Published August 2005

Eurocup Sprints to Italy and Belgium
5 August 2005 Helsinki
Miriam Cerutti and Erwin Borremans snatched the victories of the one kilometer sprint finals just ahead of the home favourites Anne-Maria and Hannu Vierikko, respectively. In both finals the top two finishers were clear already at the halfway mark. In the ladies' class Anne-Maria got a small gap to Miriam in the beginning. However, with the loudest portion of the cheering crowd being the team Italy, Miriam surprised with a very strong finish and overtook Anne-Maria on the home stretch. In the men's final Hannu tried to follow his familiar tactique, hanging behind the leader and finishing with a superior kick, but this time Erwin was too strong for the old champion.

At the indoor track there were altogether about thirty participants representing five different countries. The two-(wo)man 15 minute relay seemed more like a fun event from the spectators' viewpoint, although it restored the old kick order with Hannu Vierikko/Alpo Kuusisto covering the longest distance. In the kids' race Akseli Escartin proved to be soon ready to join the seniors, as his time would have placed eight in the men's time trial. The other juniors were not too far behind, so there is indeed hope that Finland's scootering might regain its positions at the highest place on the podium in the Eurocup races of the future.

Ladies' final
1. Miriam Cerutti Italy 2.27.90
2. Anne-Maria Vierikko Finland 2.28.28
3. Marjo Reijonen Finland 2.33.59

Men's final
1. Erwin Borremans Belgium 1.58.43
2. Hannu Vierikko Finland 1.58.96
3. Stefano Beltrando Italy 2.08.20

Sourche report http://www.potku.fi/kn/news.html (Esa Mononen)
Sourche photos: http://www.kickbike.com/

Sovereign winners in Eurocup Marathon Finland 2005
7 August2005 Espoo
After a fair Saturday of Kickbike XC activities the Sunday morning dawned dull and rainy. A fresh southernly wind scattered the cloud cover as the time for marathon start approached. The road surface, however, remained wet in the beginning and at the first turning point the current leader Anssi Lehtinen tried out the motorspeedway curve technique "an ear on the ground". Hannu Vierikko seemed to have learned something from the Friday's sprint finish, as he decided to kick away from the others already before the halfway mark. His winning time was as fast as the ones from the good old days, so Erwin Borremans found himself beaten by almost five minutes. Also Alpo Kuusisto, who is still short of form due to his knee injury, and Anssi Lehtinen finished in less than one and a half hour, which feat is sometimes considered a sign of a tough kicker.

On the Solvalla road there was a plenty of motor vehicles, which required caution of all kickers especially at the turning points. Maybe being used to the famous chaotic traffic of her home country gave Miriam Cerutti the guts to get rid of her opponents early in the race. Thus Miriam became the double champion of the Eurocup weekend. Many a domestic favourite didn't start at all to the ladies' half marathon race, so time differences behind the winner grew quite big. Marjo Reijonen and Karoliina Luoto took the other podium places. Some of the participants in the half marathon kicked a little extra by mistake after their race was actually already over, but as there were no tight sprint finishes, it could be logged as brisk cooldown.

One ought to take note of the full marathon performance of 12-year-old Henri Lehtinen as an example that hopefully encourages more two-hour marathoners to enter kick races. Another example for us aboriginal Finns was the dedication of Erwin, who was the soul of the weekend kicking in the leading pack on the race track as well as in the race organisation.

Ladies 21,1 km
1. Miriam Cerutti Italy 56.25
2. Marjo Reijonen Finland 1.03.17
3. Karoliina Luoto Finland 1.07.53

Men 42,2 km
1. Hannu Vierikko Finland 1.23.26
2. Erwin Borremans Belgium 1.28.15
3. Alpo Kuusisto Finland 1.29.19

Complete result list click at eurocup results > 2005 > Helsinki

Sourche report http://www.potku.fi/kn/news.html (Esa Mononen)
Sourche photos: http://www.kickbike.com/