Race of the week: Tartu Maraton

I’ve decided to start a “race of the week” feature here on this blog. It may be a race I have participated in myself, but most often it will be just something I have read or heard about and found to be interesting.

The first race of the week is Tartu Maraton in Estonia (see details here on the right  -and yes, they say maraton, without the -h!). This is a cross country ski race, although they also offer a run, bike and inline skating competitions during other seasons. The ski race takes place this coming Sunday, February 19. The main event is a 63 km classic race, but they also offer a shorter distance of 31 km.

I have actually participated in the Tartu Maraton once and skied the full 63 km, and I can honestly recommend it. The start is at the fantastic World Cup ski stadium in Otepää and the finish in Elva.

The start area is wide with numerous tracks. The course itself is very well prepared and if I remember correctly there were always at least 4 tracks to ski in, and more in the wider areas. Therefore, there were never any bottlenecks or other problems with traffic.

The atmosphere along the course was friendly, with numerous people cheering the skiers on. The food stations were well organized and in the finish area they served us free dark beer, warmed in a huge pot over open fire. I will never forget the look on my buddy’s face just before he spat it out!

The luggage pick-up was well organized as well. I got my warm and dry clothes, but due to lack of facilities, we had to change clothes in a huge tent with no showers. To be fair, though, I believe that only a minority of ski marathons can offer shower facilities in the finish area.

After changing clothes we were served a warm, delicious soup which we enjoyed out in the cold before taking the bus back to Otepää, where our accommodation was.

There are many ways to travel to this race. We flew in to Helsinki, Finland, and took a short ferry ride over to Tallin in Estonia.  It is, of course, also possible to fly directly to Tallin, or even fly to Stockholm, Sweden, and take a ferry from there to Tallin. Once we arrived in Tallin, our plan was to take a bus to Otepää, but we soon found out that for a group of four people, it was just as cheep to share a taxi.

I thoroughly enjoyed my participation in the Tartu Maraton and I recommend taking a couple of days extra to relax and have a look around. Further information on traveling to this race, and many others, can be found on www.worldloppetskier.com.  

Note that for those who wish to ski the course, without being in the big crowd on race day, the organizers offer an “open track” one week before the main race.