Published April 2004

World Championship Kicksled 2004 - Multia Finland
Hard condition during marathon

21.3.2004, Multia The World Championship Marathon was kicked in heavy conditions on Lake Sinervä in Multia; thus the differences were clear, as there was no real advantage of group riding. Alpo Kuusisto (FIN) governed the men's race and Saturday's 2000 m champion Liis Toomingas (FIN) reigned in the ladies' race. The second place among men was taken by Hannu Vierikko (FIN), who apparently suffered a sled malfunction early in the race and thus changed his sled. The sled swap gave Vierikko such additional speed that he periodically seemed to catch the gap gained by Kuusisto.
Richard Van Camp (USA) who has been kicking successfully earlier during the season was third before Jan Elmgren (FIN).

In the ladies' class the fastest behind Liis Toomingas (FIN) was surprisingly Anneli Mörä-Leino (FIN) before Auli Suomalainen (FIN) (to be accurate, Mörä-Leino competed in the masters' class for ladies over 45 years). She guessed that the reason for such a surprising speed was the "kick duration" gained during her training camp in Lapland, which suited well for these heavy circumstances in Multia.

(news source http://www.potku.fi/kn/news.html)

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