Finland is getting ready to organize the international annual motorbike gathering – the 69th FIM Rally - in city of Tampere.
Northern lights, thousands of lakes, pure forests and nightless nights – that´s what Finland is best known of. This beautiful Scandinavian nature is also what the Finns want to show to their FIM Rally guests next summer when the event comes to Finland for the second time. The first time when the country hosted the event was in 1988 when city of Kuopio was the main point of the action. For the next years´ event it is expected that about 2 000 motorcyclists from about 30 countries will come to Tampere, the city of 218 000 inhabitants situated in southern west of Finland.
At the event, which is also known as touring riders´ world championship competition, Finland is going to highlight beside its pure and beautiful nature also the recycling and environmental aspects, which these days are important part of the whole FIM.
Finnish people love and appreciate a lot the nature around us, describes one of the organizers Maija Seitz from Touring Finlandia Motorcycle Club. - We actually spend a lot of time in the forests where we pick berries and mushrooms or ski during the winter time. This is something we want to share with our FIM Rally guests. Some of them actually got a little foretaste of Finnish culture at the FIM Rally Epernay where we had a great spot with tent sauna and skies. Every day many people visited our stand and we gave them salmiac aperitifs, Nordic berries, vendaces and rye nachos. Everyone seemed to be really excited to come to Finland, Seitz rejoices.
The Härmälä camping area, which will be the main accommodation place of the event, is a perfect place for the event as it is situated by the lake in beautiful landscape but also close to the Tampere city centre.
The FIM Rally has long traditions as it has been organized since 1936. However the Finns would like to bring also a glimpse of modern twist to the event.
We want to appreciate the great history of the FIM Rally but also fascinate younger generation. It is extremely important that we will get new faces involved and we are planning our programme the way that it interests everyone, no matter what´s the age, Seitz tells.
Finland plans to take the FIM Rally guests for example to the relaxing cruise to see the breath taking lake sceneries. 24 per cent of Tampere's surface area is water and there are 160 lakes in Tampere. The largest lakes are lake Pyhäjärvi and lake Näsijärvi. Beside nature and tranquillity Tampere also offer culture, theatre, rock, cafés and nightlife.Tampere, the largest inland centre in the Nordic countries and a centre of leading-edge technology, research, education, culture, sports and business also offers many other attractions. Särkänniemi Adventure Park with over 30 rides offering wild whirls, gentle swaying and other fun experiences spiced with sprays of water, for example. Also a big music festival called Tammerkosken Sillalla is organized at the same time with FIM Rally in Tampere.
As Finland is situated in northern Europe the FIM Rally guests have many different options how to reach the country.
There are actually three main options how to come to Finland from middle of Europe. One is to take a direct ferry from Germany, for example from Rostock or Lübeck. The other one is to ride via Denmark and Sweden and take a ferry from Stockholm, which takes about 12 hours to Helsinki or to Turku. The shortest ferry route, about two hours, will be from Tallinn, which means that then the riders will also visit Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. So the journey up here is for sure also really exciting!, Seitz hints.
FIM RALLY
The first international annual motorbike gathering FIM Rally was held in 1935 in Brussels. It was organized by FIdCM (Federation Internationale des Club Motocyclistes), a member of FIM International Motorcycling Federation. The FIM Rally is the FIM´s most important annual tourism meeting. About 2 000 motorcycle riders from more than 30 different countries join the meeting that usually takes several days. During the event the riders visit the surroundings of the location that hosts the rally.
The 69th FIM Rally will be organized in Tampere, Finland 28th of June - 4th of July 2014. The official event days will be 1st-3rd of July 2014.
To get more information visit: www.fimrally2014.com
Registration to the FIM Rally will be done via your motorcycle club or national federation.