On Saturday, we continued where we left off on Friday. The morning sun started to warm the atmosphere and the wonderful event center built in front of the Messilä manor began to fill up with smiling and maybe a little excited trail runners.
The day started with traffic in the familiar style of the marathon runners, who were sent on their way at 9:00 a.m. towards the slopes of Messilä and Tiirismaa along the curly and wonderful paths. Tiirismaa Trail 42 km under the starting arch of the official travel partner Hoka, a total of a record 60 participants lined up.
Jonathan Tolksdorf, a well-known man from Tiirismaan Trail, took over the pace from the start, accompanied by Henrik Borenius. Parivalkakko arrived at the middle of the race chest-to-chest, with a time of 2:01:01. Aki Ylitalo arrived in third place at the halfway mark, only +1:44 behind the top two. In fourth place is Esa Lehti +9:26 and Vitalii Protasov +10:16 ahead of the striking distance.
The second grueling round ultimately did not bring any change to the top trio, but Tiirismaa Trail conqueror Jonathan Tolksdorf finally took his own as a continuation of the previous years' bronze positions and is now 2024 a clear champion with a difference of more than six minutes to the next one. Can the difference of six minutes on this grueling journey even be said clearly? Anyway, it was so hard to play this marathon trip in these terrains. Tolksdorf's winning time was an amazing 4:14:11, which means that the pace remained comfortably almost the same in the second round, even though Tolksdorf didn't make it to his own time last year in this scorching heat. Henrik Borenius was second under the Tiirismaa Trail finish line with a time of 4:20: and Aki Ylitalo finished third
The women's same trip saw clearer fluctuations in the rankings along the way.
At half-way point, Villa Tötterö's Adonika Ella held the lead in the race center's reserve, with a relatively clear gap to the others. Ella had spent 2:38:49 at this point. Marisanna Laukka from Espoo's Tapiot Running Club arrived at the race center in front of the crowd in second place, the difference to the top at this point is +8:17. Teija Reijonen took third place (+19:04) and Suvi Niemivuo (+19:34) took fourth place.
In the second round, however, the situation changed and the top three and four changed.
Adonika Ellä's kick was not quite enough, but Marisanna Laukka cruised past and won in the sunny and hot terrains of Tiirisma. At the finish line, the woman smiled as she competed with the sun at the end of a tough performance. In the end, Adonika Ella, encouraged by the home crowd, took second place, only +1:29 ahead of Laukka, and third with an even bet was Suvi Niemivuoma, +12:45 ahead of the winner.
All in all, great performances from the entire 42 km group.
The second start of the day was the Tiirismaa Trail 8 km, whose travel partner was Druimaar.
The 8 km start was attended by young racers under the age of 16 and participants in the Trekki fitness series, a total of almost 50 people.
Friday's Kids Trail under-14 champion Axel Koiranen (Hollolan Urheilijat -46) took his own again in the under-16 8 km distance and thus repeated last year's double championship. Axel's winning time was 38:57.
So it's about a really tough young man, and we'll surely hear about him in the future. Leo Lehtonen (Hollolan Urheilijat -46) finished second with a wonderful run, only 1:21 slower than Koira. It should be mentioned that Lehtonen is only 9 years old. Arttu Juutila (Lahti Suunnitajat -37) ran third, + 1:37 to the top. The entire top trio of boys are Tiirismaa Trail's weekend doubles and double medallists.
M8KM Top3: 1. Axel Koiranen (Hollola Athletes -46). 2. Leo Lehtonen (Hollola Athletes -46), 3. Arttu Juutila (Lahti Suunnistajat -37)
In the girls' 8 km distance, Ella Ylimäki ran to a clear victory. Ylimäki's winning time of 48:23 is really hard currency and it clearly hurt the 10-sack in the entire 8 km series class. Emilia and Aurora Salminen Fernandez fought hard for the second place, which finally turned in Emilia's favor in the final meters, the difference between the girls being only seven seconds. Almost 12.5 minutes were accumulated for Ylimäki, who won by two.
N8KM Top3: 1. Ella Ylimäki, 2. Emilia Salminen Fernandez, 3. Aurora Salminen Fernandez
The third starting group was the largest of the day, as almost 150 participants stared under the starting arc towards the terrains of Messilä and Tiirisma, waiting for their 21 km task.
Team Hoka Juho Ylinen, the three-time Tiirismaa Trail men's 21 km champion, and Team Electrofit's Rebecca Immonen, who became better known on the skiing side, were already favorites for this half-marathon, which was also called the main distance (at least based on eye count). Salomon Finland's Lari Takanen and Madesimo Trail Running Club's Sofia Haajanen on the women's side were cautiously raised as the overall challengers.
