Skrevet av: Peter Fischer/Audur Inga Olavsdottir
Dato: 01.03.2004 16:12
It is almost impossible to get in touch with Elke Schiller, at least on wintertime. At this time of the year she is busy working as a pharmaconsultent, as well as she is training and taking care of her dogs. When it comes to her position, her name appears in many european resultlists.
It is the first time Elke Schiller participates in Finnmarksløpet. When looking back, she feels she slowly, but energetic, has been working up towards the north, towards her passion - the long distance race.
Everything began many years ago when she was out jogging. She wanted to have a companion while jogging which ended to be a four legged friend. Later, her daughters, who now are grown ups, jogged with her. Today, Elke has as many as 15 dogs in her kennel.
Elke became a german champion in a 100+ km race in year 2003, where 7 dogs were in a team. She also became nr. 2 in the same race some weeks ago, which makes it obvious that Elke is a proper competitor.
Despite her enjoyment and drudgery of her success, the short distance races have motivated her to pack her sled with weights to be able to have some idea of the really long and tough distance such as the one in Finnmarksløpet.
Elke seeks for the extreme adventure; hard and long distances, snow, cold, mountain, wideness, storm, sun and northern lights. When in this environment, Schiller feels both she and the dogs will bloom. Elke does not represent herself as a woman against men, on the contrary. Her main aspirer and consultant for the race is Bernhard Schuchardt, who has startet the Finnmarksløpet race several times. She also mentions Thomas Hoffmann as a fellow competitor in the race.
The feeling of beeing as one with the nature when driving the dog sled is something Elke meens is the most important to her. -Even if I have to brake off a race, I do look forward preparing the dogs as a team, as well as the excitement of participating. I cried when I crossed the finish line in the Polar race in Sweden in year 2003 and won a place with all my dogs in the team. It was my first race with over 300 km distance which gave me the energy and confidence to head for Finnmarksløpet.
The Polar race was the ultimate motivasjon for Schiller to decide to participate in this years Finnmarksløpet race. In addition, she is also proud of beeing nominated in the german national team and her 6th place in the middle distance in the European championslegue. But, what she maybe is most proud of is when winning FISTIC-EM Distance Trail - 300 km in the Czech republic last january.
Elkes goal for the Finnmarksløpet race is to complete it with healthy dogs - eight out in the start and eight in goal - the same way she completed all the former races. The most important thing for Schiller is to be in harmony with herself, her dogs and the nature.
Schiller is a strong competitor, one of the best in short distance races. It could signify that she might be the first woman and the first foreigner to win the 500 km race.