Racing through history
Updated: 2015-01-10 07:29
By Erik Nilsson in Changchun(China Daily)
|
|||||||||
China's Vasaloppet in Changchun witnesses hundreds of elite skiers competing to get their first China stamp on their Vasaloppet 'passport' since the country officially joined the global organization last summer. Wang Jing / China Daily |
Norwegian Magne Andreas Westerheim, who has competed in every Worldloppet country except New Zealand and Iceland, says he wanted to participate in China's first Vasaloppet since it joined the international body.
The 76-year-old also hoped to get the China stamp in his Worldloppet "passport".
Skiers who get 10 stamps, including at least one overseas, earn a masters' certificate and gold medal.
"It's the biggest honor for an amateur cross-country skier," Vasaloppet co-founder Bengt-Erik Bengtsson explains.
But Westerheim has even bigger dreams.
"I hope to become Norway's first skier to get all 20 countries' stamps," Westerheim says.
"The passport is very important for us old skiers."
But his 73-year-old partner Berit Kristiansen has a different motivation for joining the Changchun leg.
"I came for this," Kristiansen says, holding up her smartphone to show a multistory snow sculpture of a castle.
She beams as she flicks through more sculpture photos.
"When (Norway) hosted the Olympic Games, we had a dozen or so sculptures," she explains.
"But here, it's 100 percent."
Dozens of massive likenesses are chiseled into snow along the race's starting line.
- Risking life for power
- Asian Cup: Yu Hai scores in China's 1-0 win over Saudis
- Trending: Keeping an eye on the finger
- Penguins play near Zhongshan Antarctic Station
- Crazy, outlandish, bizarre things Chinese rich do
- Shanghai auto show may shut door on model girls
- Dunkin' Donuts to open 1,400 outlets in China
- Across America Over the Week (Jan 2-Jan 8)
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
CES: Spotlight on Chinese gadgets |
95% of netizens disapprove of removal of cleavage scenes |
How does anti-graft watchdog handle petitions? |
2014 top news events in China |
Yearender: Ten most talked-about sport stars in 2014 |
Top 10 policy changes of China in 2014 |
Today's Top News
Legislature OKs ban on full veils in Xinjiang
French police hunt female suspect
Improperly freed convicts back in jail
Yunnan cases given extra scrutiny
Shanghai auto show may shut door on model girls
6 dead in Paris siege, female suspect wanted
Shooting in Texas leaves 2 dead, 1 injured
Dunkin' Donuts to open 1,400 outlets in China
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |