Brennodden almost catches Karlstrøm

Arne Karlstrøm arrived at 18:40 and finished as sixth. Only 15 minutes later followed Kjell Brennodden in seventh place. Brennodden had good speed in his team taking in almost half an hour on Karlstrøm after passing through the last checkpoint in Joatka. But Karlstrøm managed to defend his position across the finish line.

They both seemed to be tired, but happy to finally have reached the finish line. Both reported difficult conditions. The sled was not gliding properly on this kind of snow. Brennodden found an easy way to explain the problem; -I definetely did not need to break!

Karlstrøm who only had six dogs left in his team, thought that it went very bad towards the end with heavy winds and badly sliding sled. He answered to the question concerning his feelings about the result that he was very much satisfied with the result in comparison to how much time and ressources he is using, since he knows how much time many of the other mushers use to prepare. He felt he did not get his team up to full speed and he was a little bit dissappointed over how some of the dogs presented themselves. Arne felt that he had noticed a little bit too late that the dogs he took along did not quite match for competing on top level. But he was very happy about the performance of some of the young dogs. He was happy about a tactical maneuvre he did at Levajok, where he went straight through the checkpoint resulting in him passing many of his competitors.

Arne is one of the veterans in the Finnmarksløpet and it would be no big surprise if he will also participate next year.

Kjell Brennodden is neither a rookie when it comes to Finmarksløpet. He was very happy about his and his dogs performance. He has a team with many young dogs and felt that they had done a great job. Kjell thought it was a good thing to cross the finish line and finally have the chance again to talk to people. It can be very lonely to go the 1000 km race. Kjell thought, just like Arne, that the last kilometers were very tiring. His son Jo Are had participated in the 500 km race and waited for the father at the finish line. Furthermore did Kjell talk to his dearest at home on the phone.