A Change in the Weather
This morning the skiers wake up to frost and newly fallen snow. The landscape is covered in a light white winter coat and during the night the temperature has dropped to minus.
Yesterday the temperature barely came down zero degrees Celsius creating a wet and slippery track, but today the ground is frozen solid and the skiers might find it easier to wax their skies in the more stabile weather conditions. Also the wind is on the side of the skiers, it seems, as it has slowed down and no doubt this will please the skiers when they prepare for take-off at 1 p.m. today.

Close Fight for the Medals
Yesterday Norwegian-born Øystein, who is living in Nuuk with his wife Uiloq Slettemark, took control in securing himself a 10 minute lead over the young Greenlandic skier Martin Møller. Martin has actually beaten Øystein in the two previous Arctic Circle Races they have been in together, so naturally everybody was really surprised about the development of the race. Today Øystein’s tactics might be to let Martin be the front runner to clear the tracks and let himself fall back as number two.

Fighting for the 3rd place is several nationalities: Mauro Sormani from Italy, Todd Malzhan from the States, Klaus Jeckel from Germany and Aqqalu Skifte from Greenland. The race between these 4 skiers is close as less than 10 minutes separate Mauro as yesterday’s number 3 from Aqqalu as number 6.
Among the women the race is not as close. Johanne Nivi Mikkelsen has a 10 minute lead over Niviaq Berthelsen, and Marianne Lyberth is 3rd 10 minutes after Niviaq as number 2. So far the medals seem to be placed in Greenlandic hands; however Andrea Seruneit as number 4 from Germany might surprise everybody. Strong and experienced runners like Ivalo Olsen and Elisa-Laura Agtagkat, both from Nuuk, might also decide to content for the gold, so on this second day the race is still open and exhilarating to follow.

Greenlandic Championships in Dog Sledging
Starting at 10 a.m. from Sisimiut the first dog sledge whooshed past the camp at 10.30 in the morning. The skiers and volunteers at the camp were invited to follow the spectacular race from special view points and it was quite a sight.



The Leading Men
The dog sledges added even more fame and adventure to the Arctic Circle Race, but it has caused problems for the crew preparing the tracks, as there was hardly time to complete the tracks before the race started at 1. p.m. This means that despite fine weather and frost the track is not as good as many skiers expect, and this second day may see some surprises among the leading participants, both among the male and female runners.
From the beginning Øystein took the place right behind Martin, and the two strong and experienced runners soon created quite a gap to Mauro Sormani as number 3.



Luckily, all the skiers accepted the full stop at the steep and dangerous descent on today’s track.

The Leading Women
At halftime today Johanne Nivi Mikkelsen had added another 7 minutes to her advantage over number two among the women. This means that Johanne is a step closer to the gold medal than yesterday.
This year’s Arctic Circle Race is turning out to be a good one for the young women: Johanne is 20 years old and Niviaq Berthelsen is only 17 years old. Mariane Lyberth, age 30, is also doing very well, and she says that she feels great and is very happy about her achievements so far. Her halftime shows that she was 1 minute ahead of Niviaq, so the fight for silver is ongoing. We caught Mariane while she was preparing her skies in the camp an hour before take-off:

Taking care of skis and feet
Henrik Gudbergsen from Copenhagen is waxing his skies with a surgeon’s precision, which is not surprising considering that Henrik is studying medicine. He has just finished a month’s intern at the hospital in Aasiaat, and before heading back to Denmark – a journey that takes him on dog sledge from Sisimiut to Kangerlussuaq and from there by plane to CPH – he made an ACR stop. Remarkably, Henrik put on a pair of cross country skies for the first time on February 18th this year; some 6 weeks ago, and now he behaves as if he has been skiing since early childhood.



Bertil Ström from Sweden is changing his socks in the last minutes before take-off. “Wool is better than these modern man-made fabrics,” he says, and it clearly shows that this Swedish foot is in need of tender love and care:



Goodies at K2, K3 & K4
The volunteers at K2 are cheering at all the skiers passing by, offering them hot drinks and energizing sweets:



Many skiers are happy to stop for a snack along the 49 kilometre route. Jens Peter Bak experiences to get a little special treatment because the volunteers recognize him from the previous 3 times he has participated in Arctic Circle Race. “On the last post yesterday we had a complete whiteout, and I was exhausted. When the nice lady at the post pulled out a small bottle of brandy and poured some into my coffee I just felt that I could fly back to the camp,” Jens Peter explains.



