Prague, Jan 11 (CTK) – The organisers of the weekend Jizerska Padesatka 50-km cross-country skiing race, which was held for the 49th time this weekend, asked the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute for advice because of its recurrent problems with a lack of snow, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes yesterday.
In the last two decades, the skiing event in Bedrichov, north Bohemia, had to be cancelled twice.
Organisers of other cross-country, ski jumping and biathlon events also have problems due to the weather that is not cold enough from time to time. The previous winter was very mild in the Czech Republic and the present one is likely to be mild as well.
Due to the lacking snow, the Bedrichov organisers had to use snowmaking on Sunday and they prepared a shortened 4-km race circuit, for the first time in the event’s history. The long distance was run only by the elite racers and all the other participants used shortened tracks, the paper writes.
The meteorologists began to work on an analysis of the long-term development of weather in the country that would show whether the event’s traditional date, the second weekend in January, is good.
“We’ll see what dates are the best from the meteorological point of view,” the event´s spokesman Tomas Leixner said.
The date might change, though it would be difficult because the event is part of the two big world series, Worldloppet and Ski Classics.
An agreement on a free date would have to be reached with the management of both series, Leixner said about a possible postponement of the date.
MfD writes that the audience liked the change because they could see the racers more often thanks to the shortened circuit.
Prominent Czech cardiologist Jan Pirk, a traditional participant in Jizerska Padesatka, did not mind the change either. “I was afraid that we would get into our way, but it was gorgeous,” he said.
