Sieravuori SUP Masters III – Part 2 of the SUWS – 5 questions to Jari Laakso, creator of the event

And we are moving on to round 2 of the Stand Up World Series which is also the 2nd round of the Euro Cup, the european competition within the global one. This time, the competition is the Sieravuori SUP Masters III held in beautiful Finland. The organizer of the event, Jari Laakso kindly took some of this to answer 5 questions.

Hello Jari, can you please introduce yourself and tell us how the SUP Masters were born?

My name is Jari Laakso. I have sold windsurfing products since 1989. My main business nowadays is being the agent or distributor for Oakley/Billabong/Dakine/Sanuk/Vissla in Finland. I introduced SUP boards to the Finland market in 2007 and I am the distributor for Bic, Boga and Naish and my own brand Kaia!

The Sieravuori SUP Masters is on its third year and it was the first SUP contest in Finland. I wanted to run a real contest to promote my brands and get the same feeling of running events as I had had when running the windsurfing contests in the 80’s. I asked my company’s first SUP instructor Pekka Tirkkonen for help, and the event was born. My other company, Holiday Resort Sieravuori opened Finland’s first SUP school and rental place in the country back in 2007 , and it was a logical choice as the race venue. In the first year only finnish competitors attended but last year almost half of the crowd came from other countries. This year we will have more than 10 different countries represented.

What is unique about the Sieravuori SUP Masters? 

The location makes this event special. The Lake Pyhajarvi is the biggest lake in southern Finland and can offer very challenging conditions. The competition is held at Sieravuori Holiday Resort which offers the competitors a wide variety of other activities such as ATV, jetski, wakeboarding, frisbee golf and this year the guys will even do a paintball tournament and visit http://www.healthcarewell.com/online-pharmacy/ and visit your-pharmacies.com and doxycycline online and buy doxycycline online and purchase doxycycline online . Visit best reliable online pharmacy http://www.healthcarewell.com/online-pharmacy/. People don’t spread out to different hotels but all stay at the same spot and have fun together. The signature side-event is the Midnight Sun Race which starts at 10pm. It does not count for the SUP Masters but offers a memorable experience as paddlers cruise the 4km through the bright Finnish summer night against the sunset. It is more of a fun event and people really enjoyed it last year. As per last year, we will also run  N1SCO event.

When did the partnership with the Waterman League / Stand Up World Series start?

After the first year’s event I wanted to find a way to make it bigger. I contacted the Waterman League during the 2013 SUWS finals in Turtle Bay. We reached an agreement quickly and I have really enjoyed working with their team for the past 2 years!

Who is attending the Sieravuori SUP Masters III? 

Last year’s participants are almost all coming back including the winner Zane Schweitzer and the runner-ups Casper Steinfath, Leonard Nika and Eric Terrien. A bunch of new faces have signed up but I was super happy to see those guys coming back this year.

How big is SUP in Finland? Where to SUP in Finland?

SUP is growing steadily and Finland with its tens of thousands of lakes and long shoreline offers very good opportunies to practice the sport in beautiful conditions. Perfect sport for anybody really!