The Salpausselkä races start today – the weather forecast for the weekend is merciless for the streets

The public is forecast to enjoy a weekend of sunny weather, but race officials are on edge.

The forecast of remarkably warm weather for the weekend bodes well for the public expectations for the Salpausselkä races, according to the organisers.

Around 55 000 visitors are expected to attend the Games, which start on Thursday evening and end on Sunday at the Lahti Sports Centre. One fifth of the audience outside Päijät-Häme traditionally comes from the capital region.

Kolu would not compare the fact that in previous decades the Salpausselkä races almost doubled the number of visitors.

\”There have been quite different methods of calculation, for example, a day-to-day and evening visitors may have been the same, even if they go with the same flag,\” he says.

For the success of recent years, the CEO calculates, among other things, reaching younger age groups. More than 40 % of ticket buyers are 20-40 years old.

The full-time, free school ticket for the entire weekend was received as a sponsor collaboration for all Päijät-Häme elementary and high school students two years ago. 20,000 tickets are distributed, and in previous years, about half of the schoolchildren have benefited from the advantage.

Tomi-Pekka Kolu sees free tickets as a investment in the future.

– I consider this sponsor collaboration one of the most important partnerships we have had in recent years. The races may have lost some generation in the past when there were no school tickets.

The sunshine does not please the runners

Traditionally, the Salpausselkä Games have been organized during the school ski holiday season. Now the late time and the warm conditions have caused headaches for the administrators of the race venues.

The city and the Lahti Ski Club are jointly responsible for the maintenance of trails and hills.

– The sun’s ultraviolet radiation is already ruthless and melts snow effectively. It affects both hills and skiing.

In skiing, especially the dark surfaces, bridges and climbs are wetted and softened.

The aim is to protect the hills from the rays of the sun, for example by covering and shading risk points. Last weekend’s frosty skins and downhill slopes were fired by extra snow.

The Lahti ski network has a total of about 180 kilometers, of which the race tracks cover the longest seven and a half kilometers.

After a long break, Salpausselä is now also organizing traditional 50km joint competition. To this end, a two -and -a -half -kilometer extra loop for old grounds has been built on the terrain.

Competitors ski the same loops made of artificial snow several times.

– Each day of the competition will make new surfaces as a rule the previous night so that they will harden.

The city of Lahti stores snow, but for the Salpausselkä Games and the Sports Center around the Sports Center, the cannon snow will be made at the beginning and during the season and is not preserved.

– This winter, snowfall has had to be done for three, four times, Laine says.

Sunday cross -country skiing is the most critical for organizers. The forecasts have promised the day of the sun and plenty of plus degrees.

There is enough snow expertise, experience and know -how for maintenance. Jarkko Laine promises that this year will be honored this year.

– In Trondheim, the tracks looked really bad. I believe we can do better, but it does work.