Hello!
I never made it to the fall harvest festival in Kuopio this weekend. I was too lazy to go anywhere on Saturday and I just chilled at home. It felt good just to rest and do nothing. But on Sunday I got tired of lounging around and I wanted to get out of the house. Since the weather was good my friend Klaara and I decided to go check out this summer's most bizarre yet hilarious sports event. We went to see Mikko Pirinen long jump challenge. Yeah, you thought the same thing that I did. Who the f*** is Mikko Pirinen??
It all started when two friends Mikko and Janne got together one night this summer. Janne told Mikko that he had won gold in long jump back at elementary school in 1979. His score had been 310cm (122 inches). Mikko tought that Janne's score was nothing and that he could easily jump further than that even though it had been years since their school days. Simple as that, the bet was on.
Before the boys, or should I say old men had realized, their bet had spread like wild fire on Facebook. Over thousand people said they wanted to witness the bet. Soon after that local celebrities and athletes were interested, and the rest was history. The bet they had made early July had turned into a huge charity event in the end of August. All the proceeds went for Kime for kids charity association.
It couldn't have been a better day to do some good for a kid's charity. The sun was shining and eventually over 2500 people showed up to watch the bet to take place! Before the actual bet a famous local singer sang Finlandia hymn to start the show. They also lit up the official Mikko Pirinen long jump challenge fire as well as had couple local ski jumpers to act as test jumpers for the event.
To keep the audience well fed and happy, Atria ( local meat maker) had donated 100kg of sausages to be grilled and served with some soda pop. They also had a balloon artist to make kids different shapes out of balloons. Everybody could donate some money for the food and balloons.
Unfortunately Mikko was not able to jump over 310cm. He had three tries and all of them fell under Janne's golden jump. To rub salt into the wound, after Mikko had had his try, Janne jumped and showed how it was done. His new score was 327cm.
Unfortunately Mikko was not able to jump over 310cm. He had three tries and all of them fell under Janne's golden jump. To rub salt into the wound, after Mikko had had his try, Janne jumped and showed how it was done. His new score was 327cm.
After the jumping part was done, Mikko and Janne challenged the whole audience to do some more charity. A local gym had promised to donate 0,50 euros for each person from the audience who completed to run around the track. Many people took part to the challenge and went around the track once.
What a fun event to take part in! I was glad Klaara and I decided to bike our butts downtown Kuopio to see this challenge. I have some pictures from the event but some of them are crappy since we were quite far from the jumpers. But I just wanted to give an idea what went on at the stadium yesterday afternoon. I hope you enjoy as much as we did.
My sausage with ketchup and mustard.
Klaara and I waiting for the jumpers.
Over 2500 people came to witness the bet.
Mikko and his hometown flag.
Janne in a golden track suit brought over the official event fire.
Janne happy after he lit the fire (a.k.a crappy little grill filled with firewood).
Ready for the jumps.
Ski jumpers Hautamäki and Happonen acted as test jumpers.
Then it was Mikko's turn to jump. It didn't go so well.
Here's Janne showing how it is done.
Here's the audience doing their part of the challenge and running around the track.
Happy Monday Everyone!! Do some good today!!
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