Vätternrundan is a bicycle recreational ride around Lake Vättern

Vättern

Vättern is the second largest lake in Sweden, after Lake Vänern and the sixth largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden to the southeast of Vänern pointing at the tip of Scandinavia....

 in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 which is held in mid-June every year. Covering a distance of approx. 300 km, it starts and finishes in the town of Motala

Motala

Motala is a locality and the seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 29,798 inhabitants in 2005. It is the third largest city of Östergötland, following Linköping and Norrköping...

. Approximately 25 per cent of the participants are non-Swedish and in 2009 35 nations were represented on the course.

For the 2010 event, registration was limited to a maximum of 20,000 participants.

The cyclists start in groups of 60 or 70, with a two-minute interval between groups. The first group starts at 7.30pm on Friday and the last group starts at about 5.30am on Saturday. In 2010 a new element was introduced as the number of faster cyclists have increased. Groups of cyclists aiming for completing the event in less than 9 hours have been formed opening up for 600 cyclists starting between 9-9.30 am on Saturday morning. By allowing these cyclists to start later, they will have fewer cyclists to pass, thus lowering the risk of accidents. The course must be finished by midnight on Saturday.

Vätternrundan is a non-competitive event, thus it lacks official timing of riders; nevertheless, the ride has an official timing (using RF transponders worn around one ankle). An unsorted list of starting times, checkpoints passed and finishing times is published on the website after the event. This type of event is called a motionslopp (recreational ride) in Sweden.

Vätternrundan has nine stops offering food and beverages and also first aid and free massage. At the finish line participants are awarded a medal and a diploma, and offered a meal. For safety reasons support cars and personal resupply stops are prohibited. Cyclists returning home by car are prohibited to use their cars within six hours after having finished the event, since fatigue has caused crashes - even fatal ones. The police perform spot checks of drivers after the ride.

Vätternrundan was first held in 1966 when 334 people completed the course. Originally the course went counter-clockwise around the lake, but turned in 1974. Note that the turning was seven years after right-hand traffic was introduced in Sweden and not therefore as a direct result as some believe. In 2006 there were still 11 pioneers who had completed all 41 events since 1966.

There are two other events organised in conjunction with Vätternrundan, Half Vätternrundan (Halvvättern) and Ladies Vätternrundan (Tjejvattern)

Vätternrundan is one element of the Swedish Classic Circuit series of sporting events En svensk klassiker and an associate of the Scandinavian Circuit Tour series of cycling events Skandinavialoppet.

External links

• http://www.vaetternrundan.se/
• Google map