Why trees have moved Sapporo Skimarathon’s venue
In winter 2023 Worldloppet’s President Juha Viljamaa, from Lahti/Finland, made a journey to far east, to visit Worldloppet’s Japanese member race, the Sapporo Skimarathon. Not only he skied is 10th silver race and became a Worldloppet Master there, but also he examined the new venue. Long story short: Approved and appreciated.
Here come some questions to race director Masahide Naba about Shirahatayama Open Stadium, Sapporo Skimarathon’s new venue:
Why have you change the venue?
The race venue was changed from the Sapporo Dome to the Shirahatayama Open Stadium and the organizer established a new course this season. Would you tell us the reason why?
– The previous course starting from Sapporo Dome became narrower because trees along the course were growing year by year. Furthermore, trees covered the track like a roof, so they blocked the snow falling on the surface of the track. It caused the shortage of snow over the track. We had a hard time to resolve these problems.
Finally, we decided to use a new venue and change into a safer course. The new course starting the Shirahatayama Open Stadium is much wider than the previous one and we don’t need to worry about the blockage of snow by trees over the track. From now on we can resolve the shortage of the snow and create good conditions for skiers. The Sapporo Skimarathon 2024 is going to take place on the new venue for sure.
Challenges for the venue change
What was the hardest part when you changed the venue?
– The Shirahatayama Open Stadium is much smaller than the Sapporo Dome so we made efforts to secure the space where skiers can prepare for the race. Unfortunately, there is no public transportation to get to the venue from subway stations, so we arranged a shuttle bus for skiers between subway stations and the Sapporo Skimarathon venue.
It’s the first time for us to use the Shirahatayama Open stadium as the main venue, so we might have given inconvenience to participants and spectators. We will upgrade to organize the race from now on. We will do our best to have all skiers and sectators fully enjoying the Sapporo Skimarathon.
The specialities of the new venue
A question to head of race committee, Atsushi Egawa: What makes the new venue and the Sapporo Skimarathon special?
– In Shirahatayama Open Stadium is already internationall well known: In 2007 the Nordic World Championships have taken place there. We created the new 50 km course considering that skiers can feel enjoyable and comfortable throughout the whole race.
The Shirahatayama area is abundant with nature and we often encounter animals not in the day time but early morning or evening. When we are preparing the tracks we sometimes find ezo deers and black woodpeckers, which is designated as a natural treasure. As Sapporo is a big city with the population of 2 million people, it is special, that you can enjoy the natural beauty in the suburbs.
And Sapporo is internationally well known for good natural powder snow, mainly among alpine skiers. But also for cross-country skiing we are able to prepare great tracks.
We invite every skier out there to come to Sapporo Skimarathon 2024 next February. We’d be honored to welcome you as our guest.
