About Finnmarksløpet

Finnmarksløpet is the world’s northernmost sled dog race. Hosted by Alta Sled dog Club the race celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2011. In fact, Finnmarksløpet is two races. One that is 500 km long and raced with up to eight dogs, and one that is 1000 km long with maximum 14 dogs in front of the sled.

Both races start on the same day, Saturday of week 10 – in the month of March – in the biggest city in Finnmark county, the northernmost in Norway (check: www.alta.kommune.no). Mushers and dogs in the longest race, cross the county all the way to Kirkenes in the east, before they turn and race along approx. the same tracks back to the finish line in Alta. The tracks of the shorter race are mainly on the mountain plateau.

Alta Sled dog Club organizes the great amount of volunteers who make the race possible. Almost 400 people spend a lot of their time working for free for Finnmarksløpet. The voluntary work is organized so that specific groups have the responsibility for specific tasks. These tasks may be:

-    checkpoints
-    tracks
-    media
-    start/finish
-    banquets
-    other tasks

Each group has a leader who is responsible for engaging other volunteers in the race so that all tasks are done. The groups meet regularly before the race.

In 2001 the race was made into a joint-stock corporation – Finnmarksløpet AS. This was done after an initiative by Alta Sled dog Club. The aim was to create a more professional basis for the economical part of Finnmarksløpet. Finnmarksløpet AS consists of an Executive Manager and a public relations/media contact who work full time in order to secure the quality of the event. The board of the AS has the overall responsibility for the planning and the tasks of the race.

Alta Sled dog Club and Finnmarksløpet AS need to cooperate to make sure and to ease both organizations’ responsibility, as well as to make sure the tasks are solved in the best possible manner.