(Fasterskier.com interview with Sarah Peters after winning last season’s City Of Lakes Loppet — Interview With The Women’s Winner http://www.fasterskier.com/racing870.html )
Last year’s winner of The City of Lakes Loppet race in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sarah Peter from Canada won a trip to Norway to ski the infamous Holmenkollmarsjen marathon race for her effort. Here is a trip report:
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February 6, 2005</p>
<p>Hallo, Hallo!</p>
<p>I'll start with the big news – the race has been moved!!! Due to very odd and springy conditions, the snow here is Oslo has melted considerably. They've decided to move the race to Hamar, which is south of Lillehammer!</p>
<p> So I'm off to Lillehammer on Tuesday where I am going to stay at a motel on the Olympic Park!!! I hope to ski from my door morning, afternoon, and evening. I also hope to take a tour of the Madshus factory on Wednesday- very exciting too! Then it looks like I will move closer to the race where the race organizers are putting me up!</p>
<p>The past few days have been great. On Thursday I took the 'Norway in a Nutshell' tour. This involved a train to Myrdal which takes you over a High mountain plateau. There was tons of snow and people kite skiing!!! on the glacier at Finse. Then you take the Flamsbanen, which is a very special and crazy train down the steepest valley ever! Wow!! Then in Flem you take a ferry down two fjords one of which is appropriately called Narrowfjord.</p>
<p>The ferry was run by the captain and his wife and their pet cat. The wife made very yummy waffles, which I could not say no to!! Yum. I spent the night in Voss and then took a Gondola up to the ski trails the next day. It was exciting but a little wet! Actually it rained all day, so I spent most of the afternoon looking out at the lake and reading before taking the train back to Oslo. I did make time for a little souvenir shopping.</p>
<p>This weekend, I am back in Oslo with Claudia and Torgeir. It is the weekend between the Nationals (last weekend) and a Nations Cup (next) so there were not many races on. The one race that looked promising was cancelled due to the spring conditions! So I didn't race this weekend. Instead we went on a wonderful long tour which involved stopping at a cabin for hot chocolate. Today I did intervals and felt super. Hopefully this will continue for the Holmenkollmarsjen!</p>
<p>It’s so fantastic here and everyone has been so great. Thank you to the City of Lakes Loppet for making this trip possible, thank you to Harbor Tower Hotel & Suites in Victoria BC for making the season possible, and Madshus for my awesome skis!</p>
<p>Cheers Sarah</p>
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<p>February 10, 2005</p>
<p>Hallo, hallo!</p>
<p>It's an amazingly beautiful day here in Lillehammer. Last night is snowed about a foot and after a foggy morning the sun has broken through the clouds and the sky is blue!! I am feeling quite spoiled and happy.</p>
<p>On Monday, I had another tourist day in Oslo. Claudia and I went shopping (just a little) and to the Viking Ship museum. They have three REAL Viking ships there that have been reassembled. One is a pleasure craft with beautiful carvings. The other is a big ocean going vessel and the third just a remnant. They were very impressive but looked like they would be incredibly wet!</p>
<p>On Tuesday I headed to Lillehammer on the train. I went straight up to the Birkebeiner Stadium, which was the site of the 1994 Olympics. I did a sprint workout and felt like an Olympian! It was great but I only braved a fraction of the Olympic trails, as they were a tad icy! (Thank goodness for all this new snow, all the trails are now PERFECT!)</p>
<p>Yesterday, I was spoiled by Madshus! Jan Erik Berger from Madshus picked me up in Lillehammer and took me for a factory tour in Biri, not too far away. It was so neat to see the skis being made and to see how so much of the production is done by hand. They are very meticulous about each stage of the production. After the tour, he drove me back to Lillehammer with a few treats and then we went for lunch with his wife!! Norwegians are so nice. He also set me up with Anja, a skier from Lillehammer.</p>
<p>Anja is a former national team skier who still races and goes to school. She has taken me on two great skis. A night ski on the Birkebeiner trails and a great ski this morning further up near Sjusjoen!! I would be lost without her!! Now, I am off to the Olympic Museum and then later, another night ski – Getting ready for the race this Saturday!!</p>
<p>Thank you to Madshus for the great tour and fast skis, thank you to the City of Lakes Loppet for this opportunity, and thank you to Harbour Towers Hotel & Suites for their support!</p>
<p>Cheers, Sarah</p>
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