Rovaniemi 300 Arctic Winter Race

In Arctic, Arctic Trek, Cold Weather, Events, Races, Running, Ultra-marathon by LeeLeave a Comment

Given that we’ve only just had our second day of summer in Scotland, you probably don’t want to think about winter yet but that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. In February 2016 we’ll be returning to the Arctic to take part in the Rovaniemi 300 Arctic Winter Race. The race, actually 308 km (or 191 miles) is the extended version of the Rovaniemi 150,  the race Lee was third at in 2013 (no-one had ever completed the race on foot before that year).

There are a couple of facts about the longer version:

  1. 308 km is a long way; it’d take a wee while to drive that, the equivalent distance from the BSE offices in Edinburgh to Blackpool.
  2. The Rovaniemi 300 race has never been finished by anyone on foot before. Last year someone completed the race on a fat-bike and the lone skier completed the distance but was over time by seven hours after spending most of his time running rather than skiiing due to the snow conditions.
  3. The cut off time for the race is five days (or 120 hours).
  4. Temperatures have been known to dip to minus 35C (brrr chilly) but equally and as problematically in other years the race has been hit by driving snow and deep powder underfoot.
  5. There are bears and wolves ‘n’ stuff (which is more exciting than scary although pretty sure we’ll crap ourselves if we see either).

Keep an eye out for our preparations for the Rovaniemi 300 here.

Rovaniemi 300

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