The second Pro Team Director of the Year nomination goes to Team Ragde Eiendom’s two Team Directors; Magnar Dalen & Jørgen Aukland.
Jørgen Aukland, together with his brother Anders, is the owner of the team and its Team Manager while Magnar Dalen is the Team Director. The former takes care of sponsorships, contracts, budgets and runs the office, and the latter is responsible for travel arrangements, training camps, events, race staff and logistics.
They succeeded in taking their Pro Team back to the top as the winner of the Pro Team competition, and their team got the best two spots in the men’s Hertz Champion competition with Andreas Nygaard and Tord Asle Gjerdalen, respectively. In Season X, the Pro Team got 12 podium places, including both genders, of which three were victories: Anders Nygaard, Toblach-Cortina and Jizerska 50, and Petter Eliassen, Vasaloppet. The Pro Team also managed to get a triple victory at Jizerska 50 in the men’s race.
They had the courage to sign two new young female athletes, who performed very well already in their first Season, placed themselves among the top 10 female skiers in the Hertz Champion competition. Thea Krokan Murud also finished third in the Youth competition while Emilie Fleten got her first podium place at Jizerska 50, 3rd.
The Pro Team also launched the podcast “Auklandmetoden” promoting the sport in Norway.
“It is always a great honor to be nominated. I think both Jørgen and I are nominated because we have one of the strongest teams in the field, and we participated in every race with a great number of skiers. We still need to work on many things to improve and fortify our ranks. It would be great to have a contender in the Climb competition next year. I believe that our strength is a small but experienced group of people, and our athletes are equal. We’re really happy with Visma Ski Classics, but perhaps one small thing could be added, which is to see more split times on TV broadcasts if possible,” says Pro Team Director of the Year nominee Magnar Dalen from Team Ragde Eiendom.
