Katukiitäjät ry (Street Gliders) is a Finnish inline skating association that was founded in Helsinki in 1991. The members consists of very wide variety of people that are interested in inline skating.
FinLine has become an annual event and the main idea of it is to skate as a group somewhere in Finland for five days. FinLine takes place during the first week of July and the length of this journey has been the last few years around 400 500 km. There is one car with the skaters, and it is loaded with some refreshments and the personal baggages of the skaters. Thus, the skaters do not to need carry anything else except for their personal drink bottles while skating. Skaters usually sleep over in the hotels that are booked beforehand. This year though, two nights are spent in cottages of the camping areas.
There has been eight FinLines altogether. The FinLine 2000 is from Kuopio to Tampere that will make approximately 430 km. FinLine lasts for six or seven days depending on whether you want to take part to a so called bonus trip. The bonus trip is a bit longer and it usually ends up to Helsinki. In FinLine, the average speed is around 20 km per hour, but there are always different groups for skaters of different desires and abilities. Usually, the day trip varies between 65 and 130 km.
The number of FinLine skaters per year varies between 20 and 30. Especially in small villages it can be hard to find accommodation for larger groups. Secondly, more skaters on public roads means bigger risks while routes aren't closed for normal traffic. This year there will be 30 participants altogether and for the first time there will be some foreign participants as well. The only requirements in attaining FinLine are that you are a member of our association (FIM 150 / year) and that you are accustomed to skate more than just around few corners a week. In Finland, we "test" newcomers so that they join one of our trips that usually takes place in May. The length of that trip is approximately 60 km.
As in the year 2001 is the 10th time that FinLine is arranged, there are preliminary plans for skating through Finland (appr. 1500 km), from the northest city Nuorgam (or Kilpisjarvi) to the southest one, Hanko. That year, FinLine exceptionally lasts for two weeks.
Note: The facts are given above as they
were in June 2000.