Blink Skifestival Shall Be Very Different  This Year . This Is How:

Blink Skifestival Shall Be Very Different This Year . This Is How:

Leaders, Newsfeed
“It’s a tough job. Hundreds of athletes and their parents from Norway and from all over Europe were calling me this year to ask whether they could come and take part in the competitions - and I had to tell No to all of them!” Arne Idland, the guy who invented, developed and runs Blink Skifestival sounds truly frustrated. One of the premier events of the international cross-country and biathlon seasons will take place this year as scheduled - but in a highly altered form. The Norwegian rules in place for COVID-19 epidemics are among the strictest in Europe currently and the Blink organizers had to think outside the box What’s going to be business as usual: All Norwegian stars of xcskiing and biathlon plus strongest Visma Ski Classics series…
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Blinkfestivalen 2020: Out Of City Center, No Spectators And No Foreign Athletes.  But With Lysebotn Uphill And Norwegian Stars

Blinkfestivalen 2020: Out Of City Center, No Spectators And No Foreign Athletes. But With Lysebotn Uphill And Norwegian Stars

Newsfeed, Travel & Mass Sport
Blinkfestivalen, one of the world's best organized, best funded and best attended xcski/biathlon events will be held this August but out of town and with massively altered program. With large crowds banned, the competition is now mostly held for the sake of television broadcast. A long time must-have for the national broadcaster NRK, Blink is coming to the rest of Europe this year for the first via EBU (but biathlon races only - the European Broadcastng Union is interested in promoting biathlon, doesn't care about xcskiing) The venue of the Blink events is now Sandnes Arena. Which is not a bad thing at all, neither from athletes point of view, nor television viewers'. The newly built 4.2k facility with a full-size shooting range might be the best rollerski track stadium…
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Blinkfestivalen’ 2020  Will Be Held But Without Spectators

Blinkfestivalen’ 2020 Will Be Held But Without Spectators

Leaders, Newsfeed
In 14 years of its existence, Blink Festivalen in Western Norway has grown from a decidely local affair to one of those world's premier competitions in both xcskiing and biathlon, offering an absolutely unique blend of top stars presence and amateur, mostly kids, competitions at the same tracks. Last year figures: 3000 participants, 100000 spectators and the budget well over NOK 20 million. Plus prime time on NRK. That's the World Championships level! Good news: the anniversary 15th edition this year will happen as planned on August 5-8. Bad news: without the audiences on purpose-built terraces in Sandnes. Gatherings of more than 500 people are currently banned in Norway. Good news: it all will be televised by NRK with the signal distribution across all of Europe via EBU (biathlon races…
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Blink Skifest: Top Stars Sign Up For Inaugural  Lysebotn Doublepoling Race

Blink Skifest: Top Stars Sign Up For Inaugural Lysebotn Doublepoling Race

Leaders, Newsfeed
Some, clearly like it hot. Then there are others who like it "hot all the way" - like in " Lysebotn Double Poling all the way" Just to remind you, that a traditional Blink Skifest Lysebotn Climb is in skating style and involves 6.4 kilometers of constant climb for a total altitude gain of 640 meters - or a crazy average gradient of 10% ! Monsters of doublepoling ( can't think of a better way of putting it) will do exactly same distance - but on slower wheels! Yep, according to latest, skating will be held in the usual Wheels Speed 1 ( fast) while doublepolers demanded Wheels 2 ! All the rollerskis will be, of course, 0 X 0 i.e. no ratchet mechanism in either to prevent "diagonal cheating"…
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Here Comes Blink Skifestival 2019!

Here Comes Blink Skifestival 2019!

Newsfeed, Travel & Mass Sport
Time flies. Summer is almost upon us. And the highlight of the summer for skiers and bi-athletes alike is Blink Skifestival, traditionally held in & around Sandnes, Norway. This year's Blink kicks off on July 31st and goes on till August 3d. Arne Idland, the man who conceived, developed and runs the world's only summer ski & biathlon festival want you - yes, you! - to remember that registration for Blink -2019 opens May 7th at 10.00 local time. All Norwegian wanna-be participants need to apply here All the foreign ones need to contact Arne directly While participation in races is open to virtually anyone, the amount of slots available runs out extremely quickly as registration opens. So, the very best of luck! [caption id="attachment_11121" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arne Idland: "…
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