"Reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated"

When for the third time in a couple of decades the Helsinki invitational meet**, then an IAAF Grand Prix, disappeared from the international calendar last year it looked like the Finnish capital, the only city in the world to have hosted an Olympic Games and two IAAF World Championships in Athletics had lost its annual meeting for good. Well to slightly miss quote the famous words of author Mark Twain, "reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated".

Lucrative circuit

In 2008, two of the world’s oldest invitational meets, influences from which helped to shape the present international one-day circuit, will take on a new look as part of a revamped Finnish season.

The Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku which was founded in 1957, and the Helsinki Games, which was first held in the Finnish capital as the World Games in 1959, are to form part of a new national four meet circuit.

For the latter it will mark the first tentative steps back into existence for an annual fixture which was once a meeting of the highest international stature. As little time ago as 1998 it still played to crowds of 20,000+ and celebrated a World record (5000m – Haile Gebrselassie).

The top layer of the Finnish domestic season even when the Helsinki GP was in existence has long had its base in the country’s Elite Games Series which this year includes the EAA permit meeting in the town of Lappeenranta. This is a lucrative set of five meetings, each with a budget of 100,000 euros.

However, last autumn a seismic change took place in the Finnish calendar as some of the country’s top clubs based in the four major cities of Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Lahti decided after negotiation with the Finnish Federation to go it alone and set up a separate series called “4Athletics GP”.

The four organising clubs from those cities, whose members have between them won the majority of Finland’s staggering haul of 49 Olympic track and field titles, will in the process of this move take over sole control of their meetings’ finances and promotion, while arranging their dates to fit in a comfortable sequence with the Elite Games so that foreign athletes can compete in both.

Despite their new independence the 4Athletics GP will still remain firmly in the overall Finnish competition structure, forming part of the existing “Four Star Games” series which is the federation’s second rung circuit which already fed into the Elite Games.

Different prizes, different disciplines

Whereas the Elite Games are aimed primarily at international level Finnish, Baltic and Scandinavian athletes who compete against a selected group of invited world class foreign athletes at each meet, the Four Star Games series is aimed mainly at national top level athletes (national championship finalists) and similar level athletes from abroad.

The payment structure is good for both series with the best athlete for the entire Elite Games series being awarded 30,000 euros in prize money and the overall three best athletes for each event receiving 5000 – 3000 – 2000 euros. At each meeting the prize money for the three best will be 600 – 400 – 200 euros per each competition.

Each 4Athletics GP meet will offer prize money of 600 – 400 – 200 euros for the three best athletes in each event.

The athletics events offered by the Elite Games and 4Athletics GP will also be slightly different. The Elite Games will concentrate more on the sprints whereas the 4Athletics GP have a special “tour de Run” for distance runners. Also, the men’s Hammer Throw and women’s Pole Vault which currently are very interesting events for the Finns will be part of the 4Athletics GP programme, while other strong national disciplines such as the men’s and women’s Javelin throws, men’s Shot Put, Long Jumps and Discus Throw will be part of the Elite Games programme.   

From IAAF Grand Prix to a second string domestic meet, the new Helsinki meeting hardly represents a reawakening of an athletics giant but it is at least good to know that an annual Helsinki fixture of some importance is alive again. At least the Finnish capital which in 2005 was the first to receive the IAAF’s World Athletics City Award and every two years hosts the famous Finland vs Sweden match, that attracts crowds of over 60,000 to the Olympic stadium, will again have an annual meeting.

The Helsinki Games will be held at the Eläintarha stadium which has witnessed a dozen world records during its history, and was totally refurbished prior to the 2005 World Championships so it could act as the warm-up track for the nearby Olympic stadium.

Chris Turner for the IAAF

The calendar of meets

Elite Games: Sun 08.06. LAPUAN ELIITTIKISAT, Sun 06.07. KUORTANEEN ELIITTIKISAT, Wed 16.07. JOENSUUN ELIITTIKISAT, Sun 20.07. SAVO GAMES LAPINLAHTI, Sun 03.08. KARELIA GAMES LAPPEENRANTA.

Four Star Games: 11.6. Tampere (4GP), 17.6. Eurajoki, 20.6. Keuruu, 2.7. Turku (4GP), 9.7. Lahti (4GP), 13.7. Äänekoski, 14.8. Hämeenlinna, 26.8. Helsinki (4GP).

**NOTE: The Helsinki GP did not take place in 1993 and 2004 due to refurbishment of the Olympic stadium prior to the European champs and World champs of the following years.