Vikingarännet, (The Viking Run), is a long distance ice skating race and

tour skating Tour skating is recreational long distance ice skating on natural ice. It is particularly popular in the Netherlands and the Nordic countries. It is becoming more popular in areas of North America such as New England, Southcentral Alaska, and Nov ...

event between

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

and

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The race length is about 80 km. There is also a shorter 50 km event called Vikingaturen.

Name

The event is named because it follows historical water transportation routes on Lake

Mälaren Mälaren ( , , or ), historically referred to as Lake Malar in English, is the third-largest freshwater lake in Sweden (after Vänern and Vättern). Its area is 1,140 km2 and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from e ...

which have been used since the so-called Viking times, ca 1000 CE.

History

The first race was in 1999 when about 4000 skaters participated. The event had to be cancelled in 2000 and 2002 due to poor ice conditions on the planned race date, and again in 2008 due to nearly complete absence of ice all through the winter along the planned route. Beginning in 2003, the race date is only set a few weeks beforehand, depending on short term predictions of ice conditions. Beginning in 2006 most of the 80 km course, called Vikingaslingan, was kept ploughed for the entire three-month skating season, not just for the race event.

List of winners

* 1999 - Hotze Zandstra - Netherlands 2:35:42) * 2000 - Race not held * 2001 - Martijn Kromkamp - Netherlands (2:58:10) * 2002 - Race not held * 2003 - Johan Håmås - Sweden (3:09:00) * 2004 - Johan Håmås - Sweden (2:57:02 * 2005 - Johan Håmås - Sweden (2:44:07) * 2006 - Johan Håmås - Sweden (2:45:08) * 2007 - Johan Håmås - Sweden (2:40:01) * 2008 - Race not held * 2009 - Johan Håmås - Sweden (2:40:32) * 2010 - Sonny Peterson - Sweden (2:57:46) * 2011 - Matt X. Richardson -

(2:51:57) * 2012 -

Jan Maarten Heideman Jan Maarten Heideman (born 16 June 1973) is a Dutch speed skater who specialises in marathon speed skating. Heideman, currently living in a small town named Gelselaar in the Achterhoek, started as an all-around speed skater, finishing in 8th pos ...

- Netherlands (3:02:35) * 2013 -

Erben Wennemars Egbert Rolf "Erben" Wennemars (born 1 November 1975) is a Dutch former speed skater. He specialized in the sprint and middle distances of 500, 1000 and 1500 meters, and set six world records during his career. Speed skating career Wennemars was ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

(2:35:52) * 2014 - Race not held * 2015 - Race not held * 2016 - ? * 2017 - Race not held * 2018 - Race not held

References

External links

* http://www.vikingarannet.se/en/ Official site in English * http://xray.bmc.uu.se/~alasdair/sport/ice/SKATING/vikingarannet/index.html Description of 2003 event {{DEFAULTSORT:Vikingarannet Ice skating in Sweden 1999 establishments in Sweden February sporting events Recurring sporting events established in 1999 Winter sports competitions in Sweden

Name

History

List of winners

See also

References

External links