Birkebeinerrittet

Birkebeinerrittet (lit. The Birkebeiner cycling race) is a long-distance mountainbike cycling race held annually in Norway. It is the world's largest mountainbike race in number of contestants.^[1] In 2009, 17,164 riders signed up, and 15,140 cyclists completed the race.

The race

The race starts at Rena and ends at Håkons Hall in Lillehammer. Birkebeinerrittet is 92km^[2] long along fire roads, with some paved and some single/dualtrack segments.

The race has been held since 1993 and commemorates a trip made by the Birkebeiner loyalists to save the heir to the Norwegian throne, Håkon Håkonsson, in 1206. All participants carry a backpack weighing at least 3.5 kg, symbolizing the weight of the then one-year-old heir.

Past winners

Men

Year	Name	Club/Nation	Time
2014	Fredrik Wilmann	Norway	02.33.18
2013	Fredrik Ericsson	Sweden	02.41.17
2012	Lars Ragnar Manengen	Norway	02.43.24
2011	Stian Remme	Norway	02.54.45
2010	Hannes Genze	Germany	02.57.04
2009	Andreas Kugler	Switzerland	03.02.05
2008	Anders Hovdenes	Norway	02.40.50
2007	Massimo De Bertolis	Italy	02.52.29
2006	Lars Petter Nordhaug	Norway	02.43.08
2005	Thomas Frischknecht	Switzerland	03.52.01

Women

Year	Name	Club/Nation	Time
2014	Borghild Løvset	Norway	03.05.04
2013	Borghild Løvset	Norway	03.12.38
2012	Pia Sundstedt	Finland	03.06.42
2011	Pia Sundstedt	Finland	03.08.26
2010	Pia Sundstedt	Finland	03.19.45
2009	Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå	Norway	03.27.02
2008	Pia Sundstedt	Finland	03.09.06
2007	Pia Sundstedt	Finland	03.24.43
2006	Pia Sundstedt	Finland	03.08.32
2005	Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå	Norway	04.05.18

External links

• Official homepage (in Norwegian)

References

1. Birkebeinerrittet is the world's largest cross country bicycle race with 18.000 participants Archived August 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
2. ["Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-08-19. Retrieved 2014-03-19. "Løype Birkebeinerrittet"]. birkebeiner.no. Retrieved 2013-09-02.