Friends from Luksefjell crossed the finishing line together

Mona Kolstad and Tore Bergby from Luksefjell crossed the finishing line arm in arm. In doing so they will share the 14th place in this year's 1000 km race. Mona and Tore are neighbours in Luksefjell, and they are training together. Both of them are also members of the sled-dog club MUSH.

The two of them have been going together all the way from Neiden I. They both took the wrong way before checkpoint Kirkenes, and lost about 1,5 hours. Tore Bergby has been racing with a very young dog-team, and only one of his dogs had finished the 1000km race earlier. Due to this Bergby had to take it slow and rest a lot. In addition to this his dogs have had problems with diarrhoea. Tore's advantage in difficult races is that he is really good at focusing on what is happening in the present, according to his handler Hilde Askildt. Still he was a bit anxious about the stage from Karasjok with only 6 dogs left in the dog-team.

Mona Kolstad is a rookie, and she has also had som difficulties on the way. In addition to the episode when she went in the wrong direction, she has also had to leave leader Hedda and several other experienced dogs behind. But the girl from Luksefjell does not give up. When she was at Levajok she said that "I am going to finish even if it means that I have to crawl in front of the dog-team". When asked if she will be seen starting the 1000 km race again another year, she confirms laughing that she probably will.