World Cup Sprint
In early March, Trondheim sponsored a
World Cup sprint race, and decided to do something a little different: have the
race right in the city center rather than at the World Cup stadium at
Granåsen in Bymarka. Problem is, the few hundred meter difference in
elevation makes all the difference in terms of natural snow cover, so the race
organizers had to spend several days leading up to the race trucking snow down
into the city center to cover the cloverleaf course on three of the four
streets that meet at the Olav Tryggvasson statue in the Torget. On the day of
the race the temperatures hovered around freezing and heavy, wet snow squalls
kept coming through.
They also created a little hill on each arm by piling snow over metal containers that also served as tunnels for spectators to cross under the course -- that's one under the mound of people in the picture above. The races are an elimination series, about 5 skiers at a time, and each heat is over in just a few minutes.
The star of the day was Trøndelag's own Marit Bjoergen, who completely dominated the women's sprint races, including this one, for the whole season, and ultimately hopes to fill the shoes of Bente Skari, who retired last year after taking home the overall world cup. The blue streak in the photo above is Marit, coming over one of the hills. Heia, Marit! Tor Arne Hetland, Trøndelag's great hope on the men's side, didn't do so well.
The races started in the morning, but we showed up just for the finals. It was hard to get to the front lines anywhere near the start/finish, so we made do with a spot at a U turn on one arm of the course.
Olav Trygvasson and the spire of Nidarosdomen -- unmistakeably Trondheim.