Harness racing - and love - on the ice in Levi

An official harness race meeting is organised on ice for the first time since 1928. One happy couple says “I do” in honour of the event

Jouko Kangas

print this

By Antti Nieminen
     
      Finland "doesn't do" horse racing as such, at least not in the sense of thoroughbred flat racing on turf as found in Britain, France, the United States, or even occasionally in Sweden.
      On the other hand, harness racing or trotting is a popular sport, and a good deal of money is spent by punters on the outcome of races at dirt-track venues such as Vermo in Espoo.
      The races go on throughout the year, though with certain restrictions in very cold weather to protect the horses.
      One thing that has not happened, at least not for a long, long time, is official racing on one of the most common surfaces found in winter Finland - ice.
      That all changed at the weekend, and for one couple it was a reason to take drastic action.
     
A gentleman who has witnessed countless harness race meetings shakes his head in disbelief at what he hears through the loudspeaker system on the ice of the frozen Levi Lake in Lapland.
      The announcer declares that after having dated each other for a long time, a couple of harness race enthusiasts from the Central Finland community of Pihtipudas will be joined in holy matrimony.
     
”I have seen and heard all kinds of things at harness race events, but to think that someone decides to get married at one”, the man from Espoo says in astonishment.
      True. There have been all kinds of upsets (mostly involving hot favourites) at harness races, a popular form of horse racing in Finland and in some other parts of Europe, in which the horses race at a specific gait pulling two-wheeled carts called sulkies, but this time around the surprise took place in the winner's enclosure at the track even before the actual Arctic Horse Race Meeting had properly got going.
      “We met each other at the 2000 Midsummer harness race event in Vieremä. That is when I decided that if we ever get married that, too, should happen in connection with a harness race meeting”, explained Pertti Ihalainen, who on Sunday took Mervi Karlström to be his lawfully wedded wife.
      Ihalainen, 44, is a special needs teacher, an enthusiastic harness racing man and a gambling enthusiast.
      Karlström, who is ten years younger, works for an accounting firm and enjoys harness racing.
     
”We had talked about a wedding, but only on Sunday morning was the bride let in on the secret that today is the day. Fortunately she did turn me down”, Ihalainen laughed.
      If the sunny Sunday became unforgettable for Ihalainen and his wife, it was also memorable for the more than 3,600 harness racing fans who turned up to see the horses run.
      The first official harness race event organised on ice since way back in 1928 attracted large crowds to the main straight of the track on the ice of the Levi Lake, but also brought long lines to the betting windows.
      Friends Niina Ekman and Annukka Pasanen from Helsinki usually visit significant harness race events such as the Kuninkuusravit and the St. Michel race in Mikkeli.
      The Levi Arctic Horse Race Meeting was marked in the ladies’ calendars a long time ago, but the harness race was not the only reason for the friends to travel to the far north.
     
”We wanted to combine experiences. This is also our ski holiday. But so far we have only managed to ski around 20 kilometres because of some ski waxing difficulties”, Pasanen explained.
      The duo praised the rediscovered idea of organising a harness race event on ice.
      “This is a bloody marvellous event. The service works, as does the transportation. Everything is in tip-top order.”
     
The Levi meeting was conceived by the harness racing people from the northern communities of Kittilä and Rovaniemi, together with the harness racing organiser Hippos, the parimutuel horse betting company Fintoto, and the parties responsible for tourism in Levi, which is a major winter sports venue in its own right.
     
Long-time harness racing enthusiast and trainer Jouko Kangas from Kittilä is one of the central figures in the team that put the event together.
      “The idea of organising a race on ice has been brewing for a long time. The ultimate spark came when I was walking some horses in the centre of Levi a year ago. People came to talk to me and were genuinely interested. First we thought about organising something on a small scale, but eventually we thought that we might as well market the event properly.”
     
Finding race sponsors is often a frustrating and laborious business. Coming up with cooperation partners for the Arctic Horse Race Meeting was surprisingly simple.
      “In the end we just ran out of races. Not all the willing parties managed to get a start named after them”, Kangas explained with a huge grin.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 25.3.2011


Links:
  Harness racing (Wikipedia)
  Levi
  Suomen Hippos
  Fintoto

ANTTI NIEMINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
antti.nieminen@hs.fi