Skrevet av: Elisabeth Bergquist m.fl.
Dato: 09.03.2015 22:32
Monday night at 22:08 Eveline Koch and her team of Siberian Huskies crossed the finish line in Alta as World Champions RNB.
- It feels so cool! The dogs have done a tremendous job, and I am very proud of them, she said upon crossing the finish line.
Eveline Koch with the proof that she and her dogs have become IFSS World Champions.
Photo: Jakob Westphal
Eveline Koch has lead the FL-500 RNB almost from beginning to the end, with the only exception of cp Jergul, where she arrived as # 2. She told us earlier that she has not followed her race plan to the point, but rather rested a bit extra when necessary.
Koch won the FL-500 RNB in this year's Finnmark Race and World Championship, and she arrived as the 15th out of a total of 76 teams that started the 500 km race.
Earlier in the race she told the race press that the trail had not been quite as she had expected beforehand. - There have been more hills and inclines than I had expected, she said when arriving at Skoganvarre.
Celebrating Eveline Koch, World Champion in the FL-500 RNB race, at the finish in Alta. Photo: Trond Ørslien
The weather has at times been rather mild during the race, with temperatures around 0 degrees. That is not ideal for the Siberian Huskies. - No, they would have preferred -10 degrees C, I think. But it has been windy almost all the way throughout the race, and that has cooled them down, she said after the race.
She lives in the forest together with partner Karsten Grønås, who is a merited musher himself. - I think I have only trained once this season in really windy weather, she said at a previous stage of the race. However, both she and her dogs have adjusted to the winds along the way, and done it so well that they ended up winning the whole thing.
Eveline Koch is a native of the Netherlands, but lives in and competes for Sweden.