The History of the Off-track Skiing World championships

It all started when Heikki Haavikko was in Syöte in the winter of 1997. He had ordinary forest skis on the roof of his car at the ski resort. A few young people happened by and were looking at the skis in amazement and laughing at those skis.

The snowball finally started rolling in the spring of 1997, when Heikki was walking in the swamps of Liekokylä. The idea of ​​using the swamps in the winter came to his mind. I could ski in those gaps in groups, and there was no need for any trails. After all, no one had trails before. A few decades ago, a trail was made when going to school, and then you could return home in the afternoon. While thinking about this, Heikki skied in the backcountry for a week and the decision to go on a trail trip matured in his mind.

It was not possible to organize a cross-country ski trip alone, so Heikki contacted Antti Härkönen, with whom he had worked in the work groups in Pudasjärvi. As a person in the forestry industry, Antti became interested in the matter. He thought about the matter on his own and discussed it in the orienteering section, of which he was the chairman. At the same time, he was in contact with Heino Ruuskanen, the vice chairman of the Pudasjärven Urheilijat, and Heino was enthusiastic about the matter. Antti also gave Heino’s contact information to Heino, and after discussing it with Heino, Heino brought the matter to the board of the Pudasjärvi Athletes. The board thought about it for three minutes. The idea is crazy enough, so it might work. It’s always worth trying, you never know what you’ll get. When Heino worked for the municipal leisure board, he also presented the matter to the municipal sector, and the municipality was sympathetic to the matter, so the snowball continued to roll.

In the autumn of 1997, the organizing committee was more or less assembled and work began. The working title of the event was the Cross-Country Skiing World Championships. The meetings were held with great enthusiasm and the belief was strong. “This is going to be a really tough call!”
It was decided to hold the first competitions where the idea for the competitions had started, i.e. the finish line of the competition was in Liekokylä. The goal of the first competitions was to have around fifty participants.

The number of participants in the first year surprised us positively and so the competitions have been continued. The event has become an annual event and its popularity is growing. The role of TV and the media in the visibility and awareness of the event is still significant in the early stages of the competitions. Positive experiences have also increased other people’s interest in the competitions.

We have tried to develop the competition based on feedback surveys sent to competitors. Based on the feedback survey, we have moved the competition to a different environment in between to serve more user groups.

After two years of Covid-19, we hope that no world situation – nor other events – will prevent the organization of the competition. Competitors had been waiting for the event for two years. In February 2021 and 2022, there were many skiers at Syöte in week 6, even though there was no actual competition. However, the competitors wanted to ski and train for the upcoming event.

It is for these loyal friends and virgin snow heroes that we want to keep the snowball rolling.

Marko Koivula