August 2023

On Saturday, the sun was gentle and the pre-favorites held their ground!

After the storm it's bad weather, that's what Kari Tapiokin also sang. This also applied to Tiirismaa Trail on Saturday, August 5. when the more traditional Tiirismaa Trail trips were enjoyed in the wonderful landscapes of Messilä and Tiirismaa. After Friday's rain, the sun warmed both the participants, the organizers and the public who comfortably arrived at the scenery of the Messilä manor. In traditional style, the first start on Saturday was at 9:00 a.m., when a total of 48 participants of the marathon distance (42 km) set off under the Hoka starting arch towards the slopes of Messilä and the enjoyable trails of Tiirisma. On the 42 km journey, there was a crossing through the event center halfway. At this point, Antti Hartikainen (Team Här-Ski) waved the pace stick in the men's series. Antti Parjanne (Lynx) + 1:45 and Reijo Ronnila (Anti's stable) came in third with already +18:00 from Hartikainen. However, the second round did its job. In the women's 42 km race, the duo Maarja Mägi (Team Untamon Urheilu) and Anna Hopia (Ultra Perros) were seen in the middle groove, Rinna Ikola-Norrbacka (Asikkalan Raikas) arrived in third place. In the second round, however, it mixed things up a bit and did its job, especially on the men's side, small changes were made to the top three. Antti Parjanne was the first to arrive under Lumonite's finish line, who was able to keep up the pace and overtake Antti Hartikainen. The winner of the Tiirismaa Trail 42 km was Antti Parjanne of Lynx with a time of 3:34:33. Antti Hartikainen raced to silver +3:17 and Tiirismaa Trail veteran Jonathan Tolksdorf from Hollola, who made a great climb, took bronze +34:06 from the winner. On the women's side, the lead remained unchanged and Maarja Mäki was able to celebrate the victory in front of the Messilä manor with a time of 4:29:03, second was Anna Hopia +24:27 and third was Rinna Ikola Norrbacka +34:03 slower than the winner. The second start of the day at 10:00 was 8 km, which is aimed more or less as a low-threshold Trek fitness series, but of course there were also young girls and boys under 16 racing series on the starting line. The Trek fitness series attracted a record 39 participants this year. Did the relocation of the event center or the slight increase in the distance by 6 km from the previous year have an effect. The weekend's double champion Axel Koiranen (HU-46) together with his father Jani Koiranen, the fastest in the Trekki series, crossed the final straight of the Messilä children's slope in the same time of 40:27. Second in young boys was Luukas Kirjavainen + 0:52 and third was Leo Lehtonen (HU-46) + 2:04 from the winner. On the girls' side, there were regrettable absences before the race day, and in the end there were no runners at the starting line. Hopefully next year again 🙂 Many happy faces were seen in the Trekki fitness series, and the prize win hit the spot for many. Thank you again at this stage to all the partners for the high-quality prizes. The starting time of the 21 km distance, which was also considered the main start of the day, was at 11:00. The main number was also the largest when a total of 150 eager and excited trail runners were seen under the blue Hoka starting arch, waiting for what the slightly changed 21 km route will bring this year. On the men's side, the mantle of the pre-favorite was naturally placed on the current number one in Finland, Juho Ylisen (Team Hoka), who let off the most steam already on Friday, winning the Messilä Uphill in spectacular style. So Ylinen went to get a double Tiirismaa Trail 2023 for Friday and Saturday, and above all a hat trick from the 21 km distance as a continuation of the previous years' (2021, 2022) championships. Salomon Trail Team duo Tuomas Kari and Eetu Nordman were spotted as the clearest challengers for Ylis. The pre-favorites held their ground. Juho Ylinen's step was delicate from start to finish, and there was no real threat in the others. Thus, Ylinen was able to win Tiirismaa Trail 21 km for the third time with a time of 1:28:43. By the way, time is really hard for the slightly changed route, and at least the changes in the route did not go in an easier direction. This man from Team Hoka is in for a hard fight. There was a tight fight for second place between Kari and Nordman. The solution had to wait until the very last kilometers. The second pole was taken by Nordma with a time of 1:34:57, who was able to get away from Kari on the way up the Laaso lift shaft. Kari's annoying ankle sprains about 1.5 km before the finish took the last blow, and as a result, no chest crease was seen at the end, although the difference between the two was only 5 seconds. Yes, we saw a really tough M21km struggle in Tiirismaa again. What next year!? On the women's side, the pre-favorite cloak was thrown to Karoliina Ukskoski (Perhon Kiri), better known from the orienteering side (or Tiirismaan Trail photographer). Lahti Suunnistajat -37's strong orienteer was finally unstoppable on the climbs of Tiirisma and Messilä, even though Mila Koljonen and Lotta Kirvesmies threw a lot of punch at the carts. Ukskoski tore a clear gap from the others on the climbs of the back leg and was able to enjoy N21km as the winner with a time of 1:57:51. Mila Koljonen took second place with a time of 2:01:46 and Lotta Kirvesmies third with a time of 2:03:30. The last starting group of the day was a 12 km journey that started at 12:00. On the men's side, the interest was particularly focused on the double champion of the Ahkera spring cross-country races in Lahti and Ossi Kekki, the 5000m WC bronze medalist of the Kaleva Games a week ago. On the women's side, Suunta Jyväskylä's Anniina Taipale, who was very successful in Tiirismaa, was perhaps the clearest early favorite. When climbing the first hill, it became clear that Kekki had really come to Tiirismaa to run. and hard, its blood seemed light going Bear 1 in the ascent. Kekki maintained top speed throughout the 12 km distance and stopped the clocks at 50:57. A great ride, and especially when you think about previous years, now we got a real quote even for this 12 km trip. Sure, the route is different and not comparable, but it's okay for everyone to try. Jaakko Ranta (YU-team) ran to second place + 6:23 and third was young Rasmus Töyrylä +11:21 from the winner Kek. On the women's side, Anniina Taipale took her own and improved her silver position from a couple of years ago to gold. Taipale's time of 1:03:42 is also good compared to 2021 (1:02:03). Second place went to Heidi Horttanainen (Imatra Urheilijat) +8:06 and third Anna-Maria Jäpölä (Asikkalan Raikas) +11:52 from Taipale. Tiirismaa Trail 2023 is now slowly being celebrated, but it's always a good moment to get back into the mood, for example through event photos or, for example, to watch the YouTube broadcast afterwards. Thanks to all our great photographers and the results service for all this deliciousness. The Tiirismaa Trail people especially thank all of you participants and spectators, but of course also those who made the event possible; partners, people from Talkoo and others who worked in the background! THANK YOU - We did it, together! We are happy to receive feedback so that we can make Tiriismaa Trail an even better event. Feedback can be sent directly via social media, for example @tiirismaatrail or via email info@tiirismaatrail.fi. A more extensive and detailed feedback survey will be broadcast in the near future. Stay tuned and see you again next year! Tiirismaa Trail – From love to trails!

