Jizerská Padesatka

Once again the organizers of Jizerska 50 were facing challenging weather conditions when getting ready for the 2016 edition of Czech’s classic race this weekend. They were able to conjure up a four-kilometer lap, which was used by all the participants who were divided into separate starting groups of 400 skiers. Each group had a dedicated window of time to finish up their race before another group took off. This procedure was spread out within three days starting on Friday. Some of the groups even skied their race with headlamps on in the dark.

Elite race started at 8.30 on Sunday morning with about 120 men and 20 women. To keep the original distance, the organizers decided to have 15 laps, which has not been done before in a long distance ski race. Only 26 men and 7 women were able finish the whole course as the ones who were passed by the leading pack were taken out of the race to avoid confusion and overcrowding. In the end three Norwegian skiers conquered the men’s podium: 1st Petter Eliassen, 2nd Johan Kjoelstad and 3rd Anders Aukland. In the women’s race three Swedes could win: 1st Britta Johansson Norgren, 2nd Lina Korsgren and 3rd Sara Lindborg.

More than 4 000 skiers participated in all weekend Jizerska 50 races and they came to same conclusion: even with the lack of snow, the race had been great success in the end.