FinLine 2011

20回記念となる FinLine 2011 の告知です。例年の月曜日に始まり土曜日に終るスケジュールではなく、金曜日から翌週の日曜日に掛けて8日間で575km滑る、スペッシャルスケートツアーになります。

The 20th Anniversary FinLine 575km Across Finland from Niirala to Vaasa July 1st - July 9th 2011

http://www.katukiitajat.fi/ and Katukiitäjät ry Facebook

The 20th Anniversary FinLine 2011

We are glad to announce that there will be a FinLine skating event next summer too!

To commemorate the 20th FinLine next summers FinLine will be a special one extended with two days. The 2011 event will take place from Friday 1st of July to Saturday 9th of July. This time FinLine will be skated across Finland from east to west along the Blue Highway (Sininen Tie) starting in Niirala by the Russian border and ending up in Vaasa. There will be bus transportation from Helsinki to Niirala and again from Vaasa to Helsinki. The route is very beautiful and quite varied (some up-hills and down-hills - not very high though). Our service bus is following the skaters all the time and it enables you to choose the amount of skating days as well as the daily skating kilometres. I.e. if you don't want to skate the whole skating distance some day, you can take the bus instead and keep company with Ari, our nice bus driver!

Depending of the number of skaters there will be 3 - 6 skating groups going at the different speed (averaging 15-25 km/h). Thus you can choose a suitable group to yourself and it is also possible to change the group whenever you feel like it. The aim is to get started by 9 a.m. each morning, with the slower groups going first, to be able to reach our next destination by 4-5 p.m. including stops for lunch swimming and other possible activities, in order to have time for our daily sauna before dinner.

To be able to have a cosy relaxed atmosphere the maximum number of participants is limited to 30.

Accommodation and food
Dormitory accommodation including breakfasts and dinners are booked by the organisers utilising affordable and different places by the route. I.e. during some night we will stay at a hotel, but some other night we will stay in a holiday centre, summer cottage or something similar.

Our service bus is following the skaters all the time giving water and some snacks (fruits, biscuits, pickled
cucumber) during the breaks, but otherwise (e.g. lunch) the skaters have to take care of their food.

What does it cost?
The participation fee will be 200 euro including the services of the bus, transportation of your equipment during the skating, a technical t-shirt, and the bus transportation from Helsinki to Niirala and back to Helsinki from Vaasa on the last day. In addition you have to pay a membership fee to the Street Gliders for 2011 (25 eur). Furthermore there are the costs of the dinners and accommodations (including breakfasts), about 40 - 60 euro per day.

If you are not able to participate in the whole FinLine, but would like to join, you can build your own FinLine
selecting the days you would like to participate. The price is then 25 euro/day (not including the technical t-shirt, which you can order separately for a price of 25 €) + the Street Gliders' membership fee (25 eur). In this case you also have to take care of your transportation to and/or from your starting/finishing destination, where they are not Niirala or Vaasa (e.g. a six day tour Joensuu-Vaasa including transportation to Helsinki from Vaasa (the 7th day) is 175 euro + membership fee and then you also have to care of your transportation to Joensuu).

The Street Gliders' aim is not to make a profit on the FinLine skating event. The only goal is to cover the real costs of the arrangements by the participation fee. If the participation fee turns to be too high compared to the costs, the surplus will be credited to participants during the trip.

Can I participate?
Finline is a skating event also YOU can participate in. Previous experience of several day skating tours is not necessary. To join you only need to

• have experience of longer skating tours - you are able to skate 30 to 50 km a day at your own speed
  
• be able to enjoy a vacation week among other skaters
  
• be a member of Streetgliders/join Streetgliders

The route and daily skating program

July	1st	Friday	Bus from Helsinki to Niirala
	-	-	Niirala - Tohmajärvi	17 km
	2nd	Saturday	Tohmajärvi - Joensuu	56 km
	3rd	Sunday	Joensuu - Tuusniemi	79 km
	4th	Monday	Tuusniemi - Maaninka	80 km
	5th	Tuesday	Maaninka - Viitasaari	97 km
	6th	Wednesday	Viitasaari - Kyyjärvi	76 km
	7th	Thursday	Kyyjärvi - Lapua	83 km
	8th	Friday	Lapua - Vaasa	87 km
	9th	Saturday	Bus from Vaasa to Helsinki
Total				575 km

Registration

For us to be able to organise FinLine 2011, please register as soon as possible.
http://www.katukiitajat.fi/english/finline/register.htm The final dead-line for registration is May 15 2011.
Registration is on first come first serve basis - if we have 30 registrations before May 15 we close the registration. For you to be registered you need to pay Streetgliders membership fee (25 €) and the registration fee (200 € or parts thereof depending on your selected route) + possible bank charges.

Please instruct your bank to forward payment orders through:

Bank:	Nordea Bank Finland Plc
Swift code (BIC):	NDEAFIHH
In favour of:	Katukiitäjät ry
IBAN:	FI2521851800032949

Further information
Bosse Sjöblom, 050 350 9742, [e-mail]
Ilpo Häyrynen, 040 728 0873, [e-mail]
Juha Juice Leskinen, 050 501 3735, [e-mail]
Pirjo Pajarinen, 050 303 9758, [e-mail]
Heikki Kämäräinen, 0400 458 446, [e-mail]

Best regards

FinLine 2011 working group - Bosse, Ilpo, Juice, Kaisa, Pirjo and Heikki

Katukiitäjät ry. (Street Gliders): http://www.katukiitajat.fi/english/ and FinLine 2011 (PDF)

SkateLog Forum: FinLine 2011 - the 20th anniversary skating event in July

Finnish News Paper of July 9th 2011

YLE Pohjanmaa : Rullaluistellen halki Suomen
lehtenstaarn : YouTube Channel
Inline Skating Notebook: FinLine 2010