The tip was formed right from the start of the aforementioned foursome. Unofficially, based on the split times, on the men's side, Ylinen and Takanen rallied on the route with small differences and the situation was still open at 5 km. In the end, Tiirsmaa Trail's kunkku Ylinen slowly broke the gap along the way and the gap started to grow slowly. Takanen, who is in good shape, responded to the pace excellently, but couldn't do anything better. So Ylinen raced to the fourth Tiirismaa Trail championship in front of the audience, with the beautiful Vesijärvi glistening in the background. In the end, the difference between the men at the finish was 1:54 in favor of Ylisen. Benjamin Holmgren (Team MyMax) took third place behind the top two with a great run, +10:45 ahead of the winner Ylis.
On the women's side, there was a wonderful and even tighter battle for the Top 3 positions.
The pre-favorites held their ground, but the difference between the best of the day could not be achieved. Hills were trudged up and down at small intervals for the entire 21 km of Tiirismaa. Even in the steep ascent of Laaso's elevator shaft (the rallying point), the game seemed to be open. Rebecca Immonen led the trio, but Sofia Haajanen and Kaisa Laapas, who joined the fight wonderfully, were not far behind. As Immonen flashed back, it looked from the running camera that it was going to be an all-out struggle. However, the difference between the ascent of Laaso and the descent to the competition center was sufficient, and thus Immonen was able to win the championship of the women's 21 km series in peace.
Haajanen is second, with a gap of just under the length of the final straight, i.e. 36 seconds. Laapas, who finished third, was only 1:27 away from the winner.
N21KM Top3: 1. Rebecca Immonen (Team Electrofit), 2. Sofia Haajanen (Madesimo Trail Running Club), 3. Kaisa Laapas
The start cycles of the day ended with the wonderful and growing popularity of the 12 km series, which this year was amazingly more than 100.
In the editorial's preliminary speculations, the names Jussi Raasakka (Helsingin Suunnitajat), Juho Westerlund (Koovee), Miika Heikkilä (Espoon Ski Association) and Joni Solonen appeared on paper. And not entirely in vain. The top was made up of these men.
Even in Jukola, Raasakka, who made a strong mark in the colors of Helsinki's Suunnitatije, took command in the early stages and when Tiirisma was beaten, the game was already relatively clear. Of course, it wasn't easy to get to Raasakka, and the hot weather also made this young man with scaly feet hard.
Behind Raasaka, we could see a fierce battle between Westerlund and Heikkilä. The second place finally turned in Westerlund's favor with a difference of 46 seconds before the UpHill champion Heikkilä who came in third.
M12KM Top3: 1. Jussi Raasakka (Helsinki Suunnitajat), 2. Juho Westerlund (Koovee), 3. Miika Heikkilä (Espoon Ski Club)
The women's 12 km saw a really tight fight for the victory between Anna-Stiina Erkkilä of the national trail running team Asics trail Team in the colors of Suunta Jyväskylä and Anniina Taipale, who had a great start in the Venlo relay.
Erkkilä kept up the pace, but behind Taipale lurked all the way 20-40 seconds behind. The downhill and uphill sections at the end of Laaso gave a wonderful picture of Erkkilä's technically skilled and above all strong running, which Kuulutus also noticed. Taipale's performance until the very end was also a wonderful thing, and the difference between Erkkilä, who took the victory in the end, was only 42 seconds. Editor's note that this duo also broke into the Top 5 in the entire 12 km series.
Raikka Anna-Maria Jäpölä of Asikkala ranked third in this series.
N12KM Top3: 1. Anna-Stiina Erkkilä (Asics trail team), 2. Anniina Taipale (Suunta Jyväskylä), 3. Anna-Maria Jäpölä (Asikkala Raikas).
The even more wonderful Tiirismaa Trail 2024 has been successfully run, walked, pushed, felt, enjoyed, grated... the list could certainly go on for a long time.
Be that as it may, we had the trail festival fun again in Messilä!
Photos of the article: Tommi Kuronen, Marianna Saren, Susanna Tervo
Thank you to all the participants, the Tiirismaa Trail is just for YOU!
Thanks to all the wonderful people from Talko, the organizing organization, Messilä for the fantastic facilities and all the great liaison agencies!
You can return to the feeling and moments of 2024 through a high-quality and massive photo gallery! You can find the results on the results service page, and through the amazing YouTube broadcast you can review the day's events and even see yourself live at the end.
We would also be grateful if you could leave feedback via the feedback survey! Among those who answered the survey, we will draw one (1) free participation in next winter's Tiirismaa Winter Trail 2025 event. Let's make Tiirismaa Trail better together!
The story of Tiirismaa Trail will continue again next year!
Thanks for joining us!
