Harald Tunheim got silver!

Harald Tunheim has played the one of the main roles in this year's FL-1000 and has contributed to making this race a thriller. The goal this year was clearly to win. During the race he said that he has felt its been only almost for a few years - and this year he really went for the win. The time spent on the legs and the checkpoints says everything about a very focused musher. He left checkpoints first, even in Tana. His tactics was to take the long rest in Kirkenes. There he was surprised by Haaland's stunt when she went straight through the checkpoint and continue to Neiden 2. After that Haaland has been the boss of the race. However, her dogs felt the tempo and parked on Tana river. This gave Tunheim the possibility to get ahead. After the 12 hour rest in Karasjok everything was lined for a close race to the finish line. Tunheim left first, with Haaland following close behind. Tunheim could not make her go first - tactically she was happy to hang behind and use the breaks abit. From Mollisjok Haaland's eager dogs went ahead and from there on the distance got bigger. Tunheim was in touch with his team of handlers and got to know that his only chance to win was if Haaland's dogs "parked". - This is the mildest weather I have ever raced in. I have used my knitted hat the whole way - that has never happened before. The trails were soft. It has simply been incredibly tough, said Tunheim after crossing the finish line.   

Tunheim has been part of the long distance dog sled milieu for many years. He is known to be a very energetic musher who stays very focused on checkpoints and works very hard on the sled. He shows that he is "way into the dogs' heads" - to put it the way Fjestad (Insights) says it. He has raced Finnmarksløpet 16 times before and it is good to see that experience and routine are important when competing in the longest and toughest sled dog race in Europe. We congratulate Harald Tunheim and his lead dogs Blåbær, Nordlys, Skjære, Kråke and Boudji with the 2nd place in Finnmarksløpet 1000 km and silver medal in the Norwegian Championship in the 14-dogs class 2012!