Winter Viking Games 2003

Team of the Viking-Nevo club is the winner of the Winter Viking Games 2003!

In March of the year 2003 the fifth jubilee international Winter Viking Games took place in Finland. As before Russia was represented at the Games by the Viking-Nevo club from Smolensk. The club kept the previous year team which had great three-year experience of successful skiing in this competition. Preparation for the Winter Viking Games began long before the start. The club-members made several pairs of skis, new details of clothing and equipments. During the winter the Viking-Nevo team held intensive trainings where the new skis and ski-binding were tested and the technique of bow-shooting and ski-changing were improved. The Viking-Nevo team was going to Finland with only one goal — to repeat the result of the year 2001 and win the Winter Viking Games again.

The Viking-Nevo team of the year 2003:

• Max Pryazhevsky,
• Tanya Suhoruchenkova,
• Olga Titova,
• Sergey Suhoruchenkov.

Nine teams took part in the Winter Viking Games in 2003 — seven from Finland, the Viking-Nevo team from Russia and one Estonian team participating for the first time. There were a lot of rivals for the Viking-Nevo team — one of the favorites of the Games. The Estonian team looked strong and was unknown for everyone. Among the Finnish teams the young Vikings from the Grey Wolves team (winners of 1999 and 2000); always good at skiing Rus-farers team and, of course, the Warangians team, the last year champion of the Games — were notable as usual.

The weather presented a nice sunny winter day for everyone this time. The Vikings started the race with the first sounds of horn. After the start all the participants were skiing in one big group with many falls and outruns. Petri Rantapää from Warangians and Max Pryazhevsky from Viking-Nevo became the leaders of the group. They were the first who came to the shooting line and after excellent shooting sent their teams to the next stage with a big distance ahead the main group of Vikings. After that only Warangians and Viking-Nevo teams were fighting for the victory.

Tanya Suhorutchenkova from Viking-Nevo missed the target twice and got the penalty round on the second stage. It was the chance for Warangians to become the leaders but their girl Taina Mannila also missed the target and had to ski a penalty round. The good bow-shooting and fast ski-changing became very important in such rivalry. At the next stages Vikings from both teams were shooting without mistakes but because of faster ski-changing Viking-Nevo was making the distance from Warangians bigger and bigger. As a result Sergey Suhorutchenkov finished the race first and the Viking-Nevo team became the winner of the fifth international Winter Viking Games!

Final standings:

1. Viking-Nevo club (Smolensk, Russia),
   Max Pryazhevsky, Tanya Suhoruchenkova, Olga Titova, Sergey Suhoruchenkov
2. Warangians (Finland),
3. Rus-farers (Finland),
4. Grey Wolves (Finland),
5. Reaslaiset (Estonia),
   prize for the best ancient clothing and equipment
6. NEFA (Finland),
7. Viikinkiajan Laiva (Finland),
8. Ihtiriekko (Finland),
9. Ango (Finland).

On the rewarding ceremony the challenge prize of the Winter Viking Games was presented to the Viking-Nevo team and following a good tradition everybody could taste some Russian drink from it. The prize for the best ancient clothing and equipment was awarded to the Estonian Vikings from the Reaslaiset team. The Viking-Nevo team took an active part and in culture program. Tanya Suhorutchenkova was cooking Russian pancakes on the fire and Olga Titova was making wooden spoons for all comers. The big surprise for the Viking-Nevo team became the trip to Sweden organized by Finnish friends after the Games.

The main prize of the Winter Viking Games leaves for Smolensk again. After one year it will take its place in the city museum. The team of the Viking-Nevo club thanks a lot for the invitation and for the warm hospitality the organizers of the Winter Viking Games (Sommelo Association) and also Arvo Reijonen, Seppo Suhonen, Pentti Yrjänäinen and Topi Tapaila.