To this page we have collected some nice memories from the long history of the Border to Border. From attachments you can find a article, which has been written by Leila and Väinö Voutilainen who have took part to each BB from the early beginning. Below you can find some historical background and details of the event.
In the mid 1990’s the ski tour started to grow in popularity, which is why a second group was established in 1996. At this point there were altogether 86 international and 48 Finnish skiers. After that the popularity of the ski tour continued its rapid growth, and a third group was established in 2001. That year witnessed the participation of altogether 154 international and 56 Finnish skiers. This year, in 2003, the "From Border To Border" is being organised for the 20th time, and the three groups host altogether 325 skiers, 93 of them from Finland and 232 from a number of countries around the skiing world.
Seniors There are two true seniors of the "From Border To Border" event, Leila and Väinö Voutilainen from Nousiainen in South-Western Finland. They have participated in the event every single time. In the 20th anniversary year they are skiing in the third group of the event. Other seniors of the ski tour include:
18 times Pentti Lahtinen 17 times Terttu Pantsar 16 times Matti Räihä 15 times Simo Ovaskainen, Ville Tapio and Simo Viinikainen 14 times Pekka Juusti and Jean Pierre Rialti (France) 12 times Alfred Steiner (Switzerland) and Raili Vaarala 11 times Jaakko Heikkinen, Herbert Muenzel (Germany), Martti Hynninen, Anceloga Shanz (Germany) and Olli Martikainen 10 times The title of Master of skiing is given to skiers who break the limit of ten participations. This year following persons reach the limit: Jens Lindemann (Germany), Hans-Jörg Madliger (Switzerland), Sirkka Mäki-Petäjä, Antero Räisänen, Andre Thomsen (Holland) and Eero Tiainen.
One speciality of the "From Border To Border" ski tour have been the skiing guides and the bus guides. The have all been working in the event on a voluntary basis. Skiing guides who have participated in the event several times have been Kauko Salmela, Kauno Palomäki, Manne Liimatainen, Esa Ollila, Jaakko Heikkinen and Anna-Kaisa Heikkinen. Similarly, bus guides with several participations have been Susanna Lammassaari and Sirkka Kinnunen. Tuomo Karppinen, in charge of organisation for the part of the Keminmaa municipality, has been involved in the event from the very beginning. Also the transportation - the buses and the bus drivers - has always given its special flavour to the event. Among the legendary bus drivers throughout the years have been Benjamin Rontti, Olli Rontti and Verneri Mustonen from the bus company Rontti Oy in Kuusamo. Chairmen of the organising committee of the event have been Jorma Törn (1984-1996), Kyösti Tornberg (1996 -1997) and Kimmo Sarapää (1997-), all from the municipality of Ranua.
Sports Tracker links for the seven day workout, Antti Jylkkä RR1 2013. Day 1 http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/naula/3opdi3sh3lpf1jc9 Day 2 http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/naula/9mb8k230t3eq05s5 Day 3 http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/naula/fdplo82071gjhklc Day 4 http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/naula/6l4q9eldmn2a70of Day 5 http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/naula/cq5nittho8alce82 Day 6 http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/naula/90vkedbbml5hotdq Day 7 http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/naula/9sidrc3qc82t88cu
Hi fellow skiers, I am happy to share some photos from Rajalta Rajalle Hiihto. Please feel free to download from here: http://bochmann.blogspot.com/2006/03/skiing-in-lapland.html You will find more photos from photo gallery.