History and Present

The Jizerska 50 began as a test race for the performance of mountain climbers of TJ Lokomotiva Liberec. At the end of the 1960s, they prepared for a difficult mountain climbing expedition. The first year’s running took place on the last Saturday in January, 1968 with 52 competitors, and ran along the Jizera Mountains from Bedřichov to Kořenov and back again. The winner became Josef Driml from the organizing dept. of TJ LOKOMOTIVA Liberec.

In 1970, the third running saw the participation of the members of Expedition Peru 1970, who, four months later, on May 31, 1970, were buried by a rock slide under Huascarán. The fourth year was then held under the epithet, The Memorial Expedition Peru 70. This gave the race popularity, and the number of participants quickly grew. The tenth running saw 7,860 racers take part. After the borders opened in 1989, the number of participants decreased and consequently settled at today’s average of 2,500 competitors.

TIn the years 1988, 1990, 1998 and 2007, the race had to be cancelled for lack of snow. In 1993 it was moved to March for that very reason. In recent years the course has changed, which helped increase the sporting value of the race. The Jizerska 50 has long been regarded as a very well-organized race – and thanks to this, it was included into the Euroloppet in 1995.

In 1999, the Jizerska 50 became a part of the world league of cross-country ski marathons Worldloppet.