Finish line Vasaloppet - Freestanding Arches on Waymarking.com

[ENG] Vasaloppet (literally, The Vasa race) is an annual long distance (90 km) cross-country ski race (ski marathon) held on the first Sunday of March in northwestern Dalarna, Sweden between the village of Sälen and town of Mora. It is the oldest, the longest, and the biggest (in terms of participants) cross-country ski race in the world. In the 80th race, held on 7 March 2004, some 15,500 skiers competed in the main event. More than 40,000 participated in one of the seven different races held during the first week of March. The race was first run in 1922, inspired by a run by King Gustav Vasa in 1520. The winner of the first race was Ernst Alm from Norsjö, 22 years old, who is also the youngest ever winner of the race. Vasaloppet is one of the races in the long distance cup Ski Classics.

The motto of the race, written on the arch marking the finish line of the race, "I fäders spår – för framtids segrar". Translates to "In the tracks of our fathers - for future victories.

In 1520, the young nobleman Gustav Ericsson Vasa was escaping from the troops of Christian II, king of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (the Kalmar Union). Much of the Swedish nobility was in opposition to the king, and had nicknamed him Christian the Tyrant. In a move to silence the opposition, Christian invited the Swedish aristocracy to a reconciliation party in Stockholm, only to have them, including Gustav's parents, massacred in what came to be known as the Stockholm Bloodbath.

Gustav was escaping through Dalarna, fearing for his life if he were discovered by the king's troops, when he spoke to the assembled men of Mora and tried to convince them to raise a levy and start a rebellion against King Christian. The men refused to join the rebellion, and Gustav started toward Norway to seek refuge. However, he was later caught at Sälen by two Mora brothers on skis - the men in Mora had changed their minds after hearing that the Danish rulers had decided to raise taxes, and they now wanted Gustav to lead the rebellion. On 6 June 1523, Gustav Vasa was crowned king of Sweden, having defeated the Danish king Christian and dissolved the Kalmar Union. Sweden has been fully independent ever since.

The Swedish Vasaloppet is included in the Worldloppet Ski Federation, a series of long-distance cross-country skiing races.
In 2006, the Vasaloppet was included in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup; a large complement of World Cup racers joined the men's field for the full 90 km distance. Owing to the distance—40 km longer than the longest race usually skied in the World Cup—as well as the proximity to the just-concluded Olympic Games in Torino, the race was again dominated by long-distance specialists rather than World Cup racers. Daniel Tynell won the race, just ahead of Jerry Ahrlin, while Anders Aukland - who has skied on both the Norwegian national World Cup team and in marathons like the Vasaloppet - finished third. (Source Wikipedia)


[SWE] Vasaloppet är ett långlopp på skidor och världens längsta längdåkningstävling. Sträckan är 90 kilometer och går från Berga By i Sälen till Mora i Dalarna i Sverige. Loppet genomförs årligen, med premiärloppet 1922, och numera alltid första söndagen i mars. Över 15 000 åkare deltar i Vasaloppet och ytterligare 60 000 i de övriga tävlingarna under Vasaloppsveckan. Vasaloppets motto är "I fäders spår – för framtids segrar" och står skrivet på en portal över mållinjen i Mora.

Vasaloppet genomförs till minne av Gustav Vasas flykt mot Norge 1521, som den beskrivs i Gustav Vasas öden och äventyr i Dalarna. Krönikans riktighet är ifrågasatt av vissa historiker. TV- och radiosändningarna från Vasaloppet brukar följas av miljoner lyssnare och tittare. Profiler som Sven Jerring, Åke Strömmer, Lars-Gunnar Björklund, Sven "Plex" Pettersson, Christer Ulfbåge och Jacob Hård har bidragit till loppets popularitet.

Vasaloppet genomförs den första söndagen i mars varje år. (Undantag 2015 då Vasaloppet arrangeras andra söndagen i mars för att inte krocka med Skid-VM i Falun.)
(källa Wikipedia)

Type: Gateway Subtype: Other Location: End of Vasagatan, Mora Sweden.

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