Dave Kahn said:That would be Styrkeprøven, or "The Great Strength Test". This is one of the toughest races in the
world. 14h 28m is a brilliant time - jeg er meget imponert! Anyone wondering if they'd like to
have a go could look at styrkeproven.comtoreglement en.shtmlOpen ↗ .
Dave Larrington will doubtless know all about the recumbent controversy associated with this
event. Are they still banned Hjalmar?
Back in 1998, Ernst Poulsen wrote:
"Only a handful of races are as tough as the Norwegian endurance event - The Great Trial of
Strength. The distance is a staggering 540 km across the mountain range - or fjell - between
Trondheim and Oslo. And just to make it a serious riders only-event, the time limit is 30 hours.
Usually the ride attracts some 3000 cyclists - including the best riders in Norway, many foreigners,
- and a handful of recumbent riders. For years none of this constituted a problem, until the Dutch
HPV-rider Bram Moens shattered all records, and won the 1997 event with a full one hours and 45
minutes in front of number two.
But instead of celebrating Bram Moens as a winner, the organizers gave the first prize of $2000 to
another rider - and to top it all off recumbents were banned in the 1998 event.
"They simply ignored me, when I arrived", explains Bram Moens, who later went back to Norway and
used part of his vacation to speak to the organizers. This didn't change the decision.
Örn Ulf Pedersen from the event organization, admits that HPV's never constituted a problem -
earlier on. They were only a rarity. Bram Moens' fast ride changed this:
"This isn't a competition - it's an endurance event[1]", explains Örn Ulf Pedersen, who admits that
the 1997 event did have a special "record group" which competed for prizes. Recumbents were allowed
to sign up for this group, and the rules - which state that helmets must be worn, and that Triathlon
handlebars are not allowed, did not state anything about recumbents.
Apparently the organizers underestimated the speed of the recumbents. Only one or two minutes before
the start, Bram Moens and the other recumbents were taken out of the record group, and were told to
start 10 minutes later. This soon became a problem, when several of the recumbent riders had to
overtake the entire record group soon after the start. At the finish line in Oslo, two of the
recumbent riders finished way ahead of the rest of the pack. But the fact that recumbent suddenly
proved to be much faster than the record group, also constitutued a problem.
"The cost of police patrolling is also of importance. We pay 180000 Nkroner (20000 Euro), and it
gets more expensive when some of the riders arrive that early, as the police have to follow them
too", Örn Ulf Pedersen explains.
The organizers did get an early warning that recumbents would be faster than all other riders. Bram
Moens participated in the 1991 event and was ahead of everyone else - until 50 km from the finish
line, when a serious stomach ache took him out of the race. But according to Örn Ulf Pedersen, the
organizers never realized this: "We only see the final results".
Despite the dispute this year - the door may not be entirely closed to recumbents in the future. "As
we see it, recumbents may be back next year. We would of course like to see as many participants as
possible", explains Örn Ulf Pedersen, who hopes to meet with HPV-riders later this year."
I've had a golf around the Organisators' web site and tucked well away in the small print is the
statement "Triathlon handlebars and recumbent are not allowed." Bah!
1 - This no douubt explains the $2000 "prize" for the "winner" - Ed.
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Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
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Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
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