Topic - Races: Kangaroo Hoppet
and Worldloppet
Date first posted on eCommunity - 2
September 2007
The 2007/2008 cross-country skiing season has now
started – at least
as far as the Worldloppet is concerned.
The Worldloppet is an international series of cross country skiing
marathons and each year the series kicks off with an Australian
event, the Kangaroo Hoppet. It was run last weekend, on Saturday
25th August, on the Bogong High Plains at the Falls Creek Nordic
Bowl in north-east Victoria. Australia is having a good season and
the racers enjoyed excellent conditions, with the course running
fast after an overnight freeze.
Like most other Worldloppet events the Kangaroo Hoppet involves
several different races. The main attraction is a 42km freestyle
marathon. But there is also the 21km Australian Birkebeiner; and
there is the 7km Joey Hoppet, a junior event.
In total about 1100 competitors took part in the events at Falls
Creek. Most were from Australia and New Zealand, unsurprisingly, but
a significant number were from overseas. The 42km race was won (in a
time of 1:46:57) by a German, Thomas Freimuth. An American, Thomas
Swank, came third.
A total 273 men and 83 women completed the 42 km Hoppet. The
Australian Birkebeiner was a little less popular, with 164 men and
103 women. Great Britain was represented in this 21km event by Alan
Eason who finished in a very respectable fifth place. (Alan, from
Kent, spends his "summers" in Australia, working as a ski
instructor, and he focuses his training mainly towards the European
racing season. So he will have been treating the Australian
Birkebeiner as a training run, albeit a hard one.)
For more details of the Kangaroo Hoppet, go to
http://www.hoppet.com.au/info.htm
MORE ABOUT THE WORLDLOPPET
The Worldloppet Ski Federation was founded in 1978 in Uppsala,
Sweden, with the aim of promoting the sport of cross-country skiing
through ski races around the world. When choosing races for
Worldloppet status the Federation tries to select the best race
within each member country. Races must be open to citizen racers and
elite skiers alike. No country can have more than one Worldloppet
race. At present there are 14 constituent races, altogether
attracting almost 100,000 participants every year.
The dates of the main races are shown below. (CT means classic
technique. FT means freestyle technique.)
AUSTRALIA:
Kangaroo Hoppet 42km FT 25.08.07
EUROPE:
Jizerská padesátka (CZE) 50km CT 13.01.08
Dolomitenlauf (AUT) 42km CT 19.01.08 AND 60km FT 20.01.08
Marcialonga (ITA) 70km CT 27.01.08
König Ludwig Lauf (GER) 50km FT 02.02.08 AND 50km CT 03.02.08
Transjurassienne (FRA) 50km CT 09.02.08 AND 54/76km FT 10.02.08
Tartu Maraton (EST) 63km CT 17.02.08
Finlandia-hiihto (FIN) 62km CT 23.02.08 AND 50km FT 24.02.08
Vasaloppet (SWE) 90km CT 02.03.08
Engadin Skimarathon (SUI) 42km FT 09.03.08
Birkebeinerrennet (NOR) 54km CT 15.03.08
AMERICA & CANADA:
American Birkebeiner (US) 51 km FT 23.02.08
Gatineau Loppet (CAN) 53km CT 16.02.08 AND 53km FT 17.02.08
ASIA:
Sapporo Marathon (JPN) 50km FT 10.02.08
For more details of the Worldloppet in general, and for links to the
individual races, go to
http://www.worldloppet.com
A major strength of the Worldloppet is that it attracts both elite
skiers and citizen racers.
The elite side includes the FIS Marathon Cup, a sort of Grand Prix
in which top skiers accumulate points from selected Worldloppet
races. For more on this you can see a (rather out-of-date) document
on the website of the International Ski Federation (FIS):
http://www.fis-ski.com/data/document/rulesmar04-05.pdf#search='worldloppet'
The citizen side attracts skiers of all standards. Some will do just
one race in their lifetime – a challenge for charity perhaps. Others
try to complete one or more races every season. For these committed
racers there is a popular incentive scheme whereby they buy a
Worldloppet Passport and have it stamped whenever they complete a
Worldloppet race. After completing races in 10 different countries
they become "Worldloppet Masters". You can see the names of the
British masters at:
http://www.worldloppet.com/masters.php?tyyp=nations.
A recent
development is the new award of `Global Worldloppet Master' for
skiers who complete all 14 races.
If you want to enter a Worldloppet event, the best thing to do is
contact your regional XC ski club. (We listed the main ones on the eCommunity
site on 23 April 2006.) All clubs will have members who have
completed Worldloppet races, and some clubs organise overseas trips
based on the races.
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