Captain's Log after Le Mans

The Finn (JP) in last lap

On be half of the Nordic Le Mans team I want to thank all team members, families behind the skaters, our sponsors and of course our 24 hours coach, Tiit Idarand. Many thanks also to Stockholm Speedskaters, who shared the same hotel and pit stop with us. I am pretty sure that we will see our Swedish friends next winter in Sweden. (24 hours race on ice speed skating)
Nordic Le Mans team members wants to share the 24 hours race experience and now every week one team member will tell about their own feelings from the race in this blog. I hope every reader can find some information that will be useful in the future if/when participating in 24 hours race.
For me personally the Le Mans 24 hours race was a dream that started 3 years ago and now I can say that we went there, we did it and who know´s maybe we will return to Le Mans some day. Will that day be next year or not, I can not say yet. But as it says in a famous milk add here in Finland: "There is a small 24 hours race experience living in my heart" :)

Happy End in Le Mans 2008!

The Nordic team from the left: Esa Klaavu, Risto Laitinen, Esa Kymäläinen, Juha Heikkilä, JP Huippula, Anneli Kymäläinen, Tiit Idarand (Coach), Juha Ruokonen, Olli Sjö, Jaakko Ajanki and Esa Lottanen.

Nordic Le Mans team ranked 2nd in Master series and the over all result was 13 of all teams. Average speed of the team was 32.6 km/h and total laps 186 (187). The Nordic team has returned to Finland and will be ready to take part to the national champion chips next weekend (track competition).

All results can be found from:

http://www.philippides.fr/IMG/pdf/Res24H_Scratch.pdf

Nordic team in Le Mans!

The Nordic Le Mans team has landed to Le Mans France. Tomorrow is the final preparation day before the start on Saturday. The weather is nice and warm and the roads are smooth and fast!

Now you can still make a wild guess and win! Try to guess how many km´s the Nordic Le Mans team will skate in 24 hours? Make a guess and send your estimation to address: newsletter(at)frwd.com
Add your name, e-mail address and phone number and send your "bet" by 27th of June. 10 persons can win good prices; skating wheels, t-shirts, energy products and one lucky person will win a warm up suite! See more from the FRWD newsletter:

http://www.frwd.fi/index.php?46&cmsshow=70;news

Team meeting 17 - 18.5.2008

The Nordic Le Mans team had a two day training event last weekend in Salo Finland. The spirit in the team was good, even 3 team members are suffering slight injuries. The main goal of the team is near in the end of June. See more from the 24 hours race: http://www.24rollers.com/

The team trainings last weekend had a technical and mental aspect but the high light of the trainings was the team race held on Sunday 18th. The race was held in a place called "Rock of Esa". And the name "Rock of Esa" was right, Esa "Blues" Lottanen was the fastest and Esa "Spillage Kick" Klaavu took the second place.

New partner in the Le Mans team!

L’équipe Nordic pour le Mans à le plaisir de de vous présenter son nouveau partenaire: www.comatis.com. Comatis est une société spécialisée dans la radio transmission numérique pour des applications industrielles fixes ou mobiles en France et à l´étranger!

The Nordic ID Le Mans team proudly presents the new partner for the team: www.comatis.com. Comatis is a specialist in the radio digital transmission for fixed or mobile industrial applications in France and as well as abroad!

Le Mans team in Espoo!

The Nordic Le Mans team in Espoo + in the front, the team "pet" (Juuso Klaavu)

The Nordic Le Mans team had a group training last Sunday in Espoo Finland. The weather was nice and perfect during the skating session (1.5 hours) because the trainings were held indoors! All the team members are already waiting for the summer and the atmosphere inside the team is clear:
"In Le Mans we will perform as a team!"

In Espoo the inline skating trainings had four main goals:
1) get skating experience
2) learn to know better your team mates
3) have fun
4) hard exercise...


After the skate experience the whole team enjoyed a hard floor ball game, but without any major injuries....:)

Team trainings coming up soon!

"Turbo-Diesel" and "Spillage Kick" are waiting for the hard trainings with a smile.

The Nordic Le Mans team will join togehter with inline skates in Esport Arena 26.1.2008. In Esport Arena you can find a 370m track for skating. There is less than 6 monts to the start in Le Mans, so it is vital for the team members to get inline skating experience also during the winter time. The winter in Finland has been more like rainy autumn so far but of course we hope to see some snow still in February...

Le Mans 2008 Team presentation

Team member nro 1:

Anneli "Empress" Kymäläinen
Age: 36
Club: Salon Viesti
Skates: Custom Bont Vaypor 2006
Speed accelerator: Salon Rakennus ja Saneeraus
Best marathon time: 1.22.22 (Hannover-Celle 2007)
Hobbies: Inline Skating, Speedskating
Goal in Le Mans 2008: Help the team to victory and beat as many guys as possible,
training for that has already started...

Team member nro 2:

Juha "Thigh" Heikkilä
Age: 36
Club: Salon Viesti
Skates: Custom Bont Pyrotechnics 2003
Speed accelerator: Satel
Best marathon time: 1.18.54 (Saarbrucken 2005)
Hobbies: Inline skating, Speedskating, mountain biking
Goal in Le Mans 2008: Maintain maxium speed in uphills and leave others behind...

Team member nro 3:

Jaakko "The Doctor" Ajanki
Age: 55
Club: Salon Viesti
Skates: Custom Bont Vaypor 2006
Speed accelerator: Satel
Best marathon time: 1.18.01 (Hannover -Celle 2007)
Hobbies: Inline skating, Speedskating, Gym
Goal in Le Mans 2008: Make the best skate ever and give a lesson to the "children"

Team member nro 4:

Esa "Salt leg" Kymäläinen
Age: 36
Club: Salon Viesti
Skates: Custom Bont Vaypor 2007
Speed accelerator: Nordic ID
Best marathon time: 1.09.20 (Hannover - Celle 2007)
Hobbies: Inline skating, Speedskating, butterfly collector, humming
Goal in Le Mans 2008: Help team mates to perform their best and try to keep own legs moving 24 hours..