On the 10th of April next year Red Bull Nordenskiöldsloppet is arranged, a 220km’s long cross country ski race with a start and finish in Jokkmokk. The extreme endurance race has been in hibernation since 1884 when polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld arranged the competition solely to prove the capability of his samian team members to cover great distances in a short amount of time.
Despite being the world’s longest and toughest ski race the interest has been great. More then 400 skiers have pre-registered long before the official registration opens on the 2nd of November. 3rd time Vasalopp winner Daniel Tynell has been elected sports manager for the race.
– Ultra races with increasingly tough challenges is a growing trend within endurance sports. Our goal is to have 500 starting participants in April. The idea is to enable the competition to grow subsequently over the years, says Daniel Tynell.
The competition is open to both elite and amateur skiers. The race track will be very similar to the original from 1884, starting in Purkijaur just outside of Jokkmokk to Kvikkjokk and back. One of the driving forces behind the resurrection of the historical race is Wolfgang Mehl whom together with Jokkmokk ski club, föreningsalliansen Jokkmokk and Red Bull has laid the foundation of a yearly competition.
– The race has such a unique and spectacular history. It was a fantastic sportive achievement they performed in 1884, and we who live in the region look forward to continue building on what Nordenskiöld created, says Wolfgang Mehl.
The 2016 race takes place in a classic prepared terrain. Pre-registered skiers have priority to the starting spots and can sign up trough the competitions website from the 27th of October. For non pre-registered the registration officially opens on the 2nd of November.
One of the pre-registered skiers is Luleå inhabitant Nine Lintzèn who among other merits have a 3rd place in Vasaloppet on her resume and is one of the top skiers in the Ski Classics cup.
–It is going to be very interesting. It’s a little special to keep up the physical performance for such a long time. But it’s a pretty flat race, so it should probably be manageable. It has shown that the longer the race the better I perform, so I’m going to go for the win says Nina Lintzén with a smile.
Nordenskiöldsloppet was first scheduled to take place in 2017, men after a careful pre-study and a unexpectedly large interest from participants and inhabitants, the organizer Wolfgang Mehl felt it was possible to run the race already in 2016.
-”We had over 400 registered for the 2017 race already in June this year, so we felt we didn’t want to hold off any longer” says Wolfgang.
