Close race for second place

Etter en thriller av en innspurt ble det trangt i målområdet da andreplassen ble avgjort med fotofinish.

After a very exciting finishing stage it was a bit crowded at the finish line when the battle for second place was going on. Even though it became evident in the finishing stages of the race that it would be impossible to beat the brilliant Ralph Johannessen, it has not been that obvious who would be the 2^nd place winner. After a long battle it eventually became clear that Robert Sørlie was second best in Finnmarksløpet 1000km 2010, passing the finish line only one and a half meter before number three.

It is the first time since 2007 that Robert Sørlie competes and his 7^th time of finishing the race. He headed out from Jotka only three minutes after Bjørnar Andersen and they followed each other closely all the way to Alta. He had 8 dogs in his team and met surprisingly tough competition from Bjørnar Andersen with 6 dogs. He therefore mostly feared Roger Dahl who followed behind. – I had never imagined that Andersen would race so fast with only 6 dogs, but I had to work hard all the way in order to keep up with him. I have never before been so tired, Sørlie said at the finish line.  

Close battle

Bjørnar Andersen has been impressive with his team of dogs and was able to close the 20 minutes gap between him and Sørlie that existed when they headed out from Karasjok. It was however impossible to beat Johannessen as he raced tremendously fast in the finishing stages so it became a battle for second place instead. A three minutes head start on Sørlie from Jotka proved to be insufficient , and when Andersen had to put one of his dogs in the sled the battle was lost. He was passed by Sørlie when he had to stop on the Alta-river to do this, only a couple of kilometers from the finish.

 

 

 

 

Mr. Finnmarksløpet

Roger Dahl was also a part of the battle for a top-three position, but even though he still had 10 dogs in his team it was not enough. This is the 23^rd time Roger Dahl finishes the race and he says that Finnmarksløpet has developed into a fantastic race. He is also very pleased to see that everyone in the European elite of mushers is gathered at Finnmarksløpet. - This is the hardest competition I’ve ever been a part of, he says.