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The Birkebeiner, Norway’s annual cross-
country ski race completed in mid-March,
attracted a record turnout, with chief
executive officers and prison inmates
amongst the 16,150 participants. Skiing
remains a favoured sport in Norway
where many get their first ski set at the
age of three.
Pareto AS Chief Executive Officer Svein
Stoele, former Aker Exploration ASA
Head Lars Thorrud, 48, and First
Securities ASA’s 51-year-old Chief
Strategist Peter Hermanrud, ranked
second in Kapital magazine’s list of
Norwegian analysts this year, completed
the 54-kilometer (34-mile) race along
side seven inmates from Norway’s Hassel
prison.
The event, which has links back to the
country’s 13th Century civil war, runs
from Rena to Lillehammer in eastern
Norway and rises from 280 meters (919
feet) to almost 1,000 meters above sea
level.
“It’s a dead-hard race, really tough,”
said Martin Moelsaeter, chief investment
officer of Ferncliff Asset Management AS
who is competing in the Birkebeiner for
the second time.
Racers carry a 3.5 kilogram (7.7 pound)
backpack that symbolises the infant
prince Haakon Haakonsson. A legend
says the two-year-old future King was
taken to safety in 1206 by two skiers in
the Birkebeiner faction during the civil
war. The group’s name means birch leg
because members sometimes used bark
as foot covering.
The first race was held in 1932 with 155
participants. Women were admitted in
1976 and today account for about 20
percent of the contestants, according to
Rune Bergsodden, managing director of
Birkebeinerrennet AS, which organises
the event.
“The typical Birkebeiner is a man who
is 43,” Bergsodden said in a telephone
interview.
Pictured: Norway’s Moan Magnus
competing in the 2010 World Cup
Nordic Combined. Chaux Neuve. France.
© Grosremy | Dreamstime.com
skiing is attributed to the Austrian Mathias
Zdarski, alpine skiing is probably based
on Telemark. The only thing Zdarski did
was to find an alternative to the Telemark
style, by improving the “stop and go”
technique.
And Stein Eriksen is the Norwegian creator
of one of the most spectacular Olympic
sports called aerials; a branch of freestyle
skiing. He moved to the US at the end
his career, where he became ski instructor
and coach. It was then that he came up
with the idea of a more spectacular style
of skiing specifically for young people. He
developed new ways of jumping, twisting
and somersaulting, which sparked a
great wave of enthusiasm, leading to the
creation of new school freestyle.
As you can see, we have a lot to thank
Norway for when it comes to our Winter
Olympic entertainment.
Norway’s Birkebeiner
Race Unites CEOs
and Inmates