Hannnes Larsson

In 1997 in Japan, during an opening ceremony, I noticed two distinguished gentlemen, looking like brothers. One of them made a nice speech on behalf of all overseas skiers. Next day they were both on the start line, just on my right. Next time I met this outspoken skier in year 2001, in Italy. We both participated in Lavaze Loppet. After the race, Hannes Larsson, invited me and Jan Jasiewicz (at that time an absolute record holder in number of completed Worldloppet races) for a friendly talk. He presented us with his idea of Worldloppet skiers association.

The idea was to provide equal chances to all skiers participating in Worldloppet races, to establish some quality standards for all races, and to pass skiers ideas and initiatives to the Worldloppet Secretariat. In such a way, an International Association of WorldLoppet Skiers (IAWLS) was born.

Since then, I met Hannes at all Worldloppet races including these in Australia and also had chance to work with him within Skiers Association.

I was impressed with his energy, ingeniousness, sense of humour and tenacity in bringing his ideas into life. The best example was the project of switching dates of Worldloppet races in France and Estonia. All Worldloppet races have long tradition with roots starting long before Worldloppet. So changing the date of the race is not a trivial issue. Besides tradition, there is complex environment surrounding the race. It is coordinated with national races calendar and with local events around race venue. It has complex logistics with many supporting organisations usually booked few years in advance.

But on the other hand Worldloppet races schedule was a nightmare for skiers coming from other continents and attempting to participate in many races. After completing race in Germany, they had to travel to Estonia, then return to Western Europe, to France (neighbour of Germany) and after La Transjurasienne, travel again to Northern Europe for races in Finland (just short jump from Estonia) and Sweden, and then return to Switzerland (neighbour of France).

For next few years, I could watch great political and negotiating talents of Hannes, which combined with his personal charm and linguistic skills allowed him to achieve his goal.

Now, skiers are able to participate in 5 Worldloppet races in Central and Western Europe and then move to Northern Europe for next 3 races - what a saving of effort and money (and reducing the carbon footprint).

Each year, I looked forward to Kangaroo Hoppet, not only for the race, but also to meeting my skiing friends from all over the world. We spend many hours at dining table or around the fireplace and slowly I learned bit more about Hannes.

He was born in Finland. In Nokia!! I think, this place of birth guarantees the best communications skills in the world. By birth also, he was endowed with twa languages (Swedish and Finnish) and with ability to ski.

During his studies of engineering, he spent holidays working in Norway, Germany and France. Hannes started his professional career initially in Finland, then in France, later in Italy. He specialised in analysis and design of steel structures. This lead to application of numerical methods and to "high technology" - spacecraft, nuclear reactors safety.