European Forester's Competition in Nordic Skiing – the largest biathlon competition in the world

The world's largest biathlon event will be held in Östersund, Sweden, between 7 and 11 March. Sveaskog is one of the event's main organisers.

In December the World Cup biathlon premiere was held at Östersund cross-country ski stadium. Now an even larger biathlon event has begun – the European Forester's Competition in Nordic Skiing. Significant delegations from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia, among others, registered their participation as long ago as last autumn. Some 1 000 participants representing more than 20 countries will arrive at the town in the province of Jämtland in northern Sweden.

"We call it the world's largest biathlon event in terms of number of participants. The competitions are held at the same stadium as the World Cup, but the courses are not the same, they would be too demanding. The courses we set are somewhat friendlier so as to suit all standards of participants," says Lisa Engman, project manager for the European Forester's Competition in Nordic Skiing at Biathlon Events, the Swedish Biathlon Union's event company, and adds:

"There are many good skiers, who have competed in the event many times, so competition will be tough."

Something for everybody

These are the 43rd successive industry championships and the first to be held in Sweden since Falun hosted them in 1986. The main organisers are Sveaskog, Östersund municipality and Biathlon Events. Even though the competitions are, naturally, the primary focus, there are a host of peripheral events aimed at those involved in the forest industry. Several seminars are included, and two days during the week are set aside for excursions.

The participants will have the opportunity to, among other things, visit Sveaskog's eco-park, Galhammar to the west of Svenstavik. They are also provided with the opportunity to learn more about forestry in a harsh climate and visit Jämtkraft's combined heating and power plant where 99 % of the energy is produced from renewable biofuel and peat.

"The week provides for competence development, network building, skiing and competition. Sveaskog will host one of the excursion days," says Björn Larsson, chairman of the organisation committee and otherwise a Sveaskog property strategist.

About 30 Sveaskog employees have registered to compete. These include Irene Sivertsson, who took Sweden's only gold medal when the event was held in Ramsau, Austria last year. For Jessica Nordin, environment engineer at Sveaskog in Jönköping, this will be the fourth championship. Her best placing to date is sixth.

"The competition is arranged so that one and all can partake, irrespective of ability. Some participants have hardly skied at all before, others are very good. There's a wonderful atmosphere during the competitions; spectators line the course ringing bells and pushing on their favourites. I thoroughly enjoy it," she says.

The benefit of being a hunter

In contrast to other biathlon competitions, there is only one shooting station in this one and participants need not ski with a rifle on their back. These are lent out and left at the shooting station, and are fitted with supports to make the standing shooting a little easier.

"I don't hunt, but many people working within forestry do, and they benefit slightly from this. But it usually goes ok anyway," says Jessica Nordin.

She explains that during her previous European Forester's competitions in Austria, Slovakia and Germany, she went on several of the excursions and met colleagues from various parts of Europe:

"Seeing how forestry is run in other countries is extremely interesting. When we were in Germany we joined an excursion to the Czech Republic to see the regeneration after the 'forest death' in the 1980s."

Lisa Engman emphasises the huge significance for Östersund of hosting the European Forester's Competition.

"We shall do our utmost to ensure the success of the event so that the participants feel that it is fun and rather exciting to compete in a renowned World Cup arena which is known from TV. The hope is, naturally, that they will return, or recommend others to visit Östersund.