Polish ski marathon draws int’l crowd

This was the 43rd annual Bieg Piastów event and it featured a series of competitions including the 50 km and 25 km classic and the 30 km freestyle. Both competitive athletes and amateurs took part.

The Czech Republic’s Pavel Ondrasek won the weekend’s longest race, the 50 km classic, clocking in at 2 hours, 12 minutes, and 39 seconds, ahead of Poland’s Paweł Klisz (2:12.40) and Germany’s Florian Rohde (2:12.40).

Meanwhile, Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, a double Olympic champion and a two-time world champion, was the fastest woman (2:19.03), ahead of the Czech Republic’s Adela Boudikova (2:23.39) and another Czech Klara Moravcova (2:24.47).

Bieg Piastów has been held annually at Jakuszyce since 1976, when a total of 531 skiers competed.

Since 2008 the event has been held under the auspices of the Worldloppet Ski Federation, which brings together the world's largest cross-country ski marathons, including Sweden's Vasaloppet, Austria's Dolomitenlauf, Italy's Marcialonga, Germany's Koenig Ludwig Lauf, the United States' American Birkebeiner, Australia's Kangaroo Hoppet, and New Zealand’s Merino Muster.

Public broadcaster Polish Radio has been a long-standing media partner of the Bieg Piastów event.

Cross-country skiers Paweł Klisz (top left) and Justyna Kowalczyk (top right) collect special prizes for the fastest Polish man and woman in the 50 km classic from Polish Radio's CEO Andrzej Rogoyski (bottom left) and senior executive Agnieszka Kamińska (bottom right). Photo: Magdalena Miętek/Polish Radio

(gs/pk)

Source: Polish Radio