Nordic Skiing - the Vasaloppet

Adjunct to the World Cup calendar, the world's longest and oldest ski race, the Vasaloppet, was held this weekend in Mora, Sweden. Well, not exactly in Mora. 90 kilometers (56 miles) long, the race runs over from Salen, near the border with Norway, to Mora. Some of the race takes place on a river. This year's race was quite tight, with early leader Raul Olle of Estonia fading in the last ten k. With 2000 meters left, ten skiers crashed, but Swede Oskar Svard won, outsprinting ten other skiers on the final straightaway to win by less than a second, in a time of 3:51:47. Almost four hours is a long time to race, but most of the other 15,000 skiers needed more like ten hours to finish, and three men died. The Vasaloppet has quite a pedigree:

The course is based on an event from nearly 500 years ago. In 1522, Gustav Vasa attempted to gather peasants for a revolt against the occupying Danes. Vasa fled when he got no support. The people of Mora changed their minds and sent their two best skiers to bring Vasa back. They found him near the Norwegian border in Salen. He returned to lead the Swedes to independence, and was later proclaimed King Gustav Vasa. The Vasaloppet follows the same course from Salen to Mora.