A Minor Setback

I have been looking forward to attending the Birkebeinerrennet since I first found out about it a year ago. This morning, our friends Anders and Nina and Kevin and I piled into our car and set off towards the mountains north of Lillehammer. (As you can see, I was able to convince Kevin to wear his green St. Pat's wig long enough to pose for a picture with Anders!) We reached the parking lot, full of anticipation, only to be told that the Birkie was cancelled. WHAT??!!!!????!!! About 13,000 skiers were expected for this race, how could it have been cancelled? I guess the wind was too strong, especially along the mountain pass, so after the first 6 classes of skiers had already started out, they were stopped along the trail and told that the race was cancelled and to turn back. In the race's 60 year history, this is the 1st time it has ever been cancelled.

We were so disappointed at first, but we decided that since it was such a beautiful, sunny day (albeit quite windy) we would go for a walk and find a nice place to eat our picnic lunch and drink our coffee and Bailey's. We were in good company--there were lots of spectators who had dug pits in the snow, made fires, and were enjoying eating and drinking. There were lots of people out skiing--the young, the old, families with children, even several dogs. All the spectators who were there to cheer on the racers instead cheered on all the people out for a leisurely ski. There were several large and rowdy groups who would perform a drunken wave for each skier who passed by. It was actually a really fun, cheerful atmosphere, and we happily joined in. We dug a pit under a tree, ate our sandwiches, apples and chocolate, drank our hot current saft and our coffee and Bailey's and cheered ourselves hoarse. I was reminded of all those Hawkeye football games that I meant to attend, but ended up tailgating in the parking lot the whole time--sometimes the tailgating is the best part of the sporting event, and Norwegians know how to do it in style! The day certainly didn't turn out as expected, but we had a great time anyway...and there's always next year!
Here's a link to the newspaper story about the cancellation:

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/sports/article1697476.ece