Updated 01.52 | Published 00.03
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The open track competition was a disappointment for several participants.
Hanna Stark wants the money back from the Vasaloppet.
– They promise one thing and give false hope, she says.
- Vasaloppet’s winter week 2024 began with the “Open Track” competition, but several participants missed their start times due to traffic chaos.
- Participant Hanna Stark criticizes the organizers for promising that the participants, despite their late arrival, would have adjusted start times and be allowed to continue the competition. This turned out not to be the case, which caused great disappointment.
- Stark is now hoping for an explanation and to recover part of the cost of her participation in the event.
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This weekend, Vasaloppet’s winter week 2024 kicked off and Sunday’s “open track” is popular, just like the “real” Vasaloppet a week later.
However, the competition was not a fun experience for Hanna Stark and her partner. They are betting on carrying out a Swedish classic info close Swedish classic Vasaloppet (or open track), Vätternrundan, Vansbrosimningen and Lidingöloppet within twelve months. and would start at eight o’clock on Sunday morning.
– We left home in good time so that we could make it. We had perhaps four kilometers to go when the traffic came to a complete standstill, says Hanna Stark.
Major traffic chaos, caused by a snowy parking lot and a broken-down bus, meant that several participants did not make it to their start times. However, they must have been promised to start anyway, and get their rep times infocloserept times There are so-called “rep times” at certain controls in the Vasaloppet – a time for the last pass. Anyone who comes late to a control must break the race and must take a bus to the final destination Mora. adjusted.
– They say several times over the loudspeakers: “Don’t stress, you will get to start” and “it’s calm, we will adjust the rope times”, says Stark, who arrived at the start in Sälen about an hour late.
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full screen Vasaloppet informed about the situation in social media before the start of the nine-mile long open track race, just like the biggest race a week later. Photo: Instagram
“Never been so disappointed”
After 4.7 miles of skiing, what happened has made Stark feel cheated.
When she and her partner reached Evertsberg, the rope was pulled and they were not allowed to continue.
– At first we didn’t understand that “now it’s over”. They had not adjusted our time. We came in with several who had started earlier than us, but it felt like they pulled everyone over the edge there, she says and continues:
– There were several people who stood and cried in Evertsberg, including myself. You could see that they could ski. I think that those who pulled the rope in Evertsberg had no idea that we had started an hour later, there must have been a serious communication breakdown.
How did you feel when you were stopped?
– I have probably never been so disappointed. There is so much time, training and logistics around the race and you don’t even get a chance to complete it. If we had been allowed to start at eight, there would have been no problems, then we would have reached the finish line.
Stark and her partner would not have started if they had known that the rope times would not be adjusted.
– You feel a little powerless, we couldn’t have done anything differently. I would have fully understood if we had been slow to get to Evertsberg, but they promise one thing and give false hope, she says.
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full screenHanna Stark, 32, didn’t get further than Evertsberg. Photo: Private
Want the money back
Stark hopes that anyone affected by the same thing will get their money back.
– I sincerely hope so. In any case, I want an explanation. You spend a lot of money on entry fees, transport and accommodation. I hope to receive an explanation and compensation.
Sportbladet contacted Vasaloppet CEO Johan Eriksson and event manager Magnus Locken on Monday.