On Saturday, the sun was gentle and the pre-favorites held their ground! Read More »

Friday's hill festivals offered challenges for many departures

The Tiirismaa Trail weekend, which was expanded to two days for the first time, offered challenges on Friday in the form of various hill races. More than 120 people took part in the challenges of the Messilä Karhu slope in the suits of Messilä Vertical, Tiirismaa Trail Kids and Messilä Uphill, with the performances lasting from less than six minutes to more than six hours. The children's event started with a guided start jump in rainy weather. However, the wet conditions didn't slow down the pace as almost 70 children raced towards the top of the bear slope. Happy expressions, self-exceedings and brave performances were seen at the raffle shop as Pekko Pelikaan and Hanna Hipo cheered on the finishers. The event made possible by Romuta has collected more than €1,600 to support exercise for underprivileged children, with a special mention given to the contribution of our partners Pajulahti Urheiluopisto and Granlund Oy. You also have the opportunity to support the exercise of underprivileged children in the Päijät-Häme area. The link to the donation can be found in the bio and below.https://www.lahjoituslomake.fi/hope-yhdessa-yhteesti-ry/kähet/tiirismaa-trail-kids/ The Messilä Uphill, organized on the same 1.6km route as the children's event, offered the perfect opportunity to test what the body can do. comes off. The rainy weather didn't slow down the participants and the first downhill started with a wild trot like in Jukola's relay. At the start of the bearish rise, Juho Ylinen had taken his place, and after that he didn't look back much. In the man's own words, the quite convincing bet at 5:49 served as a good opening for Saturday's 21km journey. Mikki Lehtonen and Ibai Mendia Iztueta rallied for the next places, the latter also removing the karsts for Saturday. In the women's competition, Katja Sorri was responsible for the best performance, with Tinavuori wolves Jaana Wuoma and Pauliina Louhiala-Hännen taking the next places and leading their team to victory in the women's team competition. After the breathing leveled off, a lot of comments were heard from the mouths of the participants about the steepness of the skiing slope and the difficulty of the downhill cross-country trail, but on the other hand, there were also hopes for more ascents. So should there be more climbs next year, even on the express route? The gladiators of Messilä Vertical were the first to start on Friday evening at 16:00. Even before the event, Messilä Vertical, which was called ultra-spiritual and social, proved the predictions to be correct. Already in the first ascent, the humor flew by the participants. The lap speeds of the first couple of hours (16-14 min lap) gave the entire group of participants plenty of time to maintain and refuel. At this point, many of the early favorites, led by Joni Lepistö, took the lead rather casually. The pace, which accelerates every four laps, started reaping its harvest starting at three o'clock, when the ultra spirit raised its head as the evening grew dark. As the laps progressed, the wetter weather that met Tiirismaa on the trail for the first time added to the challenge, especially when the downhill became quite slippery. On the women's side, 🥇Emmi Löfberg 🥈 Laura Alestalo🥉 Eva Pantelidis went to the longest Karhu slope. In men, there was a fierce battle for the podium places as the 3000m climb approached. Screams of encouragement rang out from the mouths of guardians, co-competitors and organizers alike, as Sami Mänty fought to the last ounce of strength, finally succumbing at 32 laps. Several times Aleksei Grabtchak and Joni Lepistö fought their way to the next round in the last seconds, with Joni Solonen leading the troops. After more than 6 hours, Joni Solonen, the only one who went on the 36th lap, shot a handsome finish to win the first Messilä Vertical 😎 Tiirismaa Trail 2023 is now applauded, but it's always a good moment to get back into the mood, for example through event photos or, for example, to watch the YouTube broadcast afterwards. Thanks to all our great photographers and the results service for all this deliciousness. The Tiirismaa Trail people especially thank all of you participants and spectators, but of course also those who made the event possible; partners, people from Talkoo and others who worked in the background! THANK YOU - We did it, together! We are happy to receive feedback so that we can make Tiriismaa Trail an even better event. Feedback can be sent directly via social media, for example @tiirismaatrail or via email info@tiirismaatrail.fi. A more extensive and detailed feedback survey will be broadcast in the near future. Stay tuned and see you again next year! Tiirismaa Trail – From love to trails!

Friday's hill festivals offered challenges for many departures Read More »