Year 1993
Before winter started, I bought skating skis (Morotto), boots and poles. Poles from Stefan Leitner, German guy living in Rowville. Very outspoken on all aspects of ski maintenance. Poles were very long and strong. I bought also Karhu touring skis and boots.
At Melbourne Nordic meeting we heard a report about Worldloppet Races in Europe.
Rob Hill, Clive Findlay and Hans Damen skied in Austria, Italy and Germany.
In Italy there was barely any snow. Local people made some 20 km of snow carpet and the race was run. Bravo Italia!!
Winter came, like this one in Italy. There was absolutely no snow. I visited Lake Mountain to try my skating skis. The only decent skiable place was a ski patch between Royston and Panorama trails. I skied up and down many times. My experience on ice skates paid off. But I had problems with proper balance and fitness. There was no way I could ski a marathon, I registered for Birkebeiner again.
I shared accommodation with Hughes Little. The race has been moved to Frying Pan. For Hoppet there were 3 loops of 15 km, for Birkebeiner only one loop. After the start, on the steep climb there was some pushing, crossing skis and poles. I felt safe with my heavier but very tough poles.Funny thing was, that in one place, all but some 20 top skiers, had to take off their skis and walk down. After the race, I met an Austrian skier. She was crying. She was outside 20 selected skiers, but during the race, she was in the leading group, she could not walk down and let the others to escape. So she skied down with others. And she was disqualified ! :=((
On the race day, the weather was beautiful. I skied 15 km without special effort. After crossing the finish line I felt still ski hungry.
After the race, I met Kevin Sheehy, we planned to do together a ski tour. Kevin was very unhappy, he broke ski during the race.
Next day we put on our backcountry gear and moved over Heathy Spur towards Edmondson Hut. It started to rain so we abandoned idea of sleeping in the tent and moved to the hut. There were already two residents but it was still comfortable for four people. So we had some company not counting rats. It was very important (people, not rats) as we had lots of time, there were only very short breaks in the constant rain.
Still we managed to see some nice views from Mt Skopje. After two nights, we packed and moved to Falls Creek.
During our drive to Melbourne, Kevin told me about his plans to do 3 Worldloppet race next year, same as our clubmates have done. He was going to hire a car...
Hey, does it mean, you will have space in the car? Yes, lots of it.
So what about going together and sharing costs of petrol and accommodation? Agreed! We shook hands.
I started serious preparations. Every Saturday I rode on my bike 15 km to the gym in Melbourne High School, worked 1 hour in the gym, ran to the city and back, some swim and cycle back home. Over 4 hours of exercises. Will it suffice for a ski marathon?
