History

From 1964 to today

It all began in 1964, when our founder, Erling Stordahl, set the first Ridderrennet in motion. The race soon grew into a full winter sports week, known to most simply as Ridderweek. What started as a small circle of friends with rather big ideas is today run by our board and administration, with a handful of events spread across the year.

Erling Stordahl was a musician, a man of the arts and a sportsman rolled into one, and in the 1960s, he hit upon the rather radical notion that blind people could race on skis just as well as anyone else, thank you very much. He rang up the Norwegian Armed Forces, and the Chief of the Army of the day took to the idea at once, which was rather sporting of him. Close to a hundred officers and conscripts turned out for that very first Ridderrennet, along with a fleet of Weasel tracked vehicles and whatever else was needed to keep the communications and safety crews ticking over. Thanks in no small part to the Armed Forces, the first Ridderrennet came to life on Sunday, 12 April 1964.

The Armed Forces still put in invaluable work every year to make Ridderweek possible, and we are deeply grateful for a partnership that, across sixty winters, has never faltered.

King Olav himself was among those most taken with the idea. It was he who opened Ridderrennet in 1964 and waved the first two participants off into the tracks, rather setting the tone for what followed. In all the years since, we have enjoyed a warm relationship with the Royal House, whose members have turned out for Ridderrennet decade after decade. It is an honour that HRH Crown Prince Haakon is today Ridderrennet’s royal patron.

NRK has kept footage from that very first Ridderrennet in 1964 safely in the archives, where, one trusts, it sits in rather good company. Watch the film at NRK →

Tracks towards the light, with Erling Stordahl

A feature from 1972, filmed at the health sports centre at Beitostølen, with a particular eye on Ridderrennet and the part played by the Armed Forces in getting the race underway for blind and partially sighted skiers.