Birkebeiner Run
Today, the historic event of the rescue of Haakon Haakonsson is honoured in Norway by three annual sporting events, a run, Birkebeinerløpet; a mountain bike race, Birkebeinerrittet; a cross-country ski race, Birkebeinerrennet and, beginning in 2012, Landeveisbirken, a road bicycle race. Common for the bike and ski events is the requirement of carrying a backpack weighing 3.5 kg as a remembrance of the child the Birkebeiners had to carry on their journey. The bike and ski events start in Rena and all three events finish at Lillehammer. There are also sister cross-country ski races held in Hayward Wisconsin (USA) (the American Birkebeiner), in Edmonton (Canada) and in Falls Creek (Australia).
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Famous quotes containing the word run:
“beauty is like piety—you cannot run and read it; tranquility and constancy, with, now-a-days, an easy chair, are needed.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)