Sauna endurance competitions continue despite fatality at world championships last year

print this

Sauna endurance competitions have not ended in Finland, even though one person died of the activity last year. On Friday, a group of 16 sauna enthusiasts started a two-day Saimaa Löylycup in Rautjärvi in South Karelia.
      The Saimaa Sauna Society organised the traditional event, even though the Sauna World Championships in Heinola ended disastrously last August when a Russian competitor died and one of his Finnish rivals was seriously injured in the finals.
     
Saimaa Sauna Society chairman Ilkka Pöyhiä says that as far as he knows, the competition is the only one of its kind in the summer. The City of Heinola decided to stop organising the world championship event.
      The first evening of the Löylycup competition brought competitors to a traditional smoke sauna from around the country. The defending champion, Timo Kaukonen, who was seriously injured in Heinola last year, did not take part.
     
The rules were the same as before: half a litre of water on the stove once every 30 seconds, and the last to leave the benches is the winner.
      “If it feels like you’re not doing well, leave immediately”, Pöyhiä noted.
      The participants managed to endure the 100°C heat for a few minutes.
     
First-time competitor Antti Rapanen from Imatra became interested in competitive sauna bathing through his wintertime swimming hobby.
      Last summer’s death did not worry him too much.
      Timo Koskela from Helsinki said that there are potential hazards in other types of competition as well. One runner died in the closing stages of the Helsinki City Run mass-event a few weeks ago.
      “Every type of competition stays under control if you keep common sense in mind.”


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Russian finalist dies at Sauna World Championships (10.8.2010)
  Surviving sauna finalist Timo Kaukonen overcomes serious injuries (26.10.2010)
  Man injured in sauna world championships does not blame competition organisers (25.10.2010)
  Police finally question injured Sauna World Championship finalist (7.10.2010)

See also:
  The smoke sauna is a fundamentally Finnish institution (28.4.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat