Here at the Dailyskier we make no secret that we absolutely love anything & everything new in the world of cross country skiing. That is anything, that helps to spread the sport’s appeal to larger masses of public and, well, of sponsors.
That prompts us to put out a second story in a week about Petter Northug’s inaugural Janteloppet that is due this Friday – Saturday. Yes, because we hope the race will provide the glimpse of the future for xcskiing. If Petter can’t reform it – nobody can!
We chat with Nils Marius Otterstad, one Janteloppet organizers about what’s new & different.
– The Janteloppet Ski Fest is first and foremost based on Petter Northug jr.´s vision and
passion for x-country skiing. In one phrase: it’s all about having fun. Skiing should be a sport for all, with easy to access equipment, and regardless of his or her level. one should be entertained by
exercising this sport.
– Northug has therefore personally designed a 30 km race track that challenges all participants with fun elements like the jump tracks to test their balance, downhill track designed with the help of the alpine skier Aksel Lund Svindal, the so-called “chicken track” – so the athlete can choose strategy, graded turns to maintain safety but also to make sprints and race positioning more intense.
– Petter also believes that x-country skiing is more than 1.8 km sprint, 15k, 30k, 50k etc…We have set up a 100 meter sprint on Friday with tailor-made TV production (TV2 Norway). We all believe that this will be good TV for the sport and promote it towards the audience. This should be part of the future of the sport.
– The 30 k race on Saturday is in freestyle, but we will also have classic track for those who want. This race is for all regardless of level. The worlds best and amateurs are starting together, and of course ending up in the same after ski area to celebrate the race and also Petter Northug
jr´s career.
– Petter has also included a big cultural input, giving the skiers and audience a big music scene with live artists and DJ´s performing during the Apres-ski. We believe in merging sport and culture.
– Petter will personally meet and greet most participants (athletes, participants and media).
He will hand out medals to winners, and most importantly, he will participate in both the
100 meter and 30k! His comeback will be an exciting one!
– Right now we have a total prize money amount of 200.000 NOK ( around 21.000 euros)
– We have many top profiles from the World Cup circus e.g Bolshunov, Halfvarsson, Pellegrino, Holund, Røthe, Frida Karlsson, Becchis, Skistad, Ebba Andersson, “Ludde “Søgnen Jensen to name but a few.
And we expect up to 3000 participants in total for the first year.
Finally, here’s Petter Northug’s personal message to all the Janteloppet participants AND all the readers of this story: Share the passion for the sport of cross country skiing – and do not
be afraid of going your own way in order to achieve your goal!
NB: the post below was NOT personally endorsed by Petter – it’s a sort of fanfic.
But we do hope he doesn’t mind.
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