Skiers brave midwinter conditions for 24 Hours of Lappe

Although many people would not have welcomed the return of winter this weekend, another weekend of snowy weather made for perfect ski conditions at the 24 Hours of Lappe over the weekend.

The event,  a joint venture between Lappe Nordic Ski Club and the Thunder Bay National Development Centre challenges individual skiers and teams to ski as much as they can over 6, 12, and 24 hours.


Started in 1997 by a former NDC coach to pad up his seasons kilometres, the event has grown into a fun event for skiers of all abilities to challenge themselves to ski as much as they while raising pledges to help fundraise for the Lappe Nordic and The National Team Development Centre. This year was another success, with both organizations exceeding their fundraising goals.

According to NDC head coach Timo Puiras, the event plays a major goal in their annual fundraising efforts to develop future Olympians in Thunder Bay.

Former national champion Mike Somppi, skiing the 12 Hour solo event, set the pace on the first lap setting what would turn out to be the fastest lap of the day skiing the 5.3km course in 12 minutes 16 seconds. Despite an initial fast lap, Somppi was in for the long haul and achieved his goal of skiing over 200km in 12 hours.

Leading the 24 hour solo effort was local die hard skier Werner Schwar. A veteran of the event, Schwar only took one 2 hour break during the night to go on to ski 312 km by 11 am Sunday.

In the open team event , the National Development Centre team, calling themselves team Raha Joukkue and featuring a mix of male and female athletes recently returned from the national championships in Whitehorse, managed 505 km, to enter become one of only seven teams in the 19 years of the event to break the 500 km mark.

In the youth team event, team Thunderbunnies, a team made up entirely of young skiers under 14 years old, skied an impressive 244 km to take home top prize.

The event often attracts American skiers looking to extend their ski seasons and get in big mileage ahead of next season.

This year was no exception with two teams making the trip up from Duluth. Although skiers left the event tired, they’ll put the skis on to race one more time this season at next weekend’s Run and Ski event at Lappe Nordic, the final event on the local racing calendar.

Full results can be found at zone4.ca