Connecting Consecutive Races

Jizerská Padesátka – Dolomitenlauf

By car this 730 km trip via Prague, Budejovice, Linz (attention, Linz, not Lienz; we know an overseas skier who came to Dolomitenlauf and reserved a room in Linz!) and Salzburg requires a long day’s driving. Using trains and/or buses the connection is preferably done at a more leisurely pace by stopping overnight in Prague or in Vienna and/or by taking a night train for one leg of the journey. If you have never visited Prague or Vienna, you will find it interesting to spend two or three days in these “Golden Cities”.

There are frequent buses from Liberec to Cerny Most where you take the subway to Prague’s Florenc station, then walk to Florenc bus station. From there, you can travel by bus to Vienna in about 5 hours and take a tram to Südbahnhof railway station and then the train to Lienz.

The train connection from Prague to Lienz is either via Vienna or via Munich. This is an example of a travel via Munich: Take an AM train from Liberec to Prague central station (Praha hl.n.). Leave your luggage at the station, visit Prague and dine. Possibly stay at least another day for a more detailed visit of one of the most beautiful and inspiring European cities; January is a very good time as there are no crowds; you don’t need to reserve a room in advance since the information office at the station can find the most convenient accommodation for you. Take the night train leaving at 21.45 (with sleeperettes and couchettes) to Munich, arrival at 6.26 the next day. Change to a train leaving at 7.26, second change at Spittal 11.25/11.42, arrival in Lienz at 12.48. Check actual timetables on www.bahn.de which shows also the platform numbers and other data.

Dolomitenlauf – Marcialonga

Train from Lienz via Dobbiaco to Fortezza. Change to a north (Brennero) – south (Verona) train until Bolzano. There a bus takes you to Cavalese and from there to all villages of the Fiemme valley. Total duration approximately 4 hours.

Marcialonga – König-Ludwig-Lauf

From Cavalese bus to Bolzano. Train to Innsbruck, change to a train to Munich via Seefeld and Garmisch Partenkirchen but get off at Murnau, change to a train to Oberammergau. Total duration approximately 6 hours.

Tartu Maraton – Finlandia-hiihto – Vasaloppet

There is frequent ferry connection from Tallinn to Helsinki. The trip takes about 3 hours (www.tallink.ee). Skiers who wish to go directly to Sweden to run Vasaloppet Öppet Spar may also find a convenient ferry link from Tallinn.

Lahti is connected by bus to the Helsinki Vantaa Airport and by bus and train to Helsinki city. Both Silja Lines (www.silja.fi) and Viking Line (www.vikingline.fi) operate ships leaving the South Port (Eteläsatama) every evening at 5 or 5.30 PM arriving the next day at 9.30 AM in Stockholm, cabins available. If the sea is frozen solid (occasionally, winters may still be cold, like in the good old times!) when you come to the port, don’t worry. An icebreaker will come a few minutes before the ship leaves and open a passage. For a good part of the night you will enjoy the lullaby of icefloes hitting the hull. From Stockholm, several trains per day take you to Mora in about 4 hours. The ship can of course be replaced by a flight which makes possible leaving Lahti in the morning and arriving in Mora in the afternoon.