Trail running is growing in popularity in Finland, and in Päijät-Häme the sport has become one of the fastest growing forms of exercise in recent years. Tiirismaa Trail, organized in the stunning ridge landscapes of Messilä and Tiirismaa, is strongly involved in the development – and 2026 will bring unprecedented innovations, new participant groups and an even stronger community feel to the event. Tiirismaa Trail, together with two other events, forms the new Tiirismaa Tripla, which offers experiential trail running and outdoor activities all year round in the most famous landscapes of Salpausselkä. Tiirismaa Tripla consists of the following events in 2026: Tiirismaa Winter Trail 14.–15.3.2026 Tiirismaa Trail 1.8.2026 Messilä Vertical 19.9.2026 The Tripla will start in just over a month in March, when Tiirismaa Winter Trail brings runners and outdoor enthusiasts into the atmosphere of early winter on Saturday by the light of headlamps. On Saturday evening, the program includes 10 km and 14 km routes, and on Sunday, 10 km, 14 km and 25 km routes are available, as well as a new hiking series, where you can also participate in the event in peace and without a time limit. Registration for the winter event is already open. Tiirismaa Trail main event on August 1, 2026 – new ultra-distances and a one-lap trail marathon for Salpausselkä After winter, however, all eyes will turn to the biggest trail adventure of the summer, when Tiirismaa Trail returns on August 1, 2026, even bigger and more diverse. For the first time, the event will offer Salpausselkä challenges of a completely new scale. The most anticipated new features of summer 2026 include a 42-kilometer continuous trail marathon, which will loop through the ridges, lakes and technical forest trails of Salpausselkä Geopark in one lap. In addition, the event will launch a completely new 63 km ultra, which combines the marathon and half-marathon sections and forms one of the most demanding ultra routes in Southern Finland. – The goal is to offer an exceptional trail ultra in Southern Finland, combining a physical challenge and stunning nature. This route will not leave anyone indifferent, says Juha Sorvisto, the event's course manager. Registration for Tiirismaa Trail opened on 8 February, and the cheapest first price tier is valid for only one week, until 15 February. The joy of trail running for everyone – low-threshold routes and family series included Tiirismaa Trail is not just for top runners. In 2026, there will also be a new, easier 8 km route, which is ideal for first-time runners and fitness enthusiasts. In addition, the event's Free Trails series allows runners to run 8–42 km routes at their own pace without competing or timing. The routes are marked and service points are open – the joy of movement is at the heart of it. For families, there is also the popular Tiirismaa Trail Kids (1.6 km), which has both a competitive series and a free For Fun series. All children will receive prizes. UNESCO Salpausselkä Geopark puts Päijät-Häme on the trail running map The routes of the Tiirismaa Trail run in the Salpausselkä Geopark, which has been granted UNESCO Global Geopark status, and whose ridges and elevation differences shaped by the ice age provide an exceptional setting for trail running in Southern Finland. – This is one of the most spectacular and best trail running areas in all of Southern Finland – right next to Lahti, Sorvisto describes. Free joint runs strengthen the growth of the local trail running boom Tiirismaa Trail is also building a year-round community around the event. Before the August competition, free trail running exercises and joint runs are organized under the guidance of professional coaches. – Last summer, we organized four training sessions, which at best attracted about 20 participants. This year, the goal is up to ten joint training sessions between March and September, says Aleksi Anttolainen, who is responsible for the training. FACTBOX 1) Tiirismaa Winter Trail 14.–15.3.2026 Messilä, Lahti Routes: Sat 10 km & 14 km (by lamplight) Sun 10 km, 14 km & 25 km New: hiking series Registration open now 2) Tiirismaa Trail 1.8.2026 Messilä & Salpausselkä Geopark New in 2026: 42 km one-lap trail marathon 63 km Ultra New easier 8 km route Free Trails series & Kids series First price tier valid until 15.2. 3) Messilä Vertical 19.9.2026 Messilä ski slopes The culmination of autumn, where the power of ascent is measured on the slopes of Messilä. The Vertical event offers a close and spectacular competition in a unique environment. The routes run through the UNESCO Salpausselkä Geopark area. Free trail running exercises from spring to autumn www.tiirismaatrail.fi

