The matter in summary: – Jens Kvernmo has driven approximately 1,300 km with a dog team in preparation for the Finnmark Run. – The trip has been challenging with storms and a fall from a snow shovel, but both Kvernmo and the dogs came out intact. – Kvernmo has used the trip to improve familiar with the 10 new dogs in his team, who have never been in a dog race before. – He believes the trip can have both positive and negative effects on the dogs’ performance in the race. – Kvernmo participated in the Finnmarksløpet for the first time last year, and qualified – Despite the tough preparation, Kvernmo is looking forward to the race, which he describes as a folk festival. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Dog driver Jens Kvernmo chose a slightly different way of traveling to the Finnmark race. The car and trailer were replaced by dog sleds and sleds. But the approximately 1,300 kilometer long route has had its challenges. – We had two storms with a hurricane in a few days. It has been a really tough trip, says Kvernmo. But the extreme weather “Ingunn” has not been the only challenge on the trip from Ogndal in Trøndelag to Alta in Finnmark. – We drove out of a snowdrift after a storm. So then it was four meters straight down. Then I could have gone really bad. At one point all my dogs were gone. Kvernmo with his new dog team. Photo: Privat Arrived Fortunately for Kvernmo, both he and the dog team made it to the Jotka mountain hut in Alta. – With the dogs and the sled it went well, but I got a real caramel, he says with humor in his voice. The start of the Finnmark Race is fast approaching, and the plans have already been made: training trips, packing and rest. The challenge is that they have never run a dog race before, so they are completely inexperienced. Photo: Privat Building trust in the dogs Although it was not his original plan, Kvernmo had to get to know the dogs in his pack better. Because even though his own Alaskan dogs Bamse and Tarzan are there, he has 10 new dogs that he is borrowing for the Finnmarksløpet. And the dogs he borrows have never been in a dog race before. – Then I thought it would be good to take them on a trip. They will get to know me and we will build a team for the race. He adds that this trip north was made to honor the dog sport. According to Kvernmo, it is important to take trips outside of racing. – The racing is a bit more streamlined, while a trip like this is a bit more good old-fashioned dog sledding. Yes, a small blow to the dog sport. Here the dog team rests after a long walk. Photo: Privat Can beat both ways Kvernmo took part in his first Finnmark race last year, in the 600 kilometer class. Here he was the first to finish with all the dogs in the pack. He thus secured qualification for the longest race of 1,200 kilometers this year. And while both Kvernmo and dogs take a well-deserved rest, we can’t avoid asking the question: Do you think the dogs will cope with another 1,200 kilometers after the journey they’ve had? – I think it can go both ways. It was a very tough trip. So either I think they’ve had their turn this year, or they’ve just been trained and will withstand the race very well, says Kvernmo. Although the journey up to Alta has taken a lot of energy, he is recharging his batteries for March 8. – I was really tired when I got here. I need to rest for a couple of days now and then I’ll be ready. It is a folk festival, Finnmarksløpet!
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Jens Kvernmo had an extreme charge before the Finnmark race – news Troms and Finnmark
