Course setter team statement
Welcome to 7th Retki-Rogaining!This year the event will be held in Hailuoto island which is one of the most beautiful and also fragile area of Finland. The island is covered with four special terrain types which are lichen heath (jäkäläkangas in Finnish) open forest in north and west, agricultural land and urban village on the centre, swamp and marsh area on the southeast and beach on the shoreline. Typical Ostrobothnia dense forest is also found between these when shifting from terrain type to another.
The extraordinary and rare terrain type of lichen heath area on the most northern and most western part makes special demands for participants to use paths on that area whenever possible. The control points in this area are located such that most of the route choices between controls include 70-90% of paths so we suggest to use them. The areas that are totally forbidden are avoided with no controls and routes crossing those areas. Keep special care of the nature, go around saplings (taimikot in Finnish) and planted farm lands and avoid all kind of littering during the race.
Despite former information the scale of the map is 1:40000 and it is divided in two parts. The map is quite accurate and we find it easy to navigate. Special concern is path classification because some of the widest paths are sandy and thus more slower to run or cycle than narrow ones. We recommend thicker tyres and lower air pressures for bikes if using these routes on MTB-class.
There are five water points on the forest which are marked on the map and we expect that if hot weather continues as planned you might need more drinking water than usual. Note that the water of the lakes on the Hailuoto island are quite dark and water surface low so we recommend to use water posts provided by the organisers.
Last but not least there is prohibition of making fire during the race and also we suggest to take a bug / tick (punkki in Finnish) check when stopped for pause or finishing the race. Enjoy the unique views and have fun on the race!
On the behalf of the course setting team,
Marko Vapa
Seppo Mäkinen