FL1000: At the finishline

-For a long time I could see the back of Sigrid Ekran and Ketil Reitan, but they slipped away at the end of the race which is well done, he tells us at the finish line. Harald Tunheim came in as number eight. This is his weakest position ever. He has however won the race several times; the last time was in 2008. He admits that he wished for a better position, but he is relatively pleased after all. – This is my best race when it comes to the time used, he says.

This is the 15^th time he finishes the race and therefore deserved to get a slate-clock in honor of his jubilee.

Gorm Engen from Valdres tells us that he has had a beautiful journey in this year’s race, even though it was a long one. – In the end it felt like it was never going to end, Engen admits. He left Jotka at the same time as Jo Are Brennodden and they have taken turns on being in the lead. – But when we were on the river I rushed past him, he says and he also had a dog in his sled the last bit to Alta.

The night was short for Kjell Brennodden and the gang from Folldal. While senior arrived in Alta just before two o’clock this morning, junior arrived around eight o’clock. Jo Are Brennodden has raced at a steady speed for many days now. Leaving Jotka he decided to pick up the speed and see if he could keep it up all the way to the finish. This did not work out. Meeting Gorm Eggen after crossing the finish line he characterized the stunt as a bit stupid and optimistic. One of the consequences was that he had to make several stops on the way and he also had difficulties getting up to speed again after stopping. One in the audience was however very pleased with Jo Are’s effort. When he was feeding the dogs some snacks, he got a comment from the audience: -Have one yourself, Jo Are. You deserve it.  

Arne Karlstrøm from Langfjordbotn completes Finnmarksløpet for the 18th time and arrives in Alta as numer 11. –This is my result ever, but at the same time the quickest race I have ever done, says Karlstrøm. His best result is being number three in 1997. This indicates that there are a lot of good mushers this year. – This is a positive thing, it means that the sport is developing, he says. He tells us that the tracks have been very good all the way, spectacular nature and great experiences despite of all the steep hills.  

He raced pretty slowly the last bit to Alta, according to Rune Johansen himself. He left Karasjok at the same time as Arne Karlstrøm, but Karlstrøm was much faster. At Jotka he was en hour ahead of Johansen, and the gap had increased when they came to the finish line. Arriving 12 hours behind the winner resulted in a 12^th place. – It doesn’t bother me that much as there is so many brilliant mushers in this race, he says happy to be done with it.