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Edited Date/Time
9/6/2018 9:26am
Can someone explain to me please the Novemberkåsan event?
I am fascinated by this race. It appears to have a very long tradition...like pre-WWII.
It has a day section and a night section. Weather is always treacherous. Rarely are there foreign (non-Swedish) riders (at least up front). The race seems pretty gnarly. And those Swedes! Until recently they would run open face helmets without masks, while it was snowing!!! Ha ha! Then you've got the fans camping out in the woods with bonfires...
Here's a pretty funny scene from the 1992 race review (off Vimeo)...
This dude is trying to take a nap, his baby is sleeping next to him, and the reporter dude just busts in with the camera like "how's your race so far"? I'd be like WTF? Get your asses out of my motor home!!! But he's like, yeah OK, cool,let me answer your questions. For some reason I find it hillarious!
How does the race work? Is it always in the same place? Is it part of a series or is it just a one-off? Please, someone...educate me.
I am fascinated by this race. It appears to have a very long tradition...like pre-WWII.
It has a day section and a night section. Weather is always treacherous. Rarely are there foreign (non-Swedish) riders (at least up front). The race seems pretty gnarly. And those Swedes! Until recently they would run open face helmets without masks, while it was snowing!!! Ha ha! Then you've got the fans camping out in the woods with bonfires...
Here's a pretty funny scene from the 1992 race review (off Vimeo)...
This dude is trying to take a nap, his baby is sleeping next to him, and the reporter dude just busts in with the camera like "how's your race so far"? I'd be like WTF? Get your asses out of my motor home!!! But he's like, yeah OK, cool,let me answer your questions. For some reason I find it hillarious!
How does the race work? Is it always in the same place? Is it part of a series or is it just a one-off? Please, someone...educate me.
Its one of the oldest (if not the oldest!?) Enduro competitions in the world.
Started 1915 u run 2 laps during daytime and one lap at night and each Lap is around 100km long in freezing cold weather, mud, through deep forrests, unforgivig marches, deep ditches, steep hills and sometimes on snow and ice.
The only non-swede to win novemberkåsan as far as i know is mika ahola (r.i.p) and that was in the early 90's. Novemberkåsan is probably one of the most physical demanding races in the world racing 300km in one day freezing your butthole off while getting stuck in the mud deep in the forrest in pitch black darkness during the swedish winter. Its way tougher than Gotland grand national and GGN is hard enough to be a Rd in the New world enduro superseries. If you manage to win novemberkåsan u surely are one of the top enduro racers in the world no doubt. Last year 18 ppl finished of about 200. To get a bit of a hint on how hard kåsan is we can compare to some of the other extreme races here in sweden. GGN has around 3000 participants every year and ränneslätt well over 1000. Most are swedes in both them races but only around 150-200 signs up for novemberkåsan each year and that is because Most racers here Thinks novemberkåsan is way to tough ^^.
You should check out the Gotland grand national, ränneslätt and battle of vikings on Youtube too
Even Peter hansson (the guy in the trailer) was a enduro world champion and 3x six days winner btw
So is the even in the same place each year?
How much time do you get between the first and second loop?
Is it run like a traditional enduro with timing equipment or is it more like the modern enduros where keeping time is no longer part of the game?
Why was Peter Hansson being interviewed in his motorhome? I assume there must be a lot of time between loops if the riders have time for a nap. (?)
Why is it called NovemberKasan? What does Kasan mean in Swedish?
Are there random amateur hobby riders that attempt to race this event (like Erzberg)?
Thanks a lot for the answers. It's a lot of fun watching the event. I'll check out the other events you mentioned.
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