A Stunning Hat Trick for NUTS – Record Number of Runners at Ylläs Pallas

This is a machine translation generated by ChatGPT. Original text by Marko Krapu in Finnish.

In football, scoring three consecutive goals by the same player is considered a hat trick. The term has since been applied to many other sports.

Northern Ultra Trail Service Oy – or NUTS, as it’s better known – got to celebrate its own kind of hat trick, as the Ylläs Pallas trail running event broke its participation record with 2,591 starters. Earlier this year, NUTS had already set records at both Karhunkierros and Syöte – cue the victory music!

NUTS Ylläs Pallas grew by 460 runners compared to last year – an increase of over 20 percent. This despite (or perhaps thanks to?) a scorching heat wave across the country that pushed many runners to their limits.

Erkkilä finding her top gear

With temperatures reaching over 30°C, it’s no surprise that no course records were set. Still, there were plenty of impressive performances.

In the 37 km Trail Tour Finland (TTF) race, Anna-Stiina Erkkilä was in a league of her own, finishing under 3 hours (2:56:32) despite the midday heat. Teija Lehtimäki was 22 minutes behind, and Heidi Horttanainen over 41 minutes back.

“It wasn’t my most energetic run ever, but it was smooth and without major issues, so I’m happy,” Erkkilä shared on social media. “For the first time I tried running part of the course with an ice scarf, which really helped during the scorching Ylläs climb.”

Erkkilä spent much of the winter injured but is now staging a strong comeback. She seems unbeatable in Finland, and it’ll be fascinating to see how sharp she can get by the World Championships in late September.

Could Varis soon become the “Trail Councillor”?

In the men’s 37 km race, Kari Varis took the win in 2:37:41. Known on social media as “Ski Councillor”, Varis might need to consider a name change to “Trail Councillor” after taking the TTF overall lead with four races remaining.

“Today I decided to go for race pace despite the heat, since I’ve been training well. The gap to the others opened already in the first kilometre.”

“Hannu Airila promised me a backdoor entry to the Vaarojen Marathon since I forgot to sign up in time. Jukola didn’t go great, so I figured I better start running again,” Varis joked, referring to his aim of winning the overall TTF title.

Severi Kymäläinen, the reigning Finnish long-distance orienteering champion, came second in 2:41:16 and paid tribute at the finish to a late teammate from Tampereen Pyrintö.

“‘Karppa’ (Varis) messaged me a couple of weeks ago saying I had no chance against him – and well, that’s how it went,” Kymäläinen said with a smile.

Tommi Lintala struggled with the heat late in the race but held on for third in 2:45:48.

“In the Pirunkuru climb I pushed too hard, and as I started the descent to Kesänki my muscles totally shut down – I collapsed on the rocks. I had to lie there for quite a while, and that’s when Severi overtook me. Sometimes falling mid-race causes full-body cramping, and that’s exactly what happened. Once I got back on my feet, I slowly started walking, then jogging, and surprisingly managed to run decently all the way to the finish,” Lintala recounted on social media.

The heat drained Simpanen and Bengs

The 160 km distance at Ylläs Pallas was also the second race of the Ultra Trail Tour Finland (UTTF) season. All runners who complete all three UTTF races will earn the coveted finisher’s vest. The final race will be the 130 km at Vaarojen Marathon.

Eevi Bengs and Juuso Simpanen both set out with course records in mind. They were still on record pace at the Pallas checkpoint (66 km), but the hot weather eventually got the better of them.

“It was not an easy day. The stretch from Ketomella to Pallas was particularly tough. I had way too little fluid for that section and felt pretty wrecked before reaching Pallas. When the air cooled at night, I started feeling better again. But yeah, the heat drained me,” said Simpanen, who won in 17:30:23.

The course record held by Slovakia’s Marian Priadka remained safely out of reach, more than an hour away.

For Simpanen, this was also an important prep race ahead of the 246 km Spartathlon at the end of September, where scorching heat can be just as punishing.

“I learned a lot here. Especially a great reminder of how much fluid you actually burn through in this kind of heat. Spartathlon is likely to be similar in conditions, so this was the perfect dress rehearsal.”

Later, Simpanen posted on social media that he drank about 1.1 liters of fluid per hour during the race. He spent nearly 14 minutes in total at aid stations — about twice as long as he normally would.

Eevi Bengs was aiming to beat Irene Päärn’s course record of 21:49:20, but ultimately missed it by over two hours. On top of that, she was overtaken in the final 15 km by Hungary’s Kata Kertesz, who claimed the win.

“Every time there was a deep puddle, I went in for a dip, dunked my head, but it still didn’t help much. I should’ve started with a totally different strategy – I hadn’t done any heat training, so racing was kind of a dumb idea. Without my amazing crew, I wouldn’t have made it to the finish,” Bengs admitted at the finish line.

Heinaro and Pirkonen take double wins

The 66 km route from Hetta to Pallas saw a battle between Einari Heinaro and Anton Aro.

It was Heinaro’s longest trail race so far, while Aro, coming off a rough start to his season, was eager to add something other than DNS or DNF next to his name.

Heinaro, who won the 37 km race at this event last year, showed that he also masters the longer distances and crossed the finish line in 5:53:44. Aro came in just under 10 minutes later.

“We ran together until the first climb, where I seemed to have a slightly better pace, and that’s where the gap opened. But I was nervous if it would hold until the end!” said Heinaro.

“I felt strong up until the marathon mark, but the last 25 km were tough. Maybe I’ve got some southern blood, since I usually don’t mind the heat. But for the last 8 km, I ran out of fluids.”

Fluids were an issue for Aro too — he estimated drinking around 12 liters during the race.

“I sweat a lot. Like a pig. Can’t wait to see in the data how many puddles I sat in out there. How much time I spent stopped versus actually running,” Aro laughed.

In the women’s 66 km, favorite Kaisa Pirkonen (7:24:44) delivered, finishing more than 30 minutes ahead of runner-up Ella Keski-Panula. Last year, Pirkonen won the 100 km distance at the same event.

“This one was definitely tougher than last year. The heat really took a toll.”

Pirkonen was selected for the World Championships team, but injured her ankle badly late last year. This was her first trail race since that accident.

“The ankle held up surprisingly well. I came here in June to test if I could even run the course — and back then it was still really difficult. I’m pleasantly surprised with how well it held today,” she said with relief.

Three podiums for Slovakia

In the 100 km races, victories went to Maija Oravamäki (12:33:31) and Otto Saikkonen (10:48:20). In the fast 15 km race, the quickest were Heidi Maaranen (1:18:59) and Norway’s Ask Rudi Berentsen (1:09:42).

Special mention goes to the Slovak athletes, who returned home with no fewer than three podium finishes. It’s a pleasure to see both elite and experience-seeking international runners finding their way to NUTS events.

The NUTS trail party continues on August 9th at Pyhä.

Text:

Marko Krapu