Volunteer Sol (7) is back

- She has been looking forward to taking part this year also. Already a few weeks back she made a list of all the things she needed to bring in order to be "second in command" at the checkpoint, Sol's mom says. - I just hope I don't have to sleep in two sleeping bags again this year, Sol comments. Not strange, as they will have to do with the same standard as the mushers when they get the chance to take a rest in between all their chores at the checkpoint. They also have to do with tents. But that is fine, Lisbeth says. Lisbeth is one of the many people who do voluntary work for Finnmarksløpet year after year. Not only that - she also uses some of her vacation days in order to be available for Finnmarksløpet during these hectic days in March. Normally she and her family live in Harstad where mom works in the police and Sol goes to school.

Sol admits that it is a little strange to take time off from school to go to Finnmark - but her mother says that it is worth it as she learns a lot here that she would not learn in her regular school-days. Besides, she has promised to write to her classmates and show them photos when she returns home. Sol already enjoys outdoors activities and even though she has not had the opportunity to mush dogs yet, she smiles and nods when asked whether it is tempting to race Finnmarksløpet one day - when she is big enough. We believe her; tough 7 year olds like her are few and far between, even up here among Finnmarksløpet's many friends.