Cycling | Lari Rauno cycled from Helsinki to Lapland in less than two days – and not even the most direct route

At eight per day, in five hours and 14 minutes from Helsinki to Tromsø, Norway.

It is required for an approved performance in the Ruska 2024 ultra-cycling event, which started on Friday evening in front of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. In total, the distance is more than 2,000 kilometers.

48 participants jumped on the bike, the fastest of which, Lari Raunohad progressed to Rovaniemi on Sunday evening. About 900 kilometers had been covered in two days.

The event is actively followed, for example, in the message service X, where Rauno’s early speed has been praised, for example.

“Hat. Get. These guys were in Helsinki 48 hours ago. Now one tip is about 15 kilometers from Rovaniemi. Don’t take it for granted that it’s not appropriate to drive north by car when it’s such a long distance”, in one published on Sunday evening in the update will be written.

The participants of the Ruska 24 event share their news along the way on social media. Lari Rauno presented his stamp card on Instagram. He is participating in the event now for the first time.

Participants the pace really sounds amazing, and it didn’t slow down even on Monday, when the first people were already pedaling in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, a good 230 kilometers north of Rovaniemi.

The destination was Taivaskero, Pallastunturi’s highest law, which serves as the event’s second control point. Driving first Juhani Saario had passed Ivalo on Tuesday afternoon and approached the municipal center of Inari.

The first intermediate stage was a skiing legend Juho Miedon at the statue in Kurika. From Pallastunturi, the journey continues to the Olympic champion in wrestling Pertti Ukkola to the gallery in Sodankylä and from there to Norway.

Bridge at the moment, the participants progress at their own pace from one control point to another. Their goal is to reach Tromsø on Saturday 21.9 at the latest. The deadline comes at midnight.

Event organizer Mikko Mäkipää had passed Puolanga on Monday afternoon and answered his phone while on cycling vacation.

“Wait a minute, a car is just passing by,” says Mäkipää at the beginning of the call.

After getting out of the car, Mäkipää gets to tell what the exceptionally brutal incident is really about.

“The idea is to bring visibility to long-distance cycling,” Mäkipää begins.

He says that the event was organized for the first time in 2017, when Finland turned one hundred years old.

“It was such an experiment. I had previously organized shorter events, but such an ultra-cycling event passing through Finland had not been organized before.”

You could also follow Mikko Mäkipää’s journey in X:

Foremost in the year the route ran from Hanko to Petsamo. Since then, the place of start and finish has varied according to the respective theme.

For example, in 2021, the event started from Helsinki’s Seurasaari and during the trip we stopped at the outdoor locations of the open-air museum buildings. This year the theme is the Olympic flame.

For this reason, we set off from the Paavo Nurme statue right in front of the Olympic Stadium, and along the route we stop at places that are related to Finnish Olympic athletes or Olympians.

The finish city Tromsja also has an Olympic connection, albeit a somewhat loose one: the city almost applied for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

“The themes come from my own head. I always think about the year, where to go next. I already know next year’s route, but I won’t tell you at this stage,” says Mäkipää.

Randonneur events – as Ruska is – differ from traditional cycling competitions not only in their distances but also in their rules.

The most essential difference is that there is no actual competition in randonneur events, but the purpose is just to get there within a certain time limit.

According to Mäkipää, the participants in the Ruska 2024 event are classified into three categories: finishers, late finishers and dropouts.

“The results of the event are not made public at any point,” says Mäkipää.

However, with the help of live GPS tracking, you can get an idea of ​​the speed at which the participants are progressing.

Another significant difference from regular cycling races is that the event does not have a pre-marked route, but each participant plans his own route. The only restriction regarding the route is that there is a corridor at the checkpoints.

Participants is also responsible for organizing maintenance and, if necessary, accommodation. No outside help is allowed.

“You may not use any service cars, but only those services that can be found along your route: gas stations, grocery stores, hotels,” Mäkipää lists.

You can also participate in the event with a couple, and in that case it is permissible to make tactical solutions together.

Each participant’s tactics are different. Others book accommodations along the route well in advance, while others spontaneously spend the night in the open air.

Mäkipää spent his first night in a sleeping bag in a changing room at the beach. Before that, he had been in traffic for more than 30 hours.

“At that point there were about 480 kilometers behind.”

The second night was spent in the hotel.

“

You may not use any service cars, but only those services that can be found along your route: gas stations, grocery stores, hotels…

Good Mäkipää has had about one meal break per day. Otherwise, he has taken care of refueling at the store.

“It already rained yesterday [sunnuntaina]that oat snack cookies are starting to come out of my ears when I ate almost 30 of them in the first two days.”

Since outside maintenance or assistance is not allowed, the equipment to be taken must be carefully considered. On Mäkipää, you only have a sleeping bag, a base, a sleeping bag shell and cycling clothes and, of course, a reflective vest, which the participants must wear when it’s dark.

“I’m not prepared to do anything other than ride a bike for this week.”

Mäkipää has also been sitting on the bike during the entire interview.

“It was almost ten kilometers here,” he exclaims at the end of the call and continues his journey towards Taivaskero.