Antti Hellsten Wins Päijänteen ympäriajo

Antti Hellsten Wins Päijänteen ympäriajo
It might be all but impossible to pronounce but Finland’s biggest enduro race – the Päijänteen ympäriajo – celebrated its 79th running last weekend, with former EWC racer Antti Hellsten claiming the win.
Starting on Saturday at 07:00 the ‘night break’ came at 22.00. Continuing on Sunday morning at 09:00 the race finally ended at 15:30 with competitors having covered close to 770km and competed in 24 special stages. The longest stage was 18km with the special tests combined totalling 187km. This year there was no snow, which was in stark contrast to last year’s event where the course was covered in at least 50cm of snow.

2 Jari Mattila

Antti Hellsten won the race for the first time. He lead from around stage six and held a three-minute lead at night break. During the closing stages he took it easy and won by two minutes and 16 seconds. Second was Jari Mattila, who overcame a slow start but got to second at the last night stage on Saturday.

Third was 18 years-old-Joni Kaivolainen, which was a surprise result. Kaivolainen lead the race early on, but lost the lead to Hellsten and second place to Mattila.

Fourth was Toni Eriksson and fifth Marko Tarkkala. Last year’s winner Roni Nikander broke one rib and sternum at stage six, but still finished in sixth place.

3 Joni Kaivolainen

Results – Päijänteen ympäriajo 2014

1. Hellsten Antti 4:51:34,52
2. Mattila Jari +02:16,16
3. Kaivolainen Joni +03:38,96
4. Eriksson Toni +04:43,22
5. Tarkkala Marko +05:07,23
6. Nikander Roni +05:41,31
7. Tontti Mikko +11:29,90
8. Pulkkinen Jari +13:43,55
9. Himmanen Henri +14:38,01
10. Ahola Niki +15:00,77

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