From Spain to Finnmark: The first long-distance race

The Spanish participant in Finnmarksløpet, Miguel-Angel Martinez, is the one who has had to travel the longest way to participate. This will not only be his first competition in the Finnmarksløpet, but also his first long-distance race ever! He admits to be a little bit crazy, but his interest for sled dog racing resulted from his passion for outdoor activities and adventure

He lightens up the place as he arrives in his yellow dress, which makes a contrast to his tanned skin. Spain is maybe not the country we connect with the sled racing sport. Miguel himself claims that he is the only one in his home country who really is interested in this hobby. To get good tips, he has called his friend, Juan Alcina in Alaska, who has given him good advices. The dogs Miguel uses in Finnmarksløpet are bought from the famous sled dog racer from France, Jaques Phillip. The only problem was that these dogs were used to run short distances, so Miguel has had to use a lot of time and effort to train them to be long distance racer dogs. The only place he is able to train his dogs are in dessert like areas, but since last December there have been areas covered with snow where he has been able to train the dogs. The conditions, however, are very different from those here in Finnmark. That is why he has used the opportunity from the day he arrived to train his dogs, which has given him at the same time some idea of what awaits him in the race.

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