Two of the world's most difficult and exhausting sport's championships took place in Pudasjärvi between 10th and 12th February. The Ninth Annual Off-Track Skiing World Championship and the Sixth Annual Finnish "Snowshoe" Trekking Championship were held at Pudasjärvi.  What a competition is like where competitors had to survive in the wilderness? Our journalist went to find out.

It was freezing cold. The trees were covered with a thick layer of snow and some icy mist was in the air. Between the trees was the shine f dozens of campfires. Competitors were warming their hands on the campfires, stuffing tents or sheets which had served as night shelters into their backpacks, putting their skies or snowshoes on and prepared for the start of the competition's final. During the night it had been -25 degrees Celsius, but now the temperature had risen to a bit friendlier -16 degrees Celsius.

The Competitions
Both the skiing and the snowshoe championship have two categories: Team competition and single participants. At the first day of the competition, both skiers and snowshoe trekkers head through fresh snow and on snowmobile tracks to scattered checkpoints. At those checkpoints they have to do nature-related exercises such as recognising different bird calls. Incorrectly answered questions lead to penalty minutes affecting the overall competition result of the group or single competitor. These penalty minutes could be removed by skiing extra kilometres to extra checkpoints and earning bonus minutes.

The journey for the skiers is 25 – 50 km (depending on if extra kilometres are done or not) and that of the snowshoe trekkers 15-25 km. The night is spent outside at a campfire.  Therefore, the participants need both to have outdoor experiences and proper equipment. On the second day, the participants headed through the snow approximately 8 km (skiers) and 5 km (snowshoe trekkers) towards the finish. Snowshoe trekking and skiing are arduous work, especially if the snow is loose and you sink deep into it. Even skiing is like running in deep snow. The degree of difficulty depends on the weather conditions. Fresh, loose snow does not hold weight and you sink into it, sometimes even down to the ground. In spring the conditions get easier, because thawing of the snow surface during relatively warm, sunny days and freezing during the night form hard and icy snow.

Winners and Strategies
Both the skiers and snowshoe trekkers did the remaining 5-8 km amazingly fast. The winner of the Off-track Skiing World competition was in the team class the Utin Jääkärirykmentti from the Finnish Army and in the single class Tuomo Ahola from Inarin Yritys. The Snowshoe trekking  Finnish championship was won by the Nordic Fitness Sports Team in the team class and by Tero Hihnala in the single class.

One of the secrets of being able to win such a competition is besides hart training and good knowledge about nature and moving in the wilderness the reduction the load of the backpack.
“That practically means the reduction of equipment, clothes and food down to the absolute minimum”, said both Tuomo Ahola and the men of  Utin jääkärirykmentti. The latter team of five men took only four sleeping bags with them, three light summer-sleeping bags and only one winter sleeping bag (temperature minimum -30 degrees). They built for themselves a shelter out of a sheet and made a campfire in front of it. In shifts one of them was watching and feeding the campfire while the rest of the team had some time out for sleeping. Extra-warm clothes for possible breaks during the 25-50 km long skiing trip were left at home. "It is not necessary to take long breaks. You can take a break when arriving at the campsite, having put the campfire and crept into your sleeping bag."

Although the majority of the participants were male, there were also mixed or female-only groups participating. "We actually have offered already a few times to organize separate competitions for men and women", told Matti Nikula from Suomen Latu who was a supervisor of the competition. "However, the women did not want it."

Aino Hämäläinen from the female skiing group Pohjan Akat thought the same way. "We like the atmosphere of all possible persons participating in this one big outdoor event. And – both men and women are able to make it, that’s not a question of gender."

Winning was not the most important aspect in the world championship. "However, we wanted to beat at least one male group", added Mirja Savolainen with a smile. With reaching the place 66 in the competition, Pohjan Akat clearly achieved this last goal. But what makes one to spend the weekend with skiing over 30 km in a harsh climate and spend the night outside in -25 degrees Celsius?

"It has something to do with winning a little fight against yourself. Then, it is fantastic to meet so many people with similar interest and experience the great nature. Last evening we skied through a landscape like from a fairy tale, snowy woods in the bright light of the full moon."
In contrast to the winner groups with their minimal equipment, all women of Pohjan Akat used warm winter sleeping bags (temperature minimum -35 degrees) and thick sleeping mattresses. Extra clothes like down jackets for breaks also were not missing in their equipment, nor was something warm to drink in thermos bottles. "It is important not to forget eating and drinking, especially when doing sports in the cold. You also need to take enough breaks in between", explained Hämäläinen. "You have to be aware of not being too exhausted when starting to build up the camp. Otherwise you easily get too cold, too tired and are likely to make mistakes."

Foreign Participants in the World- and Finnish Championships
Matti Nikula had been supervising the competitions for many years now, but has not seen many foreigners participating. "The championship seems to be a quite Finnish thing, only now and then foreigners participate. This time there was no foreign group at all. We would really appreciate more foreigners taking part, but maybe the conditions are too difficult for them as are the questions about Finnish nature."

There was no foreign group, but actually the winner group of the snowshoe trekking Finnish championship, the Nordic Fitness Sports Team, also had a Flemish member. Erwin Borremans is originally from Belgium but has lived together with his Finnish wife in Helsinki for three years now. "The competition was actually great fun", he said. "It is already the second time that I take part in it and it will certainly not be the last time now."

Old Finnish Tradition
The competition is based on old Finnish tradition and means of living in which skiing played an important role. When there were no road connections to every possible place and also no snow scooters, many regular journeys were done by ski in the winter time. Hunting was also an important means of obtaining food. Hunters spent days or weeks on trips through the wilderness searching for game. Wilderness skills such as orientation, moving in deep snow and coldness, sleeping outside in the woods, warm clothing, hunting food and preparing it over the campfire were necessary for surviving.

Nowadays skiing is mostly a sport that is done in skiing centres or on cross-country ski trails. To prevent the traditional way of skiing from being forgotten Heikki Haavikko got the idea of initiating the first off-track ski championship nine years ago. Since then, he and Heino Ruuskanen of the Pudasjärven Urheilijat ry have been organizing the event and the number of participants has grown from 128 to 382 (skiers) plus 28 snowshoe trekkers.

Links:
More information:
http://www.umpihankihiihto.pudasjarvi.fi/english/

Pictures from the competition: