The traditional Finnish ErgoMarathon takes place in April for the 18th time but this time in a brand new, large and airy tent by the culturally most famous lake in Finland, the Lake Tuusula, a short drive from the Helsinki Vantaa airport. The event is the world’s largest ergomarathon event. An extreme race like this one is good to experience surrounded by likeminded people. The Finnish ErgoMarathon is known not only for its good atmosphere (all competitors are cheered upon during the final meters) but also for the large number of world records, e.g. last year saw four new world records broken. The cool spring air helps we think.
Last year 70 rowers competed the full or half marathon and French and a Swedish rower did the extreme 100km (see the 2018 report). There are already lots of competitors signed up for the race and the target is to get 100 competitors to join this year.
A unique trait of the race is that rowers can choose whether to race on the traditional static Concept2, on slides, or on the RP3. Dynamic machines were added to the mix last year, and they got excellent feedback, and this year we’re expecting many more dynamic rowers.
The key facts of the World's best and biggest Ergomarathon:
- Date: April 27th, 2019
- Place: Gustavelund, Tuusula, Finland (about 20km from the Helsinki-Vantaa airport)
- Distances: 42.195m, 21.097m, 100km. 60 minutes for Juniors (below 16y)
- Rowing machines: Concept2, Concept2 on slides, RP3
Register by 17th of April: https://www.ergomaraton.fi/
As usual Quiske team will be racing at the event and we'll also set up an erg to let anyone try what the Quiske Virtual Coach has to say about their rowing technique :-).
Still two months to go, make sure you do many long steady state sessions on your chosen type of erg (btw check this post we wrote last year on how to prepare for the ErgoMarathon). Below a glimpse of a 2 hour steady state session by the Quiske team gearing up for the event of last year. This year the location is the same but the tent will be brand new:
PS. Traditional Finnish Sauna and, assuming that the ice is gone, swimming in the lake is possible after the race. Last year the ice melted from Tuusula lake during the day of the race!