“That’s the worst thing I’ve ever done in my entire life,” said the 34-year-old to Langrenn.com about the nearly 100-kilometer Janteloppet at Mosetertoppen last weekend.

The British national team skier finished in 27th place after four and a half hours, grimy with dried sweat and with bleeding flesh wounds on his hands.

By the time Andrew Musgrave had fought through four laps of 23 kilometers each and a total of 1730 meters of elevation gain. Janteloppet started with syrupy conditions after a snow shower had settled on the track just before the start and ended with knee-deep Easter slush as the spring sun took its toll.

“I hated life on that last lap. I didn’t know if I could make it to the finish. The last lap was so long. It was so tough towards the end, and I could barely move my arms,” said Musgrave.

In hindsight, he believes the suffering could have been avoided.

“I should have trained more. I’m not well-trained enough for this. If you double pole more, your hands can withstand more.”

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For the Briton, who is also part of Team Aker Dæhlie, Janteloppet was the third Ski Classics race of the season. The week before, he raced in both Reistadløpet and Summit 2 Senja, finishing 15th and 52nd, respectively.

In the 50km race during the Norwegian Championships, Musgrave finished 10th. That race was also in extremely challenging conditions but in freestyle, which is quite different from double poling and only half the length of Janteloppet.

Need to make changes before the World Championships

Overall, the 2023/2024 season was a mixed experience in terms of results for Musgrave. His best result was a second place in the 20-kilometer skiathlon at the trial World Championships in Trondheim, and he achieved a total of eight top-10 finishes in the World Cup. He is determined to continue his pursuit at the World Cup level but acknowledges that some changes are necessary.

“Now I need to evaluate. There are some changes that need to be made because there have been some good periods, but after Christmas, it’s been tough. I’ve been sick a lot. It’s probably a bit of bad luck, but it also has to do with training, so I need to figure that out going into next season,” said Andrew Musgrave.