La Foulée Blanche will open the FIS Worldloppet Cup 2017 again
Less than 40 days are left to the FIS Worldloppet Cup opener in the French Autrans. Already last season La Foulée Blanche kicked the official FIS Worldcup of marathon skiing off. With success. In their first year as FIS Worldloppet Cup race they did such a great job, that the Worldloppet delegations at the AGM decided to include them again into the cup, for the 2nd time now. On the 15th of January La Foulée Blanche will start the season for the marathon skiing world elite.
New for 2017: The 42 km become 50 km
While in 2016 the organizers faced very challenging weather conditions, hence were forced to use the 42 km track, in 2017 they want to enhance the enjoyment and also meet the rules of the International Ski Federation (only races of 50 km or more will allow international skiers to score FIS points), the Foulée Blanche technical committee has chosen to lengthen Sunday’s long distance race – the FIS Worldloppet Cup stage 1.
It is also about returning to the “original” course of the 80s following the Olympic route and preparing for 2018 (for the record, all the Nordic competitions were held in Autrans: biathlon, Nordic combined and ski jumping). The main features of the new course are as follows: faster and more rolling; more pleasurable with the removal of the Nave climb; plenty of spectacular descents where skiers will have to make the most of their glide. The climb up to Gève will be less steep but will be sinuous and more interesting, with a succession of turns and flats that will need to be skilfully negotiated by skiers wishing to stay up with the peloton. The 50 km and the 20 km will pass through Autrans and Méaudre, with two Ski Chrono “hot spot” sprints in the middle of the two villages, with prizes provided by their partners. The 5 km and 10 km skiers will cross the center of Autrans village where spectators can ring bells to encourage the participants.
The long distance Foulée Blanche events obviously remain open to everyone; elite skiers (1st stage of the FIS Worldloppet Cup 2017 and 2nd meeting of the Marathon Ski Tour 2017) and also amateur athletes who adore endurance events and love the splendid landscape of Autran’s nordic domain.
Important links:
La Foulee Blanche press release
Last year’s winners: Jean Marc Gaillard & Aurelie Dabudyk
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