August 12, 2010 (Aure, Norway) – It was all yellow and blue as the Swedish national team dominated the first race rollerski of the Toppiredttsveka festival in Aure on Wednesday. Swedes Charlotte Kalla and Marcus Hellner took the wins in the women’s and men’s category.

The ladies’ race belonged entirely to Charlotte Kalla and Marit Bjørgen. The two women had a huge gap over the rest of the field, with Kalla finally securing victory in final meters as she out-sprinted Bjoergen by 4 seconds. Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter impressed with a third place but was almost two and a half minutes down on Kalla and Bjoergen. Another strong Swede Sandra Hansson arrived fourth whilst Norway’s Marthe Kristoffersen and Therese Johaug finished fifth and sixth.

On the men’s side Marcus Hellner defended his victory from last year. Unlike last season it was tight and tough fight till the finish with his team mate Johan Olsson and almost resulted in a photo finish. Hellner won by 0.4 seconds while the Norwegian sprint specialist Øystein “Polsa” Pettersen was edged out to third place by a margin of 7.5 seconds. Tobi Angerer showed decent summer form and secured fourth spot sending Frenchman Vincent Vittoz to fifth. Petter Northug struggled today and could not have been satisfied with his 29th place as he lost on Hellner almost two minutes.

The Topidrettsveka festival continued today with a mountain bike race, which saw participation by a number of skinny-ski racers.   Vibeke Skofterud of Norway dominated the women’s race while  Ola Kjøren on the men’s side was the fastest over 35 km on MTB.

Ola Kjøren, who is MTB bike specialist, took victory ahead of Frenchman Jean Marc Gaillard. Gaillard showed good strength on the bike but was ultimately edged out by the Norwegian MTB national team member Kjøren. Still, at three minutes off the lead he was the best among Cross-Country athletes on the start. Yesterday’s winner Marcus Hellner finished seventh, down one minute from Gaillard. Johan Kjølstad of Norway captured third place, 48 seconds behind Gaillard. Kjølstad had to battle for that third place against attacking Ola Vigen Hattestad who admitted defeat by only 1 second. Petter Northug struggled again today, and finished 22nd having lost on the winner around 8 minutes.

Vibeke Skofterud proved her skills both on rollerskis and on MTB. She claimed first place this time on the MTB with a clear margin of more then 1 min 20 seconds.   She edged out to second place Borghild Løvset. Therese Johaug finished third place and improving on yesterday’s sixth spot in the rollerski race, but still well away from the leaders. Charlotte Kalla came seventh just after Marit Bjoergen, both of them more than 12 minutes off the pace.

Full Rollerski Results HERE.
Full MTB Results Men HERE.
Full MTB Results Women HERE.