There are several details concerning the organizing of Ruka Nordic Opening and we would like to share some of them with you! Ruka wishes you all warmly welcome to Nordic Opening!

Here is few facts about Ruka Nordic Opening…

… Ruka Nordic Opening has been organized 8 times

… Ruka Nordic Opening is the northernmost Cross Country, Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping World Cup event in the world

… about 2500 people have been accredited to the Nordic Cup

… people arriving to the Nordic Opening are using the airports of Kuusamo, Oulu and Rovaniemi

… there are over 20 000 beds in Ruka area and around 40 000 beds in whole Kuusamo area

… during the competition weekend, accommodations are nearly fully booked in 5 kilometers distance from Ruka centre.  Though, you might find some rooms available. If you travel little longer distance there will be more options left. 

… about 20 000 visitors are expected to come and see the competitions during the weekend

… SkiBus drives between Ruka and Kuusamo area with extra shifts

… about 400 athletes arrive to Ruka; the total is about 800 with team officials

… teams are coming from 28 different countries

… teams are staying approx. 5 days in Ruka

… about 400 media representatives will be expected to Ruka

… about 650 volunteers are working in Ruka Nordic Opening

… during the competition days there will be about 14 000 working hours done by volunteers

… during the cross country skiing there will be 5 km track which is used in different lengths and variations in different competitions

… Ski Jumping Hill HS142 is the second biggest K120 Hill in the world and the biggest Hill, which can be used around the year

… preparations and snow making for the skiing tracks started about a month ago

… about 700 square meters of tent structures are built at the competition area

... about 1000 kg of sausages are served during the events at the spectator area 

Did you know about the television production, that…

… the host broadcaster is YLE, with the team of 132 employees

… there is about 10 km of camera cables for the Cross Country Skiing, 3 km for Ski Jumping and many kilometers of other cables

… YLE has four broadcasting vans and two satellite trucks at Ruka Nordic Opening

… 20 television cameras for the Cross Country Skiing and 12 for Ski Jumping guarantee a successful broadcasting of the event

… preparations for the television production on spot was started on Wednesday morning and nearly everything was ready on Thursday

… host broadcaster will take care of three signals: domestic competition signal and international signals for Skiing and Ski Jumping

… competition will be shown in 10 countries including Finland and also via Eurosport. Eurovision will take care of the international satellite broadcasting.

… television coverage is estimated to reach 100 million people

… the same crew from YLE will travel to Vancouver Olympics and they are responsible of international television production of Cross Country Skiing, which is shown all around the world

… YLE has been responsible of different host broadcasting productions for winter and summer Olympic Games since 1984

… also German Television is highly visible at Ruka; they have a crew of 70 

Facts about Ruka and Kuusamo: www.Ruka.fi

Text: Raila Puurunen

www.nordicopening.com