Vikingarännet (The Viking Run) is an annual skating race, covering 80km between Uppsala and Stockholm, on the ice of lake Mälaren. This year, it took place last Sunday and Sigtuna, a small town north of Stockholm referred by the term city, was a good observation point for the race.
The frozen part of lake Mälaren nearby Sigtuna was also chosen by a couple of flying devices enthusiasts to land. The plane in the image is called SeaMax and it has been adapted with wheels to land on the ice.
The main issue with this race is that they don’t know if it’s going to be on, until a few weeks before, because short term predictions of the ice state must be followed. The event has its name from the historical transportation routes on the lake Mälaren, during the Viking times.
Great photos, as usual. You have a lot of artistic inspiration in this beautiful country.
But I have to admit that the photos make me freeze only when I think of all that ice..
I hope you wear your termic socks and at least 3 pullovers when you go on such adventures
Greetings from snowy Germany,
Olivia
Thanks, Olivia.
It was quite cold that day, actually. I had all my clothes on me.
but the lake Mälaren is 80km long?
@kZan Maybe. The route of the race is 80km long. I’m not sure if the water area where the race starts is still part of lake Mälaren.
Ok I have one more (maybe stupid) question. How are all those people sure that the ice won´t break, is it cristal clear that it is sooo thik? And how is the plane sure than when it lands, it won´t turn into a submarine
?
Ok 2 questions. Now that I got this out my chest, I will lay back and wait for a scientific clarification
Well, Olivia, first of all that plane is a sea one, equipped with floats for landing on water. So it will surely not become a submarine.
The ice is tested in a couple of places to make sure that it has the proper thickness. I guess they drill holes in it to check. In any case, bad things happen (This wordpress theme is a bit funky so you may not see that there is a link in the text – click here).
The skaters in the Viking Run they all had some special short sticks, with a sharp metal peak, to use to get out of the water in case the ice breaks under them. Which didn’t happen. You could look through some spots around the place where we walked and the ice was at least 30cm thick, which is a lot.
Hey mister ice landing expert, I really don’t think the plane will float if the ice will break. For sure it will crash smashing the broken pieces.
And one, maybe stupid, question from me: what about the people who are testing if the ice thickness is good enough?
Aren’t they in danger?
kZan, everyone is in great danger.
Wow, thank you, that was fast and scientific enough