The teams left with temperatures around -30°C (down to -40°C sometimes) and soon three champions were battling for the final victory : Robert Sorlie, Iditarod, Finnmarkslopet and Femundlopet champion and La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc 2009 runner-up, Ralph Johannessen, Finnmarkslopet 2010 champion and Emil Inauen, La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc 2010 champion.

Robert Sorlie, Mister Femundlopet, wins the race for the 10th time.

The Femundlopet is a long-distance race. The mushers have to travel an uninterrupted 600km long trail, with checkpoints along the way. Each musher has to observed two 8hours mandatory rests in the checkpoints of his choice. Apart from that, he can freely  decides where, when and how long he stops to rest his dogs. On the contrary to La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc, where the dogs get long hours of rest between each stage but run more intensely during the stages, here it's up to the musher to decide of his run/rest strategy with a view to preserving the endurance and will-to-go of his dogs all along the race, especially with short resting times. The best teams will go for long runs of 120 to 145 kilometers with only very short rest in between. That's the art of mushing when it comes to finding the appropriate training and learning the more on your dogs, before the race to make the best decisions during it. Each musher starts with a maximum of 12 dogs and has to finish with a minimum of 6 on the line. He can drop the others at any checkpoint to the good care of his handlers.

jean-philippe pontier femund2012.jpg" alt="" />Jean-Philippe Pontier and his dogs who ran La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc in january.

One more time, the 10th, Robert Sorlie is the champion. It's only during the last leg that he passed Johannessen who had to load a dog in his sled. Arnt Ola Skjerve, La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc 2012 veteran, takes the third place after a very fast race. He ran faster than Sorlie but rested more. Emil Inauen grabs a great 4th place after a really solid and impressive race, showing that he really runs one of the best long distance teams from Europe. Ketil Reitan, another LGO veteran, takes 6th. Awesome performance from Jean-Philippe Pontier who crosses the finish line in 15th place and the only musher to bring ten dogs to Roros (He brought the whole team to Tolga, the last checkpoint, where he lives). More impressive when you learn that his B team ran by his LGO handler Olivier Perroy took the 20th place of the Femundlopet 400 with a full 8 dog team.

Congratulations to another french who lives in Norway, Benoît Gérard (LGO 2010 veteran) who finishes 6th of the same Femundlopet 400 (over 98 teams). Bravo to the Team Blau Fontein who brings two teams to the finish line. Isabelle Travadon, Sandrine Muffat-Méridol and their siberian huskies crossed the line 3 hours from each other. A real performance when you notice that more than 40% of the mushers have scratched.

Finishing La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc and the Femundlopet the same year, with the same dogs is a real feat that shows the professionalism of these mushers and the amazing abilities and versatility of those dogs.

Complete results here Femundlopet 600 Femundlopet 400

Photos Helmut Dietz - Stepan Hon - FEMUNDLOPET