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 off 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. In the end, the second grueling round didn't 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 now 2024 is now 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 finish line of the Tiirismaa Trail with a time of 4:20: and Aki Ylitalo was third. The women's same distance saw clearer fluctuations in the rankings along the way. At the halfway mark, Villa Tötterön's Adonika Ella held the lead in the competition center with a relatively clear difference from 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) was just behind in fourth place. In the second round, however, the situation changed and the top three and four changed. and in the hot terrains of Tiirismaa. 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 was Suvi Niemivuoma with an even draw, +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. In the 8 km start, there were young racers under the age of 16 and participants of 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 renewed last year's double championship. Axel's winning time was 38:57. So it's about a really tough young man and we'll certainly 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 (Hollolan Urheilijat -46). 2. Leo Lehtonen (Hollolan Urheilijat -46), 3. Arttu Juutila (Lahdi Suunnitajat -37) Ella Ylimäki ran to a clear victory in the girls' 8 km distance. 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. based on the number of eyes) the three-time Tiirismaa Trail men's 21 km champion Team Hoka Juho Ylinen and Team Electrofit's Rebecca Immonen, who became better known from the skiing side, were invited to the half marathon. 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 above-mentioned four. 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 tougher battle for the Top 3 positions. The pre-favorites held their ground, but the difference between the best of the day could not be made. 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 people's rally), 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. 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 starting cycles of the day ended with the wonderful and popular 12 km series participants, which this year were amazingly more than 100. In the editorial's advance speculation, the names Jussi Raasakka (Helsingin Suunnitajat), Juho Westerlund (Koovee), Miika Heikkilä (Espoon Ski Club) and Joni Solonen took to the 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 the hard-rocking Helsingin Suunnitatije, took command in the early stages and by the time Tiirisma was put on top, the game was already relatively clear. Of course, Raasakka didn't get to it easily, and the hot weather also made this young man with light feet hard. 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 (Helsingin Suunnitajat), 2. Juho Westerlund (Koovee), 3. Miika Heikkilä (Espoon Ski Club) The women's 12 km saw a really tight fight for the victory in the colors of Anna-Stiina Erkkilä and Suunta Jyväskylä of the Asics trail team in Venlo in the relay between Anniina Taipale, who had a great start. Erkkilä kept up the pace, but Taipale was lurking behind 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. Taipalee'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. Editorial

Tiirismaa Trail 2024 – the weekend was started like last year with real hill festivals in the form of Messilä Vertical, UpHill and Kids Trail, this time in wonderful, quite sunny weather. More than 100 people responded to the challenges of Messilä's steep Karhu slope. At the starting line of the Romuta-sponsored Tiirismaa Kids Trail, which started at 6 p.m., more than 60 enthusiastic skiers lined up, the youngest being under 5 years old. Kids Trail again offered two series: Kilpa and ForFun. It was wonderful to see how many self-challengers and enjoyers came to the 1.6 km Mäkinen route just for ForFu, either alone, with a family member or a friend. In the race series, it was once again really hard and, above all, fast, with the fastest people clocking close to seven-minute times. The solutions in many series were only seen at the very end, in the exhausting final stretch. Axel Koiranen, in the colors of Hollola's athletes, was the first to cross Messilä's streamers and loop in front of the audience's eyes, followed by Arttu Juutila of Lahti Suunnistaije and Hollola's brothers Leo and Lukas Lehtonen. On the girls' side, Kiira Tervo of the Pakkala Palloseura had the hardest ride, leading the troops, right behind Olivia Semeri and Nelly Veikkanen from Lahti Figure Skaters. Like last year, Aino Tenhunen (Lahdi Ski Club) won the under-10 girls' series, ahead of Mikaela Mattila and Lilian Erkkilä (Trail blazers). On the boys' side of the same age, the top three were formed by Leo Lehtonen (Hollola Athletes -46), Akseli Viero (Hyvinkä region athletes), and Aarne Erävuoma (Espoon Ski Club) In girls under 12, the top three was structured as follows:1. Kiira Tervo (Pakkalan Ball Club), 2. Sofia Kiuru (Lahti Ski Club Alppi), 3. Daniela Mattila. On the boys' side, the top three were: Lukas Lehtonen (Hollolan Urheilijat -46), Leevi Bruun (LHS), Toivo Kouki (FC Kuusysi) Kids Trail's oldest age group, i.e. under 14 Top 3: Girls: Olivia Sermeri (Lahden Tailuistelijat), Nelly Veikkanen ( Lahti Figure Skaters), Aliisa Rotko (Lahti Ski Club) Boys: Axel Koiranen (Hollolan Urheilijat -46), who