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In awe of the Swedes at the Mora Vasaloppet By Joel Patenaude
That's not to say the Mora Vasaloppet, with its 58-, 42-, 35- and 13K races, doesn't attract some impressive racers from overseas. The 32nd annual Mora Vasaloppet held Feb. 8 attracted more than 1,600 racers, including residents and "veterans" from its sister city and doppelganger in Mora, Sweden, which hosts a 90K Vasaloppet every year. Making the trip to Minnesota for race day, a trek he last made 26 years ago, was Swede Lars Viklund, 68. He may have missed this Midwestern Vasaloppet a few times, but he had no intention to miss skiing his 35th Vasaloppet back in his homeland later this month. Viklund has also conquered 13 of the 14 Worldloppet ski races. As an honored guest and recipient of a champagne toast in the Mora, Minn., Nordic center two days before the February event, Viklund said he had no plans to stay on and do the Birkie. In heavily accented English, he said he'd been there and done that nine years ago. His only semi-serious goal before returning home was to beat his time in the last Mora, Minn., Vasaloppet. Viklund pulled out a well-preserved 1978 newspaper clipping proving he had completed the 58K race in a very respectable four hours and eight minutes. As it turned out, the years have slowed Viklund only slightly. He finished the 2004 race in just over five hours, and he placed third in his age group. Also in town to do the 42K distance was another "veteran" a title bestowed only on those who complete the much longer Swedish Vasaloppet at least 30 times was Goran Hugosson, 72, of Uppsala, Sweden. A former amateur wrestler, Huggosson said he got into skiing many years ago after joining the Foreninger For Fetmans Fiender, which he translated as The Enemies of Fat Association. The local group waged its war in part by skiing. A smiling Hugosson explained how he conquered the 90K Vasaloppet in his homeland no fewer than 31 times. "The first time, it was so long. The second time was misery. I had new shoes and skis and couldn't get a grip. But I came back a third time." On his maiden journey, he said he finished the race in seven hours and 10 minutes. He completed his third race in six hours and 40 minutes. "I was so happy. I just danced," he said. The 1,150th racer to cross the finish line on his first attempt, Hugosson said he broke into the top 1,000, finishing 995th, on his sixth try. The race attracts as many as 16,000 participants. "Then I needed a new goal, and that was to do the race ten times and get a bronze medal" for the accomplishment, he said. Once he had done that, it was only logical to keep coming year after year. "Once you do 11, you have to do 20 and then 30," he said with a shrug. At 72 years of age, Hugosson said he now takes it one year at a time. "As long as I am healthy, it doesn't matter. I must train to feel well, not to be the best." Incidentally, he completed the comparatively flat 42-K race in central Minnestoa in an astounding 3:21:20. And first in the 70-74 age group, of course. Hugossan's senior by six years, Martin Larsson of Sweden by way of Seattle said he also decided to come to Minnesota specifically to experience the counterpart to the race back home. He said he's skied the Swedish Vasaloppet 11 times and the Birkie the one in Wisconsin, not Norway once in 1982. Describing the latter, Larsson made an up and down motion with his hand to suggest the course was "too hilly." It's all relative, said Gus Hellzen, who plays the role of the Swedish King Vasa at the Minnesota event every year and served as the official translator. He suggested to the Swedes that their native Vasaloppet race "is all downhill" which prompted a big, collective laugh from the foreigners. Hellzen explained that the Vasaloppet, or "Vasa's race," took its name from a turning point in Swedish history. Around 1520, Swedish nobleman Gustav Vasa was chased out of Mora, Sweden, by the occupying Danish army. The villagers were nevertheless emboldened by the defiant stand Vasa had taken and sent their two fastest skiers after him. They caught up to him in Salen, a town near the Norwegian border, 90 kilometers away. Vasa agreed to return and ultimately helped Sweden win its independence from the Danes. Around 1523, Vasa was crowned king. In 1923, the Swedes held their first Vasaloppet in commemoration of this achievement. It occurred to this reporter, however, that the skiers who retrieved and recruited Vasa to lead their rebellion made a round trip. That would suggest the race ought to be 180 kilometers, not just the 90 from Mora to Salen. "Once is enough," Hellzen assured me. Later he displayed a pair of heavy, antique wood skies about 9 feet long. He said they were "the only real cross-country skis" to be found at this year's race. If that's what the 16th century Swedes had to wear, a one-way trip was indeed enough. The Swedish old-timers, even equipped with the latest lightweight equipment, don't threaten the speedy young skate skiers in the Vasaloppet on any continent (there's one in China, too). But after decades of slogging and gliding, these globe-trotting Vasaloppet lopers have got most everyone beat in the endurance and enthusiasm departments.
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The Mora Vasaloppet
cross-country ski race may suffer and flourish under the long shadow cast by the Birkie held just two weeks later. While many Birkie-bound skiers skip the event in Mora, Minn., the little Swedish town that could embraces it and spurns major corporate sponsorship so as to retain control of all aspects of the event. As a result, few world renowned competitors take to the course. Those who do, however, find a well-organized event the townsfolk look forward to hosting year-round.
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