Holten is done

Frode Holten quit at Levajok. One of the favourites of this years' race is out of the competition.

Holten sighs and looks down at his dogs. If he was to continue the race it would have been without four of his dogs. One has a shoulder injury which is not unusual. The rest are out due to other reasons. The rest of the team is not doing too well either.

- Look at them, says Holten and shakes his head.

- Usually they would have gotten up and started to bark when the nearest team starts out. But these just lay here, he says.

Holten has only one dog that is fit and on its legs.

The expert commentator of Finnmarksløpet, Trond Ørslien, thinks that Holten has given up too early.

- He quits before one of the hardest stages. This might have influenced his decision, he says.

- It is hard to find the motivation to compete when the team is very reduced and things are not going as well as expected, Ørslien says.

However, he does think that Holten, who fought at the very top last year, quit too early.

- He could have reduced his ambitions and expected less of his dogs. That way he could have found the time to rehabilitate the team and make it around, the expert says.

Such tactics would not have stopped Holten's ambitions of fighting in the very top at the end of the race.

- It is hard to say. The mushers are done with only 20 percent of the race. Everyone can still run into problems, says the expert commentator.