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 Messilä's 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 nearly 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 for 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-yhteisesti-ry/kohteet/tiirismaa-trail-kids/
Organized on the same 1.6km route as the children's event, the Messilä Uphill offered the perfect opportunity to test what the body can do. The rainy weather didn't slow down the participants and the first downhill started with a wild trot like in Jukola's relay.
Juho Ylinen had taken his place at the start of the bearish climb, 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 trip. 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, also hopes for more climbs. 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 pre-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 made it 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 as Sami Mänty fought to the last ounce of strength, finally succumbing at 32 laps
The next pace (7min/lap) also proved decisive for the end of the race. 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 started on the 36th lap, shot a handsome finish to win the first Messilä Vertical 😎
Tiirismaa Trail 2023 is now over, 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!
