{"id":4621,"date":"2025-03-25T15:16:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T15:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/?p=4621"},"modified":"2025-03-25T15:16:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T15:16:56","slug":"astrida-fyrir-skidagongu-og-aevintyrathra-worldloppet-reynslubolti-segir-fra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/astrida-fyrir-skidagongu-og-aevintyrathra-worldloppet-reynslubolti-segir-fra\/","title":{"rendered":"A Passion for Skiing and Adventure: A Worldloppet Skier\u2019s Journey to Fossavatnsgangan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet Grant McLeod, experienced Worldloppet skier.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Canadian Grant McLeod, Nordic skiing has been a lifelong journey. He first took up the sport in the early 1970s but became more serious about it in the 1980s, eventually becoming a qualified instructor and coaching a local club team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1985, Grant discovered Worldloppet<\/a> and set out to complete its ten races. \u201cI had planned to do the ten races, but other things got in the way\u2014like parenting and work.\u201d It wasn\u2019t until 2004 that he returned to Worldloppet events, and since then, he has made it a priority to complete as many as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He first heard about Fossavatnsgangan in 2007 or 2008 when he met Icelandic skiers Bobbi, Einar, and Gunnar at other Worldloppet races. \u201cWhen Fossavatnsgangan became a Worldloppet member, I decided to do it because I had never been to Iceland, and by this time, I was doing as many of the races as I could schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His first trip to \u00cdsafj\u00f6r\u00f0ur came in 2015, when he traveled with two Canadian friends. \u201cWe spent a week in \u00cdsafj\u00f6r\u00f0ur and did the race, then spent another week traveling around Iceland. It was a fantastic and unique experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Grant has returned to \u00cdsafj\u00f6r\u00f0ur several times and this year\u2019s race will be his sixth. What keeps bringing him back is more than just the race\u2014it\u2019s the sense of community. \u201cI like skiing in the area and the social aspects. Over the years, I have met individuals from several countries, and often we share accommodation. This year, accommodations will be shared with Australian and Czech skiers, and this is an aspect of Worldloppet that I like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among Grant\u2019s favorite Fossavatnsgangan memories, two stand out: his very first race in 2015, when a blizzard forced skiers to navigate two 25 km loops while randomly selected racers carried GPS tracking devices. \u201cThe skiing was difficult with tracks obliterated by the drifting snow, but no one was lost.\u201d His second race in 2018 was the opposite\u2014clear skies, sunshine, and \u201cone of the nicest courses that I have ever skied anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing for Fossavatnsgangan isn\u2019t easy, as it falls three weeks after his last major event in Norway. \u201cSpring has arrived in Canada, and there is no snow where I live; therefore, I must do other activities like cycling and running to maintain conditioning.\u201d\n\nFor those considering the race for the first time, he offers one key piece of advice: \u201cI would advise individuals considering participating in Fossavatnsgangan to reserve their accommodations early because there is usually a shortage near the time of the event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With years of experience, friendships across the globe, and a deep love for the sport, Fossavatnsgangan has become more than just another race\u2014it\u2019s a highlight of Grant\u2019s ski season and a tradition he hopes to continue.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vi\u00f0tal vi\u00f0 Worldloppet-reynsluboltann Grant McLeod. Sk\u00ed\u00f0aganga hefur veri\u00f0 mikilv\u00e6gur hluti af l\u00edfi Kanadamannsins Grant McLeod um \u00e1ratugaskei\u00f0. Hann steig fyrst \u00e1 sk\u00ed\u00f0i \u00ed byrjun \u00e1ttunda \u00e1ratugarins og eftir \u00fea\u00f0 var\u00f0 ekki aftur sn\u00fai\u00f0, hann t\u00f3k a\u00f0 s\u00e9r sk\u00ed\u00f0akennslu, \u00fej\u00e1lfa\u00f0i f\u00e9lagsli\u00f0 \u00ed heimab\u00e6 s\u00ednum og h\u00f3f \u00fe\u00e1ttt\u00f6ku \u00ed lengri g\u00f6ngum. \u00c1ri\u00f0 1985 heyr\u00f0i Grant fyrst af […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-frettir","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4621"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4625,"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions\/4625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fossavatn.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}