Racing through history
By Erik Nilsson ( China Daily )
2015-01-12
An international competition based on a 500-year-old Swedish folktale comes to Northeast China.
He was skiing - for his life.
Swedish nobleman Gustav Ericsson Vasa raced 90 kilometers through timberlands on skis to escape the army of Danish king Christian II - aka "Christian the Tyrant" - in 1520, the story goes.
The monarch had just massacred about 90 subversive Swedish aristocrats - including Vasa's parents - he'd invited to Stockholm under the guise of reconciliation.
Vasa fled on skis, inspired a rebellion, crushed Christian II, dissolved the Kalmar Union (Sweden, Norway and Denmark) and became Sweden's king.
Indeed, the stuff of legend.
Half a millennium later, this myth is manifesting as a reality in Northeast China's Changchun.
Jilin's provincial capital has since 2003 hosted the Vasaloppet cross-country ski race commemorating the lore of Vasa's dramatic escape.
But Jan 1 and 2 marked the first time the competition was staged in Changchun since China officially became an associate member of the 20-nation Worldloppet last year.
About 2,000 skiers joined the events, including pros, amateurs, students and children.
About 100 of the roughly 480 elite skiers who finished the 50km race - Changchun's longest - are Chinese. The rest hail from 33 countries. Most flew in from Scandinavia.
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China's Vasaloppet in Changchun witnesses hundreds of elite skiers competing to get their first China stamp on their Vasaloppet 'passport' since the country officially joined the global organization last summer. [Wang Jing / China Daily] |
