Asuntoauto.eu from Rovaniemi won both mens and mixed categories at Extreme class. Team Herkut Matkassa won womens category. Terrain and competition routes at the Savitaipale received great appreciatition from more than 350 competitors.

Extreme sarja

The longest class started its journey on Friday evening from Kärnäkoski fortress, from where the teams ran to the kayaks waiting in Partakoski. In the reddish night sky and competitors paddling againts the Partakoski rapid offered eye candy and entertainment to the spectators gathered on the bridge.

In the middle of paddling, stopovers were made in Orrai and Suomensalo for short orienteering / trekking sections. The paddling ended when the sun rose in Lepänkanto. During the night, Kuolimo served a mirror-smooth surface for long-distance travelers - pure pleasure.

The first MTB loop that went around lake Säynjärvi mainly offered a gravel road base, but also a wonderful tunnel like spure alley, Säänjärvi bird tower and sections of Savitaipale MTB route.

The orienteering leg from Lepänkanto beach offered fast trail running at the beginning, but the rest of the route offered a challenge in the form of precise orienteering. At the end of the orientering leg, the teams got to climb to the tree with Ilves pole climbing shoes made by a local company.

The latter MTB run brought the competitors, after orientation in the Takomäki quarry, to the paths of Savitaipale and to the finish line. 

Full course was app. 140 kilometers.

Extreme men

In the Extreme class, which was part of the Finnish Championship seriese, there was a tight and exciting competition for the top positions until the very last kilometers. The leading position of the competition varied wildly and the different route choices of the leading teams kept the competitors unaware of the situation. In the end, the choice of route in between CP's 51 and 52 decided the men's category victory for Asuntoauto.eu, and Uroskarhut had to settle for second place despite a strong overall performance.

In the men's class, Antti Järvenpää and Ossi Sippu as the Kotivuorisport.fi team entered the competition outside of the ranks as both of them had little to non experience from adventure racing. Kotivuorisport was right in the top group until the last bike section, but at the end the top two were able to tear away from them. Sippu and Järvenpää have toured the successful Kalevankierros in recent years, so the sports and endurance sports are very familiar to both of them.

Extreme Mixed

In the mixed category, Team Kaisla (Sanna and Jarkko Tolsa) took a firm hold on the top spot at the beginning, but Asuntoauto.eu's mixed team (Joni Haataja and Kati Mansikkasalo-Jurvelin) and Duckventures (Atte and Emilia Etula) came close behind. The Bull Adventure Team, which entered the competition as pre-favorites, had surprising difficulties at the beginning and they quickly fell almost half an hour behind the other leading teams.

As the competition went on, Asuntoauto.eu was able to make a little difference to Kaisla, which Duckventures, on the other hand, was consistently a little behind. The Bull Adventure Team pushed themselves to better positions as the competition progressed and they finally crossed the finish line as the second mixed team behind Asuntoauto.eu. However, small rule violations (both competitors did not go within 10 meters of CP) dropped Bull to third place behind Kaisla in the results.

Extreme women

The women's category suffered a bit from a lack of participants, as only three teams started in this test that lasted overnight. Herkut matkassa, who collected full points in the championship series, took over the lead at the Orrai trail run section. After this, there were no more rivals to challenge Kirsi Hedman and Johanna Riipinen from Mikkeli.

Challenge

Thanks

In our opinion, we organized the best Saimaa Chalenge adventure so far. Now that a couple of days have passed since the race, thoughts have already wandered a little to the upcoming summer and the new event. There are already some thoughts, but more about them later.

Many thanks to all the volunteers, partners and competitors. It was really wonderful to be part of this adventure together with all of you.