Innovation

There are many innovations in Vasaloppet's history, large and small. The event, equipment, tracks, participants, technology, partnerships, etc. much has evolved and changed since the first race in 1922 that attracted 119 participants. From being a competition on the first Sunday in March the Vasaloppet now includes a winter and a summer week with eighteen different races. This gradual progress has been guided on strong history, strong participation, strong feelings and the desire to give the participants an even better experience. Learnings from experiences of participants, employees and officials are essential to maintain and develop the quality that the brand stands for.

There are a lot of ideas says Eva-Lena. "We evaluate and anchor all ideas within our organization and among our partners, and if the idea is good enough we test it on a smaller scale." After a thorough evaluation is the decision to run or not. If the idea should be implemented in full scale and be part of the event a proper marketing takes place.

The Vasaloppet Arena, the 90 kilometers-long track between Sälen and Mora, is central to the events. The use of land is therefore important to secure for the future. Eva-Lena and Ulf emphasize the important work being done in collaboration with various stakeholders and landowners for finding common comprehensive solutions.

The Summer Week and Nattvasan are some examples of innovations in Vasaloppet's history.

Summer Week
A changed climate with warmer winters and less snow affects ability to organize ski races. Partly due to actual snow conditions during the competitions, but perhaps most of all because it affects the participants training.

With saved snow, snowmaking, improvements to the track etc. the Vasaloppet has built up a system to conduct the Winter Week despite the small amount of natural snow. It is more difficult to maintain a general interest in skiing and to impact the ability to practice skiing for a large number of participants.

Summer Week was introduced to give the organization a second, less climate vulnerable, pillar to stand on for the future. They saw a potential to increase the number of participants over the year. The Summer Week, includes Vasastafetten and Ultravasan - running and CykelVasan - mountain biking, has now about 30,000 participants. This is a third of the total number of participants in the Vasaloppet events.

Nattvasan
The idea of Nattvasan has been around for a while, it was tested in 2015 and launched large for 2016's Winter Week. The impact and the reception was huge and Nattvasan 2017 was fully subscribed within a short time. Nattvasan is a team race where you and a friend ski together from Sälen to Mora at night.

Inspiration

What gives the inspiration for continuous improvement and innovation? And how can this nearly 100-year-old event still attract thousands of participants each year?

There is probably not a simple answer to these questions but Eva-Lena and Ulf emphasized the following during the interview:

Vasaloppet makes a difference and creates opportunities, said Eva-Lena, for the community, for the participants, for clubs, for young people. There is a pride in working in an organization that does so much good. Through the years there have been strong and far-sighted people in the organization who have looked into the crystal ball, who have dared and had the resources to be at the forefront and had a desire to develop a high-quality event. Vasaloppet has also been developed together with its partners, for example, a 50-year collaboration with IBM.

Vasaloppet has managed to create a consensus between the key players, said Ulf and mentions as an example the formation of the promotion company and the Vasaloppsföreningen Sälen-Mora. This organizational change has fostered interaction and made clear the balance between the nonprofit and commercial work. It enabled the partners in business and streamlined the work of the organization. Another example is the interest and coverage from media, at the beginning, with radio and now also television broadcasting. Further Ulf notes systematic and ongoing work on monitoring and evaluation. These lessons are constantly a source of inspiration for the development and improvement of the "Vasaloppet quality".

Overall impact

"Vasaloppet is a motor for public Health in Sweden and around the world. A motivator for many, many people to get started with training and thereby improve their health", said Eva-Lena.

The Vasaloppet does good for your health as Ulf established through his research where 200,000 Vasaloppet skiers was compared with the general population. The study shows a long term protective effect of exercise in cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The skiers have about half as high risk to have a first heart attack or stroke and 30% reduction of some cancers.

The explanation for the differences, Ulf said is that the lifestyle of the Vasaloppet skier is healthier. They nearly don’t smoke, are more physically active and are more likely to eat organic food. The Vasaloppet thus inspires many people to a healthier lifestyle; the “Vasaloppet lifestyle”.

Business benefit

A clearly focused innovation and improvement work has given a tremendous progress of the event. A ski race on the first Sunday in March from the 1980s to today’s winter and summer weeks including skiing, running and bicycling. Vasaloppet has strengthened its brand, diversified its group of partners and participants, and have the financial capacity to continue developing. Summer Week gives about 30,000 new participants to Vasaloppet and thus helps to secure the future. It reduces vulnerability and provides another pillar to stand on in a changed climate.

I conclude with Eva-Lena's words: ”We want to maintain our position as a strong, attractive and high-quality supplier of major sporting events for many people winter and summer.”

Social and environmental benefit

The value of the marketing Vasaloppet created for the region is difficult to estimate. However, by yearly attracting about 200,000 visitors (100,000 participants and 100,000 other visitors) the positive effects for the community is obvious. The latest economical tourism measurements show that Vasaloppet participants and visitors spend over a quarter billion SEK in connection with the events every year.

Apart from generating money for the activities of the owning clubs, Vasaloppet also makes it possible for members of many sports associations to make money for their associations by working as functionaries.

The 100 year old phenomenon, Vasaloppet, also contributes to a togetherness and optimism in the district. A common story that people here are proud to be a part of and collaborate on.

Ulf highlighted the importance Vasaloppet has for the status of cross-country skiing internationally. Through various networks the Vasaloppet influence race in Changchun China, Asahikawa Japan and Mora, Minnesota USA and the Worldloppet, sixteen long-distance ski races in different countries around the world.

Interview

Eva-Lena Frick and Ulf Hållmarker, CEO (Eva-Lena) and Medical Officer (Ulf)