Did the three musketeers fool everybody?

Are Thomas Wærner and Arnt Ola Skjerve as cold as our expert got the impression of today? (Photo: Steinar Vik)

Arnt Ola Skjerve, Ola Brennodden Sunde and Thomas Wærner stayed cool and rested a lot longer than the competitors while the storm was raging in the mountain. They left Sirbma late, avoided the worst wind and seemingly had better tracks. They maintain a higher speed than the competitors in the lead.

Our expert Trond Ørslien thinks the three mushers has an advantage of having rested more, better tracks and better weather.

 

- It will be incredible exciting to see how far behind the lead the three mushers are when arriving in Levajok. They have the option of going straight through checkpoint Levajok, and straight to Karasjok, where they rest for 10 hours. All three have the capacity to maintain a high speed all the way to Karasjok.

 

- Everything depends on how much time it will take for them to go to Levajok. If they travel a couple of hours faster then the lead going into to Levajok, they might close the gap.  

 

- They have rested the dogs more and had an easier stretch over the mountain to Levajok.  If they can keep a speed which is 1,5 km /h faster then the lead the nine miles up the river to Karasjok, this quickly adds up to hours, says Ørslien.

 

But if they are more than 2,5 hours behind Marit Beate Kasin and the rest of the teams in the lead coming in to Levajok, I think it will be a difficult task, says Ørslien.