Finland 2000

by David Farquhar

The third round of world cup races was held in Finland in conjunction with the Fin 5 multi day event. Five New Zealanders turned up for the event - Rob Jessop and Alistair Landels in the world cup, and Shane Phillips, Dave Melrose and myself running the Fin 5.

After an initial problem with our accommodation we settled down in the summer hotel Opeko. The rooms were nice enough for a week, and definitely an improvement on the 4 bed cabin the five of us slept in for the first night. Transport was mostly provided by Al’s trusty Volvo, although for the world cups we had to rely on the mostly on time bus service.

The World Cup consisted of 2 separate events - a 3 day race, and an ultra short race. The first 2 days of the multi day race were a qualification for the ultra short, with the top 30 runners making it in to the short race. Alistair and Rob were 18 and 36 minutes down after 2 days. In the middle of the field, Alistair finishing 53rd & 78th for 63rd overall (18mins), while Rob had 71st & 117th for 109th (36 minutes down)

Russian runner Valentin Novikov was the clear leader in the men’s race by over 3 minutes. He won the world cups in the Ukraine, so this meant he was undefeated in his last 4 world cup starts! In the women’s field Simone Luder from Switzerland held a lead over 1 minute from Britain’s Heather Monro.

The ultra short race was an impressive spectacle, being held in the Lahti sports stadium, home of some enormous ski jumps. So big that they are holding next year’s world ski championships in the stadium. The race was action packed with 1 minute intervals between the competitors and frequent sightings of the runners during the event.

Former world champion Alan Mogensen was the winner in the men’s race by only 6 seconds from Norway’s Tore Sandvik. It was a close race with 65 seconds separating the top 20 runners! The women’s race was blown apart by the last starter - Simone Luder. She won by 34 seconds, a huge margin in a 15 minute race. Alistair and Rob hadn’t qualified for this race, so the 5 of us spent the afternoon spectating.

On the final day the two leaders from day 2 looked like clear favourites to win. The race was a chasing start, so the first one to finish would be the winner. The men’s race was delayed 45 minutes after a bus failed to turn up at the accommodation to transport runners to the event. This meant the men were able to watch Simone Luder extend her lead to finish 2 minutes clear of the chasing pack. The men’s race looked like another certainty as Novikov went through the spectator control at halfway with a lead of around 4 minutes on the chasing bunch of 8 runners.

However something went horribly wrong for him in the last loop and to everyone’s surprise a pack of 8 runners suddenly charged out of the forest, led by Sweden’s Jimmy Birklin. The rest of the runners trailed in behind him, with 1 minute separating the top 8 runners.

A good run by Alistair moved him up from 63rd to 45th, whilst Rob spent most of the race on his own, gaining 13 places to finish in 96th. Rob even managed to have one of the most exciting finishes of the day, with a Japan’s Toshiyuki Matsuzawa slowly catching him down the run in. The crowd went mad cheering both of them on, but Rob eased away from the Japanese. At the finish they were both given the same time, although Rob was slightly ahead. He said afterwards he always had everything under control, but from the sidelines it looked pretty close!

In the Fin 5 day our main aim was to enjoy ourselves, and this was achieved. My injury meant I only ran one day, and Shane and Dave were only able to run 4 days due to travel commitments. Dave’s runs were particularly impressive since he had an operation on his achilles about 6 weeks before the race. The surgeon said not to run for 6 weeks - I don’t think he quite anticipated his patient would go off to Finland and run around in rough, rocky forests!

The week ended with the obligatory unofficial world cup party, held in a local nightclub. The festivities lasted until around 4 in the morning, with some teams leaving at 5am to catch ferries to Sweden. All in all, it was an excellent week of fun and games in Scandinavia. Now if only I can get myself fit I might be able to do a bit more than one day at my next multiday event…

Click on the images for a larger view - its worth it!
Images scanned using Kodak PhotoCD from original negatives

For a selection of other pictures from the week, click on one of the links below:
Before the races - Days 1 & 2 - Short Race - Day 3 - Party time

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These pages copyright David Farquhar 2000.