CLEAR SPEECH: Petter Northug, pictured here earlier this season. Photo: Ulf Palm/TT / TT Nyhetsbyrån / NTB
Strong gusts of wind and snowy weather on the mountain await many thousands of excited Birkebeiner athletes. Now several of the long-distance profiles are asking the organizer to take action before it is too late.
Thursday 14 March at 12:15 p.m
– Wind, sleet and snowy weather alternating depending on the altitude you are at, it can get terribly cold. Regardless of whether you have extra clothes and a rucksack, it is simply dangerous to walk over the mountain then. There is too much risk for an organizer. Birken cannot take responsibility for that. It will be a disaster. They also do not dare to release the starting shot when it is dangerous to health, says Petter Northug to VG.
On Thursday, the conditions were brilliant at Lake Sjusjøen.
But the weather forecast when the race starts on Saturday is discouraging.
The start is at Rena, but the route continues over Raufjellet and Midtfjellet, via Sjusjøen and with the finish in Lillehammer 54 kilometers later.
CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING PROFILE: Andreas Nygaard, here with the wreath around his neck after winning the Birkebeiner race in March 2023. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB
– I think many people don’t give a shit about what kind of conditions it is, as long as they get to go skiing. People are not looking for tram rails and sun on their faces. But now the challenge is that there will not be a ski race, says Team Ragde profile Andreas Nygaard to VG on Thursday.
He continues:
– 25 meters per second have been reported in the throws on the mountain and a lot of fresh snow. The organizer is not going to see it as responsible. The Friday birch was canceled last year and the weather was better then. I understand that it is a nightmare for the organizer to wake up to, and even though it has been a bit of a predicted disaster, I think the organizer deserves to be proactive and clear.
The weather gods also did not play as a team during the Vasaloppet two weeks ago:
Nygaard – a three-time winner of the Birken – is clear that Friday at 12.00 is the last deadline for the organizer to say that something will be done. For Nygaard, the best solution is to move the race to Sunday.
– Then it’s the youth birch. The target area is already rigged. The challenge is the logistics. So this is also a plea to all bus drivers to participate in the common effort to get Norway’s most traditional race carried out.
Acting general manager of Birken, Hans Otto Olsen, tells VG on Thursday morning that he is busy in meetings. Olsen tells NTB that “they look at the weather forecast and see the challenges that lie there”.
– Right now we are sitting in a meeting and considering what to do, he says and says that there are plans both to move the main race from Saturday to Sunday, as well as to change the route.
Northug is completely in line with his long-distance rival Nygaard.
– We are preparing for the fact that there will be no race on Saturday. I’ll be surprised if they don’t try to work out the logistics and move to Sunday. It would have been the best for everyone. But I also understand that the organizer has to arrange a lot at the last minute here now. It is a race that goes from A to B. But we hope it will be Sunday now that they can use the day to think a bit.
Nygaard also believes that Birken has been lying down with a broken back for a while.
He points out that it has not been carried out during the corona pandemic, but has also been canceled twice due to the weather in the last 15 years. Now he is worried that it will have even greater consequences.
– Then I fear for Birken’s continued existence, says Nygaard.
– What do you base that on?
– During cancellations before, people have managed a lot to get to the start and only then received notice that it has been cancelled. There are also many people who have had bad experiences with Birken. They have struggled to get refunds for initial quotas. It is also okay to cancel it, but then you can do it tomorrow morning instead of Saturday morning.
Nygaard states that he has not been in contact with the organizer or the race management about his frustration.
– But I have received an incredible amount of response from people who completely agree with me.
2024-03-14 11:15:23
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