Grande Prairie (ck) It was a long, long trip from Europe to Grande Prairie in the north of Alberta. For most of the European racers it needed three flights of altogether twelve hours and the four hours drive from Edmonton to Grande Prairie. Even though Grande Prairie, a town of 35.000, has its own airport, most nations preferred the car trip because the planes going to Grande Prairie were said to be not big enough to deliver all the luggage. This was the plan. Reality was different:

Only a few suitcases and hardly any of the sleds made it to Edmonton. Some of the boxes were left behind in Frankfurt, others in Calgary. Doubleseaters Harald Kleinhofer and Gerhard Mühlbacher were extremely unlucky: their sled did not get on board at the origin of the trip, in Salzburg. But by the end of today, Friday, even the last pieces are supposed to arrive in Grande Prairie, including the bibs for the race.

The FIL officials showed understanding for the situation and rearranged the schedule. Fridays training runs were cancelled and will be held on Saturday. The race will start at 10 am on Sunday for all categories. World Cup coordinator Herbert Wurzer explained the situation: "It does not make any sense to start a race or training when half of the athletes do not have sleds. Most of the athletes spent the night at the airport waiting for their luggage. They need to sleep at least one night. We want fair conditions for everyone."
The track can be used the whole day as the temperature are around minus 20 degrees. So no afternoon sun can do any harm to the new designed track.