's race in the Worldloppet Ski Federation.
The Birkebeinerrennet is one of three races held under the Birkebeiner moniker, the other two being Birkebeinerrittet (bicycling) and Birkebeinerløpet (cross-country running).
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[edit] Race
The race starts at Rena and ends at Lillehammer, a distance of 54 km. The number of participants has been steadily increasing each year, and for the 2011 race, the limit was set at 16,000.[1]
[edit] History
The Birkebeinerrennet run has been held since 1932, and commemorates a trip made by the Birkebeiner loyalists to save the infant pretender to the Norwegian throne, Håkon Håkonsson, in 1206. All participants carry a backpack weighing at least 3.5 kg, symbolizing the weight of the then-one-year-old king.
In 2007, the race was cancelled due to extremely high winds (90 km/h or 55 mph). However, at the time of cancellation, the event had been under way for nearly an hour, with roughly a quarter of the 13,000 competitors already on course. Despite the efforts of officials to send everyone back to the start, 55 hard-nosed Norwegians eventually reached the finish in Lillehammer, and upon being interviewed, blasted the decision to cancel the event [1].
[edit] Past winners
[edit] Men
[edit] Women
[edit] Special 2002 FIS World-Cup Race
In 2002, the race was included as the last event in the FIS world-cup. The world-cup class was won by Thomas Alsgaard and Anita Moen Guidon finishing in 2:24:08.7[2] and 2:43:39.1[3], respectively, faster than both Rezac's and Hilde GP's records as of 2008. The participants in the world-cup class were, however, not required to carry the 3.5 kg backpack.
[edit] External links
- KMZ file tracing out the route of the race Requires Google Earth software.
- 2D View in Google Maps.
- Official homepage (in Norwegian)
- English version of the official homepage
- German version of the official homepage
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/news/birkebeinerrennet-sold-out-18-minutes,1498.html
- ^ FIS-Ski Results Lillehammer 2002, Men
- ^ FIS-Ski Results Lillehammer 2002, Woman
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