Re: Heia! Team Norway!
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:07 amWants to win Iditarod.
The Femund-race was just supposed to be a warm-up for Kjetil Backen and his team. They ended up winning it.
Now the man from Eidanger (his place of residence, ed.) is looking forward to the Iditarod and 1,800 kilometers with
temperatures reaching -50C in the wild nature of Alaska.
Kjetil Backen and his team of handlers and 16 dogs will leave for Alaska February 21. The Iditarod starts March 1, and
during the following days Backen will try to win what is known as "The Last Great Race on Earth".
Yesterday Backen started on his way home after winning the prestigious Femund-race, which was also the Norwegian Championship for long distance mushers. Backen and his dogs showed real class on the last leg from Tolga to Røros. Ketil Reitan had a 51-minute lead out of Tolga, but could not hold off from Backen's strong finish. The "Mush"-competitor ("Mush" being the name of his local club) finished the race in 59 hours. However, this is peanuts compared to what awaits in Alaska where the distance is 1,800 kilometers.
-The challenges are lining up over there. Sleep deprivation gives you hallucinations. It could well be three or more days
with temperatures as low as -50C, and there is the occasional blizzard. In addition to that the distance is the equivalent of Oslo-Alta (ie very far). We race about 300 kilometers a day with the team, says Backen, and points out that he is looking forward to it.
-This is in many ways the ultimate challenge, and it's this season's main goal. I came 3rd in 2004, this year I want to win.
Kjetil Backen first competed in the Iditarod in 2002. Then he was second best of the rookies and finished 10th.
Should he win there will be honor and glory, and about 1 million NOK (car included).
-Money is not an issue. What means something is the joy of racing and the bonding with the dogs. Being able to go to Alaska and compete with the best in the world is a bonus, says Kjetil Backen.
Dogs and mushing plays a big part in Kjetil Backen's life. He trains with the dogs 70 hours a week. Added to that comes the daily caretaking of the 20 dogs he has at his home in Eidanger.
-When I spend so much time doing this it isn't just for fun. It's about high-level delivery, but I'm not getting rich from
mushing, he says.
The victory in the Femund-race came without Backen and his dogs having to take out everything.
-Everything went according to plan. At the finish the dogs wanted to go on. This race was an important warm-up for things to come, but of course it was fun to win, he says, and adds that he saw the opportunity to win with one leg remaining.
-It was apparent that the leading team (Reitan) was going slower. We just kept going at a steady pace, and cut down half an hour of resting time when I discovered I had a chance to win. The dogs could have gone faster, but I just let them go at their own pace. With Iditarod in mind there was no need to push harder.
The following night Backen allowed himself 6 hours of sleep. That is what he calls luxury and wouldn't spoil himself with
more. During the (approximately) 60 hours of the Femund-race he had a total of an hour and a half of sleep. In Alaska it will be much tougher.
-In Alaska I will probably get 2-3 hours of sleep each day during the 9 days of competition. Now we're going home to
fine-tune (the stamina). The foundation is already there and we are ready for Alaska, finishes Kjetil.
Mona Kolstad from Porsgrunn won the F400 race last year. This year she followed up with a strong 8th place in the F600 event.
ps. "Wild-Man celebrity" Lars Monsen finished 5th in the Femund-race.
copyright: Hans Eivind Øygarden/TA
translated and posted with Øygarden's permission.
(some rearranging had to be done to keep the article flowing)
The Femund-race was just supposed to be a warm-up for Kjetil Backen and his team. They ended up winning it.
Now the man from Eidanger (his place of residence, ed.) is looking forward to the Iditarod and 1,800 kilometers with
temperatures reaching -50C in the wild nature of Alaska.
Kjetil Backen and his team of handlers and 16 dogs will leave for Alaska February 21. The Iditarod starts March 1, and
during the following days Backen will try to win what is known as "The Last Great Race on Earth".
Yesterday Backen started on his way home after winning the prestigious Femund-race, which was also the Norwegian Championship for long distance mushers. Backen and his dogs showed real class on the last leg from Tolga to Røros. Ketil Reitan had a 51-minute lead out of Tolga, but could not hold off from Backen's strong finish. The "Mush"-competitor ("Mush" being the name of his local club) finished the race in 59 hours. However, this is peanuts compared to what awaits in Alaska where the distance is 1,800 kilometers.
-The challenges are lining up over there. Sleep deprivation gives you hallucinations. It could well be three or more days
with temperatures as low as -50C, and there is the occasional blizzard. In addition to that the distance is the equivalent of Oslo-Alta (ie very far). We race about 300 kilometers a day with the team, says Backen, and points out that he is looking forward to it.
-This is in many ways the ultimate challenge, and it's this season's main goal. I came 3rd in 2004, this year I want to win.
Kjetil Backen first competed in the Iditarod in 2002. Then he was second best of the rookies and finished 10th.
Should he win there will be honor and glory, and about 1 million NOK (car included).
-Money is not an issue. What means something is the joy of racing and the bonding with the dogs. Being able to go to Alaska and compete with the best in the world is a bonus, says Kjetil Backen.
Dogs and mushing plays a big part in Kjetil Backen's life. He trains with the dogs 70 hours a week. Added to that comes the daily caretaking of the 20 dogs he has at his home in Eidanger.
-When I spend so much time doing this it isn't just for fun. It's about high-level delivery, but I'm not getting rich from
mushing, he says.
The victory in the Femund-race came without Backen and his dogs having to take out everything.
-Everything went according to plan. At the finish the dogs wanted to go on. This race was an important warm-up for things to come, but of course it was fun to win, he says, and adds that he saw the opportunity to win with one leg remaining.
-It was apparent that the leading team (Reitan) was going slower. We just kept going at a steady pace, and cut down half an hour of resting time when I discovered I had a chance to win. The dogs could have gone faster, but I just let them go at their own pace. With Iditarod in mind there was no need to push harder.
The following night Backen allowed himself 6 hours of sleep. That is what he calls luxury and wouldn't spoil himself with
more. During the (approximately) 60 hours of the Femund-race he had a total of an hour and a half of sleep. In Alaska it will be much tougher.
-In Alaska I will probably get 2-3 hours of sleep each day during the 9 days of competition. Now we're going home to
fine-tune (the stamina). The foundation is already there and we are ready for Alaska, finishes Kjetil.
Mona Kolstad from Porsgrunn won the F400 race last year. This year she followed up with a strong 8th place in the F600 event.
ps. "Wild-Man celebrity" Lars Monsen finished 5th in the Femund-race.
copyright: Hans Eivind Øygarden/TA
translated and posted with Øygarden's permission.
(some rearranging had to be done to keep the article flowing)
, which gave them a chance to walk the dogs ( I bet they were 