Hykkerud believes in Hilde

The race is getting tight in the 500km race. According to the previous Finnmarksløpet winner Abner Hykkerud are we closer to see a female winner than ever before. - I believe that Hilde Askildt has a good shot at winning. She has rested a lot and has been going continuously fast and well, says Hykkekrud.

Hilde Askildt, Jan Øystein Dervo and Katy Meier started from Karasjok between nine and half past nine monday night with only 12 minutes seperating them. They have been going 287 km and have gathered the 14 hours of resteing time. They are facing a stage of 83 km to Suossjavre. Only a couple of minutes back you have Svein Erik Strand, Jan Brunner and Knut Olav Grimdalen.

- Katy Meier has a lot of respect for the stretch she is about to go on. It was this part of the trail she got into trouble last year, resulting in her giving up. Hundevidda can be very tough in bad weather if you have tired and inexperienced leaders. The weather is good now and I doubt that she will be having the same trouble again. It looks like both girls are doing a much better rce this year, with more resting hours, says Abner Hykkerud.

Positioning

After all the mushers have taken their mandatory rest of 6 hours at Suossjavre we will see a long "sprint" towards Alta. The mushers starting ahead have a slight psychological advantage.

- During the stage to Suossjavre we will see fights for positions. I believe that Hilde Askildt has a good chance. She seemed very stable throughout the whole race, followed her own strategy and did not stress about the others. She is one of the three that rested most on the last two checkpoints and has continuously had good speed, explains our expert.

While Meier took between four and five hours of rest at Skoganvarre, Levajok and Karasjok rested Hilde Askildt about 8 hours in Levajok and 4 hours in Karasjok.

- Jan Øystein Dervo was going about one hour faster than the two girls on the way to Karasjok and rested least at the checkpoint. He has good speed in his team and is hungry for success after having to quit with the idea of doing the 1000 km race due to a lack of dogs, says Hykkerud.