renewed his victory in his new series ahead of Aleksi Juutila (Lahti Suunnistajat -37) In the Kids Trail, teams were also measured in three-person teams in one series. The team could therefore be put together without age or series restrictions. In the team competition, this year we saw many teams from different clubs. The best of the Kids Trail team competition: Girls: 1st. Lahti Ski Club (Aino Tenhunen, Aliisa Rotko, Vilma Vanhamäki)2. Lahti Ski Association Alppi (Sofia Halme, Katariina Rotko, Enni Kiuru) Boys: 1. Hollola's Athletes -46 (Axel Koiranen, Leo Lehtonen, Luukas Lehtonen)2. FC Kuusysi 1 (Toivo Kouki, Akseli Hämäläinen, Topias Toikko)3. FC Kuusysi 2 (Steven-Henry Loodus, Emil Kylliäinen, Vilho Vehko) The fast-paced Tiirismaa UpHill was also sprinted on the same 1.6 km route as the Kids Trail. A total of 13 brave men set out to challenge themselves and their friends to the excruciating ascent and descent of Messilä. From the beginning of Messilä's Karhu nous, it still seemed that the competition was between Miika Heikkilä (Espoon Ski Club) and Ville Hellman. In the end, moving to the serpentine section, Heikkilä was in a class of his own and skied to the stadium in supreme solitude. By the way, let's mention Heikkilä's time; 6:03 am. It's a tough class and everyone can try it. Hellman took second place just as clearly and Uula Vainio fought for third place. In the women's race, Essi Vuorenmaa (Hiekkaharjun Hikipyllyt) was crowned the winner with a fierce move and a new women's course record of 8:14. The women's UpHill series was a celebration of Hikipylly, as second and third place also went to Hiekkaharju by Jaana Wuoma and Emilia Osamal. Thus, the title of the team competition and Sysmä's Luomuherkkujenmyslit deservedly traveled to Hiekkaharju Hikipyllyje. The wonderful first day and evening ended with the communal Messilä Vertical, which had already been packed from 2 pm during the Kids Trail and UpHill. This year's Vertical saw the very best of our country's ultra runners, when Johanna Antila and Juuso Simpanen, who had been boiled in many broths, started together with 35 other brave warriors. The story flowed in the group well into the evening, with Juha Sorvisto pacing the group for a new round. During the check-in and maintenance of the rounds, thanks were heard for this format, which has certainly come to stay in Tiirismaa. The first three or four hours of Vertical were still spent with the thought "everyone was so nice there", but little by little the journey (climbing and speed) started to do its job. Little by little, the group started to thin out, as one by one participant after participant stated with a smile, their legs "numb", that this wasn't enough for this batch. On the women's side, the silver and bronze positions of the medal trio were found out after round 25, when last summer's Tiirismaa Trail 42 km silver medalist Anna Hopia (26 rounds) took the bronze and Ruut Joensuu (34 rounds) the silver. At 8:30 p.m., with the pace already at 7 min/lap (5:50 min/km) and a distance of approx. 46 km, the four-person orchestra Ari-Pekka Joensuu, Juuso Simpanen, Verneri Teppo and the winner of the women's series Johanna Antila could still be seen in perfect harmony. The uphills were still "relaxedly flowing", but the downhills also allowed the running camera of the YouTube broadcast to put one in front of the other. It was not for nothing that Johanna Antila was hyped in advance, the woman flashed such a convincing performance in the company of a trio of men. At the end of lap 41 (first 6:45 min/ lap) we could see the taste of the solution for the men's trio, when Verneri Teppo had to give up and thus the bronze ball after a grueling performance. The next woman's number one, Johanna Antila, who hit the table with an AMAZING 43 rounds, jumped out of the three spots next! In Messilä, the evening began to fade when the two bear-like heroes Joensuu and Simpanen started to race, accompanied by cheers, from round 45. The duo's achievements could be admired until round 49 before the solution was seen. Joensuu fought magnificently up and down the slope, but in the end could not do anything better. In any case, a great bet from Joesuu, who at the same time got the longest run of his life at the same time from Messilä. We will hear more about this man! Thus, Juuso Simpane was crowned the king of Messilä Vertical 2024 with an unimaginable 50 laps. And let it be mentioned here that the distance was more than 60 kilometers, almost 8 hours up and down on a route with 92 m of ascent per lap. You can try and complete! Many competitors heard that Vertical offered exactly what they came for: good vibes and a good workout! The Tiirismaa Trail mountain festival day certainly offered everyone experiences, experiences and everything from joy to pain. You can return to the moments of Friday via the YouTube broadcast, images that slowly load into the photo gallery, and the result service website. Trail running races continue on Saturday in Messilä! Stay tuned! Photos: Susanna Tervo & Marianna Saren