Årsunda has been the location for speed record attempts for 10 years now, many good and fun years, but we have also had to work with many practically difficult solutions. Speed Weekend 2025 will move but not that far.
The move goes to the other side of the lake to Hedåsen where there is a beach and summer restaurant today, the move will end up closer to Sandviken and we see a number of advantages with the location.
Since a few years ago, the school in Årsunda can no longer host 100 accommodation places as the municipality’s routines have changed. With that, a very popular accommodation solution for the teams at Speed Weekend disappeared. The campsite is now full and cannot receive any guests for the event either, so Årsunda can no longer supply accommodation.
Best Western has become Speed Weekend accommodation for many teams and international media for many years, and now a large construction project is planned to expand the hotel with 100 rooms, an indoor pool and an incredible number of functions connected to the hotel. We see a strong connection between accommodation for teams and being closer to the event location and the ice.
For some years now we have seen a problem that competitors cannot get between the hotel and the banquet with the award ceremony on Saturday night, this means that several teams simply cannot get between. With this background, we see that 800 meters of lighted footpath between Best Western and the competition venue Hedåsen may be able to change this. We think this short distance can be a good solution in several ways.
The proximity to Sandviken will make several things easier and not only that everyone has a shorter distance to drive.
Today, Hedåsbadet has a summer restaurant run by Shiyar Ali, who delivered the food for many years at Speed Weekend, he accompanies us, which is good with the routine and the service.
We’ve had problems with the ice for many years on the ice racing tracks where the ice cracks in the same places year after year, we also can’t move the tracks closer to land as the Ice Skating Championship has had its tracks in that location for many, many years. We simply become limited at that point. For many years, the Årsunda side has had an active fishing activity in the winter with a lot of car traffic on the lake and a lot of traffic in general. This means a lot of extra work with the tracks which also takes a lot of time for us. With this background, we want to try this new solution.
For 5 years now, we have been courted by Arjeplog municipality where the municipality is happy to see us move up, we have had a number of meetings over the years but a decisive problem is the extent of Speed Weekend’s ice rinks. Today we have Europe’s largest facility on ice, which has been difficult to find a place on a suitable lake in Arjeplog.
We see several advantages with Hedåsen where we have our own road down to the ice without any accommodation after the road. Closer to Sandviken, walking distance to Best Western. We have monitored the ice on this side for a few years and the conditions have been good.
We thank all partners in Årsunda, residents and Roland Haglund with his wife and staff for 10 incredibly fun years. Now the camping owner and his wife are approaching retirement and feel that Speed Weekend is getting a little too big and hard-working, we respect this and simply move on.
Speed Weekend turns 17 years old and those of you who have been with us from the beginning have followed this journey with all the challenges that have been on the path we have walked, hope you will be with us for a while longer and create together not only historical records but also memories and community. Of course, the move will bring more work and challenges, but we see a better overall picture on the horizon. After 7 months of work, we have already completed all agreements and Police permits for this location.
Registration opens on Friday 29 November as usual at 19:00 at www.Landracing.se, welcome all racers to book a place in the competition. Hotel Best Western book a hotel at [email protected]
