A view of the SkejtVasan cross country ski race with the wisdom of hindsight.

If you get the opportunity to hear Olympic athlete Kriss Akabusi speak, then grab it. He’s a high-energy speaker who mixes anecdotes, video clips and serious messages in an entertaining presentation. He must be good because it’s a few years since I saw him yet as I headed away from the prize giving for the Swedish SkejtVasan ski race I remembered one of his stories. It centred on a simple strategy for athletics success.

Winning ways

The gist of it was that if you focus on being the best you can in a less popular sporting discipline, then you give yourself a better chance of winning. Obvious really …but how often do we forget things like this? Kriss began his international athletics career as a member of the 4x400m relay squad in 1983 and was in the GB team that memorably beat the Americans to win gold at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships. But individual running success was harder to achieve against the likes of Roger Black et al. So he switched to the less popular 400m hurdles where he won medals in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, World and European Championships. In the latter he achieved his greatest triumph by winning gold and breaking David Hemery’s 22 year old British record.

So what prompted me to remember this? The fact that I’d won third place in my age class in the SkejtVasan 45km skating race which is one of the smaller events in the Vasaloppet festival in Mora, Sweden. Around 95% of the participants were male and, as my landlady reminded me, skating is not so popular in Sweden.. I could claim this was part of a carefully worked out plan but I’m too honest for that and hindsight is a wonderful thing.

So why the SkejtVasan?

My original reason for entering had been simply that I’d been too late to secure a place in the Vasaloppet, the oldest, longest [90km] and biggest [around 15,000 participants] cross country ski race in the world run in classic technique from Sälen to Mora. Not having skied in Sweden before I thought I’d treat myself with a trip to an alternative event. The SkejtVasan fitted the bill in terms of date and distance. It was also recognised as a short distance Worldloppet race so would count towards eventual Silver Worldloppet master recognition. Worldloppet is an association of 14 long distance ski races around the world open to all who pay the entry fee and enjoy the challenge of ski racing.

Not quite what I expected

Prior to the race I was feeling positive – a bit of extra effort on fitness and technique had paid off and my skating was going well. I skied some of the race route on the preceding days and was looking forward to being part of a large crowd of skiers that would snake purposefully through the countryside. When I got to the large, bleak clearing in the forest which served as the race start area I realised the event was on a substantially smaller scale that other Worldloppet races I’d done. With fewer competitors any deficiencies in speed or technique were going to be embarrassingly apparent although there were correspondingly fewer spectators. There was only one thing to do - ignore the inner voice that said, what the **** are you doing here, put the skis on and warm up in the sunshine.

Racing along

The well-prepared race track undulated through the pines, past frozen lakes and over rolling heathland. It wound through tiny settlements, where local school children vied to hand out drinks and dry, sweet bread, and crossed roads where lone helpers shouted encouragement. For the first 15km I was ski-ing with others but after the feeding station the field spread out and I glimpsed fellow competitors through the trees from time to time. As there were no long steep climbs there were few restful glides down so it was work most of the way. The spire of Mora church was a welcome sight. I rustled up what I thought was a sprint for the final section through the town and was rewarded with my best time of 3hrs 55 mins for the 45km distance. And, to my great surprise, the announcer congratulating me on being third in my age class. Smaller, less popular races may figure in my future race plans!

If you’d like to read more about this race and combining it with a visit to Stockholm, go to the article ‘Racing through countryside and city – a snapshot of Sweden’.

Travel facts [March 2007]

Currency: Swedish Krona [SEK] £1 = 13.649 SEK I flew with BA from London Heathrow – Stockholm Arlanda, flying time: 2 hrs 35 mins – http://www.britishairways.com

Trains from run Arlanda C to Mora either direct or with one change in Borlange taking around 3hrs 30 mins. My return trip with reserved seats cost 604 SEK [£46.89], prices vary according to the popularity of trains - http://www.sj.se

I booked accommodation in a welcoming private home through the local tourist office for 395 SEK {£28.94] a night – http://siljan.seor email mora@siljan.se

For more info on:

ski races: http://www.vasaloppet.se and www.worldloppet.com

Kriss Akabusi MBE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik/Kris_Akabusi

This article previously appeared in the Spring 2007 newsletter of London Region Nordic Ski Club.