By the book

Bjørnar Andersen does it just like his uncle Robert Sørlie, he mushes by the book. He had to make some adjustments to his predetermined planning after the long and tough stage to Kirkenes, but now he is back on track and following his plan sketched out in advance. - The trip caused me to make some necessary adjustments, but now I am following the scheme again, he says. According to his book he will be leaving very soon from Neiden

There are many different approaches to how to run a dog sled race. Most of the experienced mushers set up a scheme in advance, just like the mushers from the so called Team Sørlie. This way Robert Sørlie won the Iditarod in Alaska last year and by following the same recipe to success the team is now leading in both of the major dog sled races. Kjetil Backen is leading the Iditarod and the youngster of the team is leading here the Finnmarksløpet.

And it is not just the mushing, resting and feeding of the dogs that are organised by the scheme. His own rest and eating times are also predetermined. The handler, who is following the musher from checkpoint to checkpoint, is the man in control of the paperwork on the way and checks that Bjørnar sticks to the plan.