FinLine 2008

Skating tour on the Finnish flat lands

Like exactly ten years ago (from Lahti to Lahti 1998), the FinLine route will form a complete loop this year. This time we head to the flattest district of Finland, the province of Ostrobothnia (Pohjanmaa). The starting and finishing city will be Vaasa.

The day trips vary from 70 to 90 km, and the total is around 380 km. On the day before, we will have a "prologue" skating trip to the beautiful Replot Island (Raippaluoto). After the years of hills in Lapland and the lake district, this FinLine is something different: this FinLine will be the flattest FinLine ever! If you are used to the Dutch terrain, this is probably something that you appreciate.

If you know that you are able to skate these kinds of day trips six days in a row, mark the event in your calendar. Because we will start the actual trip not earlier than on Tuesday, you can catch us even if you are attending the Le Mans 24 hours skating event.

Because we want to keep FinLine an intimate and cosy event and the quality of the accommodations as high as possible, the maximum amount of the participants is 30. We are happy that the amount of our international participants has increased during the years, and we welcome all nationalities to join us.

The registration will start during March 15th, 2008 and will be open until May 15th, 2008. There are still some places left, so do not hesitate or waste your time but register as soon as possible! You will not regret it.

Route and day program

If you like to stay in Finland longer and skate in Helsinki before or after the event, just inform us. There will be probably skaters that are interested to show you in the best skating routes in the Helsinki area.

What does it cost, and how do I pay?

When you have registered yourself and your registration has been confirmed, you need to pay the Street Gliders' membership fee (25 ¤) and the registration fee of FinLine (150 ¤). Pay them before May 15th using the following banking details (sorry, credit card payment is not possible):

Street Gliders must receive the full amount of money described above per participant. While paying the fees, ensure that you pay all the local and receiving bank commissions related to your payment.

The FinLine registration fee (150 ¤) covers the transportation from Helsinki to Vaasa and back, the services provided by the service vehicle, technical skating shirt, transportation of your luggage during skating, and the last night stay (July 5th to 6th) & breakfast in Vaasa.

Other hotels and all meals are paid directly to the service providers. 200–250 ¤ is usually enough for hotels and meals during FinLine. Street Gliders will not profit anything about the event. If the estimated registration fee is too large in relation to the true costs, the excess money will be used for the skaters during the event.

Note: FinLine skaters are not insured by Street Gliders. Please check carefully that your insurances cover skating in Finland. Helmet must be always worn when skating on FinLine (no excuses). The registration fee will not be refunded if your cancel your registration after the end of the registration period. It is recommended to take a suitable travel insurance to cover the costs if you cannot attend for some reason.

Are you still in doubt?

Photos: FinLine 1999.