Kongsbergers at Play: Seventy Years of Tour Racing
Photo: Birkebeiner.no Kongsbergers have been participants in the Scandinavian tradition of the tour race (Norwegian “skiturrenn”) for about seventy years, probably longer. They feature mass participation, though they often have elite skiers racing. In Norway they are very popular. Club president Rune Harkestad tallied twenty some such events across Norway in the first weekend in March 2024, one of which he skied in himself. Vasaloppet was begun in 1922, Birkebeinerrennet in 1932 and Holmenkollmarsjen and Finlandia-Hiihto in 1974. The American Birkebeiner began in 1973 with Kongsberger-to-be Per Johnsen in the running. The John Craig Memorial in Oregon was begun in 1934 but skied only intermittently until 1970. Paul Kaald’s participation in 1955 is the first in such an event by a Kongsberger of which this writer is aware. Bert Larsson, Ozzie Nordheim, Einar Svensson and Jim Lindsey were early Kongsbergers skiing in the great Scandinavian events, beginning around 19