Worldloppet as a hobby

Worldloppet is an international organization of mass skiing events, which was founded already in 1978. Finlandia-hiihto was one of its founding members. The aim of Worldloppet is to promote the sport of cross-country skiing, by focusing on popular skiing through the various ski races around the world. The Worldloppet organization includes approx. 20 mass skiing events, in addition to Finlandia skiing, e.g. Tartu Marathon in Estonia, Vasaloppet in Sweden, Birkebeinerrennet in Norway, Marcialonga in Italy, Dolomitenlauf in Austria and the American Birkebeiner in the USA.

In addition to the official passport, the Worldloppet enthusiast has a Worldloppet passport. You collect stamps to passport from various mass skiing events. When you have collected ten stamps from different Worldloppet events (one of the stamps must be from outside Europe), you will be crowned Worldloppet Master. If the stamps have been collected from the longest distance of different events, the more accurate "title" is Gold Master. Today, all Worldloppet events also offer a shorter distance. If you make shorter distances, you will reach Silver Master.

With this hobby, there is a goal for several years. As a side product, you can see many different ski resorts around Europe and the world and get to know people with similar interests. In the upcoming Finlandia-hiihto, a Worldloppet lounge will be built in the event Expo area, which can be accessed by showing the Worldloppet pass.

Best of all, you can also get a Worldloppet pass retroactively. That is, if you have already participated in an international Worldloppet mass skiing race, it will be stamped in your passport retroactively and you will get to your goal faster. Would this be a new hobby for you?