2015 World Rogaining Championships Awarded to Finland

July 27, 2013 – The International Rogaining Federation has awarded the rights to host the 13th World Rogaining Championships to Kalke Ry of Finland. The Championships are planned for August 22-23, 2015 and will attract many hundred elite endurance cross-country navigators from around the world. The event centre in Saariselkä region will host the first ever World Rogaining Championships to be held above the Arctic Circle. The competition area in the Urho Kekkonen National Park with its navigationally difficult wetlands and challenging hills covered by open tundra are sure to be a thorough test of the world’s best rogaining teams.

IRF President, Richard Robinson, said that this will be the first time that Finland has hosted the World Rogaining Championships and their success in securing this event was testament to the strength of the development of the sport there. Rogaining started in Finland in 2007 with the first 24-hour race held in Jämi followed by the second one in Seitseminen in 2008. In 2009 Finnish rogainers and Kalke Ry, under the leadership of Jari Kaaja successfully organized the 6th European Rogaining Championships near Ylläs, north of the Arctic Circle.

IRF WRC Manager Jan Tojnar, who leads the selection process for World Rogaining Championships, said that the award to Finland is recognition of appreciable role of Finnish rogainers in the field of international rogaining, and their involvement at previous international rogaines. Rogaining athletes from Finland belong to keen participants of major rogaining events around the world. Finland’s Iiro Kakko, who will be a key member of the organising team in 2015, teamed with the late Nigel Aylott of Australia to win the 3rd World Rogaining Championships in Canada in 1998.

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