Jens Peter describes himself as a bit of an Arctic Circle Race addict, so we hope to see him again in next year’s race.

Morning Smiles
Silke and Peter Gumplinger from Germany look happy and relaxed. They clearly recall the whiteout at the Labyrinth yesterday, but they also seem totally recovered from the hardships of the previous day. Today is what counts, and today is a fine-looking morning with snow and sun and breakfast waiting in the kitchen tent. They say that they have been wanting to participate in the Arctic Circle Race for 10 years, so what is more appropriate than joining the race on the 10th anniversary?



Peter Sivertsen has had a good night’s sleep and he says that the sound of 2 ptarmigans woke him up this morning. Carsten and Kisser also feel good while they’re chatting over breakfast in the heated kitchen tent.



7 months pregnant
Less than one hour before take-off Uiloq Slettemark says that she’s delayed with her preparations.



Focused and concentrated she works hard at waxing her skies and after the job is done she just has time to make a quick sandwich which she eats without sitting down. “I’m tired and I think that I’ll slow down and take it easy today,” Uiloq says.
Participating in one of the world’s toughest races being 7 months pregnant is a huge achievement in itself and despite her heavy burden Uiloq’s results even shows that she’s in the best half of the male contenders and number nine among the women. Way to go, Uiloq!



Take-off on Day 2
Martin Møller came in 10 minutes after Øystein Slettemark yesterday, and he says that it just didn’t work out for him. In fact Martin has concentrated on shorter distances in his training, so it doesn’t really surprise him that Øystein has taken the lead. Biathlon is what Martin has been spending his time on, so ACR has had to come second for the young athlete.
So Martin, do you think you can catch up with Øystein today?
“If I’m going to overtake Øystein with 10 minutes I will have to be more fit than yesterday and unfortunately that’s not very likely,” Martin says.



Despite having difficulties with dizziness and cramps yesterday Øystein certainly looks fit and ready to take on the battle with the 11 years younger skier.



Side by side the two contesters stand in the first row of the starting line when the rope is being removed and the last information is called out over the speakers. Today there will not be a point of no return, but the volunteers will begin to pick up skiers who are not back at the camp before 9.30 p.m. tonight. Also the skiers are instructed to take off their skies and run or walk down the dangerous descent between the camp and the drinking post K2. The place is marked with an unmistakable Full Stop sign and volunteers will also be present to make sure that the skiers follow the safety rules.



A question of willpower
And now the skiers are off on the 49 kilometre. The route first takes the skiers down to Sisimiut where they enter the Arena area for their halftime before they turn around and run all the way back up to the camp. Øystein Slettemark, Aqqalu Skifte and Martin Møller shoot off at a high pace from the very beginning. It looks easy – almost like a game – but nobody should forget that years and years of hard physical and mental efforts have been leading up to this moment.

Celebration the in Camp
To finish off an adventurous day in perfect Arctic Circle Race style the beloved Greenlandic band Sume played for everybody in the camp.

 People were rocking and singing along, but in fact not all skiers had made it back to the camp when the party began. The dog sledge association contributed to the wellbeing of the camp, by serving Greenlandic specialities. Everybody seemed to enjoy the prawns, crabs, seal- and whale meet.

During the day the weather changed from sunny to overcast, and tonight a light snow started to fall, when the last skiers finally returned to the camp.

The Results
Øystein Slettemark added another 10 minutes to his advantage so now he is 22 minutes ahead of Martin Møller. Also among the women the leader from Day 1 continued on the winning path: Johanne Nivi Mikkelsen is now 20 minutes ahead of young Niviaq Berthelsen, and Mariane Lyberth is another 20 minutes after Niviaq.

The Last Day
Tomorrow is the third and last day of the race. The skiers will be starting out by running up through the Labyrinth and then they begin on the long descent back to town where the impatient crowd will wait for them at the Arena.
Due to the Greenlandic Championships in Dog Sledge the start was postponed for the skiers, and this means that they will not have as much time to recover after today’s race as they normally do. The last day of the race calls for an early start, as the kick-off is at 9 a.m. The first skiers are expected back at the Arena around noon, and it’s worth mentioning that especially winning the last race is very prestigious.

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