OSLO: Brande came to the U.S. for college and attended the University of Wyoming’s College of Business. He has been involved in his community and state ever since, founding Handel Information Technologies in 1997, graduating from the 2006 class of Leadership Wyoming, serving on a number of state boards and teaching at UW. In March, Brande plans to return to Norway for a 54-kilometer, two-mountain pass ski race known as the Birkebeiner. “I just need a race to stay motivated, because if I don’t have anything on the horizon, I don’t tend to go and exercise,” he said.
Around the turn of the 13th Century, the fate of the Norwegian throne was uncertain. As the Bagli Party one faction fighting during Norway’s 90-year civil war era sought to solidify its control, they set about hunting down the bastard child of the late King Haakon Sverresson, according to the race’s website. But Birkebeiner loyalists, in true Nordic fashion, whisked the infant heir to safety, carrying the child in a backpack and traveling on skis.
The famous rescue has been commemorated since 1932 with the annual Birkebeiner cross-country ski race in Norway, during which participants carry a weighted backpack in place of the rescued infant. “It’s considered one of the more challenging ski races because it’s a lot of up and down and then the backpack and it’s also later in the season, so you’re weather can be unpredictable,” Brande said.
Aside from being in shape, he said, one of the most important things in cross-country skiing is keeping one’s skis waxed a task made more challenging by the region’s weather in late winter.
“This race is known for having challenges when it comes to waxing skis,” Brande said. “It may start in the morning really, really cold and by the time you’re in the afternoon and finishing up, it’s really, really warm. So very often, you have to stop along the way and wax your skis. It’s kind of like the equivalent of a pitstop when you’re doing NASCAR.”
The Birkebeiner in Norway is “the big one,” but Brande has competed previously in the U.S. version which takes place in Wisconsin and in Canada’s Birkebeiner earlier this month.
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