Cross-country skiing: no snow, no Transjurassienne

The Transjurassienne, the second largest cross-country ski race in the world, which was to be held on the weekend of February 10 and 11 in the Jura, is canceled due to lack of snow, the organizers announced on Monday.

“Due to the lack of snow on the Jura massif and taking into account the mild weather conditions announced, it is with great regret that we must make the difficult decision to cancel the 2024 edition of La Transju' scheduled for 10 and February 11,” explain the organizers on the website dedicated to the event.

“Since the beginning of January, we have been monitoring the weather conditions and studying the various options on all the routes. The terrain is currently impassable and any fallback route mentioned cannot unfortunately be used...", they add, explaining that they "made this decision as soon as possible, aware of the frustrations and inconvenience caused by the cancellation".

Since its creation in 1979, this 70-kilometer race which peaks at an altitude of 1,400 meters has been canceled eight times, for weather or other reasons, such as Covid-19, Pierre-Albert Vandel, president, told AFP. of Trans'Organisation, the structure which organizes the race.

“We continue to hope for a few more good years,” explained Mr. Vandel, but “we will have to evolve to have something more sustainable,” he continued, considering “revisiting the format” of the race with a course “probably shorter”.

Despite rare snow, the organizers managed to maintain the event last year, after modifying its route and shortening the event by around twenty kilometers.