Flúðir um Versló - Traktoratorfæran

And have you ever been to a tractor race, really through mud and water?

Such a race takes place every year in Flúðir, on the merchant's weekend at the beginning of August. This year we took the opportunity to take a look at the event.

Flúðir is a town with around 800 inhabitants in the municipality of Hrunamannahreppur in southern Iceland. There is a lot of geothermal energy and hot springs here, the place was created around the greenhouses that were built here. There are still many greenhouses here today, but also outdoor cultivation. There is even a mushroom farm. Fresh vegetables from the farms can be bought here in the Small Farm Shop (Litla Bændabúðin) near one of the greenhouses.

The school in Flúðir (Flúðaskóli) was founded back in 1929 and was one of the first boarding schools in the country. Today it is no longer a boarding school, the school runs up to the 10th grade, but the upper grades are also attended by children from neighboring communities.

By the way, "Flúdír" is the Icelandic word for rapids, but the rapids in the Litla-Laxá river have now disappeared as a result of various construction projects.

There is also a large campsite in Flúðir and in summer a large folk festival takes place here on the merchant's weekend, the "verslunarmannahelgi", or "Versló" for short - Flúðir around Versló.

The merchant's weekend with the public holiday on Monday is a long weekend for many Icelanders and practically the biggest travel weekend of the year in Iceland. People go to the countryside in droves and there are many big festivals and celebrations. The most famous festival of the weekend is Þjóðhátið í Vestmannaeyjum, the big folk festival in the Westman Islands. But there are also many folk festivals in the countryside, such as here in Flúðir at "Flúðir um Versló".

Source: Flúðir around Versló

In addition to an extensive music program with various well-known Icelandic bands, there was a full family program here throughout the weekend - and it even didn't rain at any of the events (comparatively a miracle, given the rainy Icelandic summer this year). There was a lot on offer, especially for children, from the bouncy castle to the magician to the BMX race and the "furðubátakeppni" on Sunday afternoon, a "miracle boat competition" in which around 20 homemade boats that were pulled across the river take part.

The highlight on Saturday afternoon was the Traktoratorfæra, the annual world tractor championship in Torfdalur, at 3 p.m.

The "Peat Valley" is located by the Litla-Laxá river, behind the campsite, so to speak. Here's a view from above over the event site. In the background you can see the slope where the tractor event takes place.

I read something in the media about “several thousand visitors” to the Traktoratorfæra, yes, come on, we had gotten that far with our rough estimates!

Similar to this, I imagine the first Thing gatherings of the Icelanders over 1,000 years ago in Þingvellir, when the masses of people had come together and everyone was sitting together up the slope.

Well, maybe there wasn't such an improvised bridge over the river back then... but it held up well!

Then we looked for a place on the slope and the event began.

A total of 7 drivers took part in the tractor race with their somewhat modified tractors. "Torfæra" is the Icelandic word for a "place that is difficult to pass", "torfær" means "impassable". A "torfæruhjól" is a "cross-country bike". The event was a kind of cross-country race for small tractors.

To be honest, I didn't really understand the details - there was a parkour marked out with flags through this mud-and-water landscape here for the tractors, which they had to complete first in one direction and then in the other. They sometimes plowed through the water and emitted considerable clouds of black smoke!

At the end of each lap the tractors had to come out of the water again via this point. Sometimes it didn't work straight away, sometimes it really took several attempts and the presenter and audience roared and cheered with enthusiasm until it was finally achieved. Even my offspring, who wasn't really that convinced by the event, really took part - yippee!

However, everything didn't always go well in the water fight, at times it looked very critical, but the tractor still held on bravely....

... but for one driver the water pooled too high above the vehicle and the engine successfully drowned, in the truest sense of the word.

One of the small racing tractors had to be pulled out of the water by the large tractor using a thick tow rope.

At the end, the racing tractors all did a few wild laps on the lake - I have no idea, maybe there was a system behind it, I just didn't recognize it..? But it was fun and loud and people went along enthusiastically.

To be honest - I didn't really understand who won or whether there was even a winner. There was talk of judges and scoring, but unfortunately my Icelandic still doesn't reach that far. In any case, no one was visibly honored. I believe.

After the tractors, there were two adapted racing cars out of competition, which felt like they were just flying over the water at high speed and with a large water fountain.

One car managed to "fly over", the second didn't, it crashed. Initial attempts to pull the car out with the large tractor were not successful; finally the crane moved in and ultimately lifted the car out of the water and back onto land with its large shovels.

On the way back we saw one of the tractors being towed through the river by another one, the rear tractor had a completely flat tire on the right back... but in the end it rolled away at half power along a gravel path.

My conclusion of the day..? It was something different, lots of people, a good atmosphere and definitely an experience!

[Translated from here.]