Friday 2 March 2018 - Bieg Piastöw 7 km Classic Ski Race

The results of the 7 km race:

There were 763 finishers.

First man 19.25 (525 men took part)

First lady 23.02 (238 ladies took part)

Our team, with name, position and position in age group:

Andy - 28.52, 98, 19/102

Phil - 34.10, 196, 41/102

Trevor - 36.31, 232, 49/102

Steve - 45.27, 428, 60/102

Sam - 45.52, 435, 13/37

Martin - 46.44, 462, 64/102

Ellie - 47.39, 482, 16/37

Jim - 50.47, 531, 10/27

Lynda - 52.13, 570, 48/78

Very respectable if I may offer that opinion. Well done everyone.

Martin's Diary:

Nine of us assembled for this bit of fun by way of a warm up for tomorrow's 50 km loppet. Others lazed around after the exertions of yesterday's 18 km outing on the planks, rested, or enjoyed a trip to town via the little blue railway train.

The race started at noon on another sunny, cold day. I planted my skis, thankfully now endowed with enough tail and tip wax to last 7 km, right at the back of the last wave of starters, after keeping warm in the luggage tent.

Starting at the back meant that nobody was treading on my skis, but it had the disadvantage of having to do a bit of overtaking in order to get a vaguely respectable time. Over the course of the race I overtook someone every 35 metres or so, which indicates a lot of lane changing although I did use the piste outside the tracks (albeit a bit harder work than using the tracks) for much of the ascent to the 3 km point, after which a straightforward flat section took us to a final descent past skillfully avoided (haha) scattered bodies to the finish.

Sue had managed to leave her sick bed for a while to support us, and a few more photos may follow if we can transfer them from her camera. After the race I dashed off to deposit my skis for proper waxing overnight, forgetting to collect a finishers medal - I didn't think there would be one for such a short race.

Returning to the finish, after some initial difficulty I was rescued by Dorothea, a Technical Delegate who spotted my Gatineau loppet hat. "I was first lady home in that race in 1998" she exhorted, after authorising the staff to give me a medal. We had a long chat during which she tried hard to persuade me to buy a Worldloppet passport.

I'm pictured above with Dorothea.

Sue had appeared from her photographic duties and we joined Andy, Phil and Ellie for a pasta and chicken sauce lunch in the food tent. The 'goodie bag' for this event included a travel towel and a voucher for a rather meagre free lunch.

That was enough for Sue. We eschewed a visit to the Expo tent or the nearby town and spent a relaxing for me but painful for Sue with her continuing illness, afternoon in our comfortable room.

Dinner in Hotel Biathlon again. Luckily there's a good menu.