Skiing at Äkäslompolo above the Arctic Circle

Candle at Velhonkota - hut

It has been for awhile since the last blog writing. Just few seconds ago temperature outside was -18 degrees and 2,5 hour ski exercise has been done for today. The sun is not raising at all here, but there's still couple of hours light during the day, after 3 PM it's getting already dark.

The view from today's ski track

The aim is to gain good amount of kilometers by skiing during this visit to Äkäslompolo, above the Arctic Circle.The skiing events in January and February require some training before them...

The view after 4 PM. It's already dark and full moon is peeking behind the fells

Number 30364

I got mail today from Sweden. The package, which was dropped onto my mail slot included the diploma and the medal of successfully completing the Svensk Klassiker first time. As one can see from the diploma I'm 30 364th to complete this series of 4 sport events during one year in Sweden since 1972.

3 different sport event tours

Kalevan kierros tour, which consists of 6 different sports is by far the smallest when comparing the amount of participants. However Kalevan kierros is the most competitive, where participants competes against each others and points are calculated precisely to get the winner crowned in the end of the year.

Pirkan kierros tour, which consists of 4 different sports is medium size tour and meant for ordinary people, who want to keep fit but are not necessarily competitive and just want to do their best and finish every sport event successfully.

Svensk Klassiker tour, which consists 4 different sports too, is a world-class mass event. The events allure tens of thousand participants and these events are meant for both elite class competitors and ordinary people, who want to test themselves and successfully pass the events.

All in all my balance of account so far is 3 * Kalevan kierros, 2 * Pirkan kierros and 1 * Svensk Klassiker and therefore I have had a chance to exercise very diversely during multiple years, sports like : Skating, skiing, running, swimming, cycling, rowing and orienteering.

Let's keep on moving...

1st 25manna

25manna map

My first 25manna experience. The sun was shining, atmosphere was nice and relaxed. I was going to run on 6th leg 4,7km. Control points 1-4 went ok, no mistakes at control points but perhaps between 2-3 I could have taken more straight route choice. Approaching control point 5 I had problems with equipment, which impacted on my concentration and I did small mistake, which I was immediately able to correct. But then on control point 6 I didn't read the map carefully and went too much on right from the control point.  I lost roughly 3 minutes on this point. All in all I completed the leg at the time of 44:07. Without mistakes I could have run 4 minutes faster.

Tampereen Pyrintö leading after first leg (Anni-Maija Fincke)

Det var det!

Start of 30 km XC run

The primary objective for this year was to complete Svensk Klassiker and the last sport event of this tour was 30 km cross country running "Lidingöloppet". I'm extremely happy to successfully finish the run on Saturday despite of all the problems I encountered during the race.

Short shirt + trousers were my choice

The weather was a bit cool, cloudy and minor showers but I decided to start with short shirt and trousers. It was a good choice, I was feeling warm right after the start. Only the fingers and hands were a bit cold, I haven't used to use gloves when running, but on Saturday they would have been great to have.

First 10 km went OK, but then the stomach problems started. I was feeling pain in my stomach, which slowed the pace. I had to wait on toilet queues when my stomach was totally upset. I'm pretty sure that the energy drink provided by the organizers was the root of the problems. I haven't been using Powerade energy drink earlier.

Runners on the way

The immediate consequence of stomach pains and wait on the toilet queues was my pace was dropping 1 min/km. In addition I couldn't drink and get energy enough during the rest of the race and therefore my energy level was pretty low already at 20 km. It was a harrowing last 10 km, which I somehow managed to walk/jog until finish line. I didn't think of quitting the race, cause otherwise I would have been missing my Svensk Klassiker totally.

I have to say that Svensk Klassiker is much harder than Finnish tours like Pirkan kierros and Kalevan kierros.

The ferry from Stockholm arrived to Turku on Sunday morning half an hour late at 8:00. The orienteering competition at Suomusjärvi was about to start at 9:30. It was quite tight schedule to drive there and get ready for 11,2 km orienteering. However there was just enough time to get there and start together with plenty of Kalevan kiertäjät to the wet forest. It has been raining a lot on Southern part of Finland and the terrain was soft and laborious to run. I was feeling the previous day's 30 km run in my legs and body and therefore I just tried to do with my best to complete the course without big mistakes. The pace was not good but orienteering itself went pretty OK, apart from control point 21.

The orienteering route

All in all 45 km running in forest within weekend took all my energy. Now I'm just trying to recover somehow...

Outdoor activities

Climbing ropes

The weekend at Rovaniemi was full of activities and lots of fun with other Nature Experience Instructors. This meeting was our first get-together-meeting ever and the invitations were sent to all, who have been graduated as Nature Experience Instructors during 10 years.

Break at the cliffs

On Friday we headed onto Hiidenkirnut - climbing cliffs and practiced climbing, abseiling, rescuing operations, etc... during the day. The day itself was sunny and warm and it felt like summer season although it was already mid August.

Saturday morning was on the contrary misty and cloudy. Temperature dropped from yesterday nearly 10 degrees, but actually it was quite OK. Rafting on Raudanjoki - river was physically tough and therefore it was better to have cooler weather today. Vikaköngäs - rapids were our target after the breakfast. Altogether we had participants to 4 teams to compete in the official LEO R6 Slalom Championships.

Our team at start

Our team practiced two runs on the rapids after which we had two race runs ahead of us. There were 5 gates to be paddle through and the better run were taken into the final results. The slalom went well, but physically we were really tired after crossing the finish line.

Approaching gate #4

The second part of the competition was head-to-head race. Teams who were on the results on place 1 and 4 had a head-to-head race against each others and correspondingly teams on the places 2 and 3. The winners from the semi-finals made to the finals and our team won the finals as well. The prizes were given in the evening when we had a relaxing sauna event to conclude the day.

10,57K run

Sun is shining, finish line approaching

After starting my running exercises recently for Lidingöloppet 30K run in the end of September, Pirkkalan yöhölkkä running event was perfect to do a fast 10K exercise. The weather was perfect too, when running event started at 19:00 from Pirkkala track and field center. 

Lewis Korir

The winners came from Kenya, Lewis Korir won with a new record and broke the earlier best time over 4 minutes! I tried to run at the same pace all the race, and I succeeded well. The difference between first and second 5K lap times were only 1 sec!

At finish line

Swim around Viikinsaari - island

At start line

Viikinsaari - island in the middle of Pyhäjärvi - lake is roughly 1 km long. Thus swimming around the island makes approximately 2.1 km.

First 100 meter

The traditional Viikinsaari-island swimming was held 75th time. For me this was 1st time to swim around the island.

The weather couldn't be better, +20 degrees and practically no wind at all. Altogether 91 swimmers jumped onto a water at 17:55 on Friday evening. There were many triathlonists and swimmers participating and competing against each others. For me it was competing against myself and I indeed successfully finished the event and reached finish line at the boat deck of the island.

On the way

All of us had the possibility to enjoy sauna and sausages after the event.