| Tillbaka till Pressinformation | 21 Oct 1998 New Swedish Classic for skaters The Race Vikingarännet - the long distance skaters´equivalent to Vasaloppet will start on the 13 February 1999 for the first time. The 80-kilometer-long course follows an old Viking route from Uppsala to Stockholm. The Swedish Ice Skating Association and the Swedish Association for the Promotion of Outdoor Life organising the event, want to promote skating as a sport, exercise and recreation and also to create another Swedish Sports Classic (along with Vasaloppet, Lidingöloppet etc). This long distance skating race will later on also be included in the European Long Distance Skating Cup series. The organisers estimate the number of participants to between 3 000 and 5 000 people. The whole event will be divided into three classes: a Competiton Class, a Keep-fit Class, a Team Competition Class. The skaters in the Competition Class will start first at 8 o´clock and are expected to finish around 2, 5 hours later, while the Keep-fit-skaters will need around 6 hours or more. The course consists of four sections: from Uppsala to Riddarfjärden (Stockholm).Today there are already around 50 000 long distance skaters in Sweden. The interest abroad is this far highest in the Netherlands. Vikingarännet is also a manifestation for the clean water in the lake Mälaren. The participants will hence go skating on the lake, that provides the region with drinking-water. For further information on Vikingarännet,
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