Today we had the elite competition in Nottwil. The conditions were great, as the temperature was around +25 celsius, and the sun was shining.

My first race was 100m at around 9:30AM. For some reason I felt a bit sleepy before the race, and wasn't able to give all I would've got otherwise. My time was 18,46s on a very mild +0,1m/s tail wind, so it is 0,29s slower than my best this season.

The next race was 400m after a little over an hour's rest. Apparently the 100m race had finally woken me up, and the 400m went wery nicely from start to finish. Eventually I won the heat, and my time was 1.02,25, which is a new Finnish national record in class T34. The previous NR was 1.02,60 dating back from year 2006, so it was a high time to break that. :)

The last race of my day was 200m after about two hours rest. I have to admit that the 400 was still feeling pretty badly in my body. The first 40-50 meters felt really tough, but then things started to go a bit better. Eventually I finished second in the heat by the time of 32,51s on a mild +0,4m/s tail wind. This means that I beat my own previos national record by 0,03 seconds.

All in all this was a good day for me. Yesterday I wasn't feeling too confident about today, because I had a bit bit of a fever during the evening. But fortunately it didn't affect on today's performance too much.

My next races will take place in Seinäjoki, Finland in September 3rd-4th, when the Finnish national champs for the disabled will be held. I'm pretty confident that I can still do better at least on 200m, if the conditions are favorable.

After a bit disappointing last weekend in Turku I have concentrated on fixing the steering of my chair, which broke during the 200m race on Sunday, and resulted a disasterous time 35,32s. That is by far the worst 200 I've done in many years even in the wet races.

But the steering is ok now, and it's time to prepare for the next races in Nottwil, SUI, next Saturday. We arrived here today, and got a little glimpse of the brand new Mondo track. It seems to be pretty fast, at least a little faster than the one in Turku. So I'm hoping for some good times on Saturday. Let's just hope that this little cold(ish) feeling I'm having now isn't forcing me to skip any of the races. I'm planning to do the races from 100m to 400m, so let's hope for the best, that I can beat this cold before that.

Yesterday I had the 200m race in Stoke Mandeville. Unfortunately the wind conditions were quite bad for the 200, as there was blowing quite a gusty head wind all day, which came a bit from the side. If I remember correctly, there was a -4,2m/s wind on some of the races.

But this time I had a bit better luck with the winds, because during our race the wind was blowing "only" at -1,4m/s. Technicwise, I managed to do probably the best ever 200m in those conditions, but naturally any hopes about new PBs had to be thrown away. But anyway, I finished 3rd in the race and my time was 32,83s which is just 0,29s slower than my PB done a bit over a week ago. So I'm very happy with the result.

All in all, time spent here in Stoke was well worth it. We got some very good results here, but unfortunately I wasn't able to show my best bacause of the head winds. But, the races during the weekend really showed me, that it is possible for me to break my PBs on both 100m and 200m, if the winds are even a little more favorable. This gives me a lot more confidence to continue this summer season.

Now it's time to head back home to Finland, and next weekend we'll be racing in Turku at Kaleavn Kisat. So see you then folks!

We had the first races in Stoke Mandeville today. My first race was 100m, which had to be done on quite a tough (-1,9m/s) head wind. Anyway, I managed to finish third in the race, by a very good time considering the wind conditions, 18,45s. That is only 0,28s slower than my SB which was done on a good tail wind.

The preparation to the 400m race was full of unfortunate things for me. When heading to the calling room, I had a punctured tire, and we were in a real hurry to fix that. In that hassle, something happened to the steering of my chair, and it turned quite a bit to the left during the race. Because of that I was DQ'd on 400m.

But we got the steering fixed after today's competition. Now I'm really looking forward to the 200m race tomorrow. Knowing from the 100m race, if we have a little better luck with the wind lottery tomorrow, I know it's possible for me to break my PB on the very fast track here.

The absolute top moment of the Finnish team today was the 100m race of class T51, where Toni Piispanen broke the current World record by his time 21,64s. Many congrats to Toni!

The Finnish team came to Stoke Mandeville on Monday, and now we've been getting used to the local climate, and most of all, the track.

For myself, time here has been great. Two training sessions which I've done here have gone just as planned, recovering from the travelling and such. I haven't done any tough sessions yet. Today I have a rest day, and the training continues tomorrow, when I'm gonna pick up some more speed still, but still concentrating fully on the races during the weekend.

The track here is very fast, and as they are forecasting good tail winds for the weekend, I'm really hoping for some new PBs especially on 100m and 200m races. We are gonna have a good competition in my class, as all T43 racers from the Netherlands will be here during the weekend.

So all in all, everything is going great right now, I'll be back on Sunday at latest! See ya!

I had a competition in my home town today, at a national competition Lepin Leiskautukset.

The first race was 100m, which wasn't quite what I was expecting. At the start, the old injury with my right wrist started to bug me a bit. So that affected on the acceleration quite a lot. But considering the slight head wind (-0,3m/s) and all, I'm pretty pleased with my time, 18,38s.

I had to tape the wrist before the 200m race. With the tape on, the hand wasn't painful anymore. So I was able to go all out at the race. Finally my time on a slight head wind (-0,6m/s this time) was 32,54s, which is 0,26s better than my previous Pb and the T34 Finnish national record!

This gives me great confidence before leaving for a week-long training camp in Stoke Mandeville. We will also have the BWAA competitions there next Saturday and Sunday, where I'll be doing the races from 100m to 400m.

So see you all next week!

Yesterday we were compiting at the sprint carnivals in Jämsänkoski, where we had three races, from 100m to 400m. The conditions were pretty good and I'm quite pleased with the times I did there.

The 100m was the first race of the day. The wind was quite optimal for the race (+1,4m/s). The only thing I'm not happy with in this race, was that I had quite a powerless start, which, I think affected quite a lot on the time. But anyway, I managed to do my SB 18,17s, which is my all-time third best time on 100m.

After about an hour's rest we had the 200m race. Knowing the wind conditions from the 100, I was hoping for a good result on this. But unfortunately, it started raining about half an hour before that... So, then there wasn't a chance for that good times. My time was 33,79s, which is 0,99s slower than my PB, 32,80s. But anyway, the time is my best ever on a wet race by quite margin, so at least this tells me it wasn't a mistake to make a new chair considering the coming races. But of course this makes me wonder what could the time have been, ha it been a dry race... Well, better luck next time in Lapin Leiskautukset in about three week's time.

The last race of the day was 400m. I didn't have that much of expectations for that one, since I haven't been training for 400m at all. So it was all about getting a result on quite windy conditions for me. The hard head wind on the first 200m killed me, so I didn't have much left on the home strech. Eventually my time was 65,15s. So, better luck next time on this, too.

All the results from the carnivals can be seen in http://www.aitakarnevaalit.net/tulokset/2011sunnuntai/ (in Finnish... Word "pyörätuolikelaus" means wheelchair racing :D )

So all in all, this was a very promising day considering all the injuries and stuff that I've had after the Worlds. Maybe I still can get into some kind of a shape even during this season. :)

As said earlier, my next race will take place in a little less than three weeks in my home town Rovaniemi. The current plan is to do all three races there, too, but let's see what the final decision is when I get to discuss with my coach about it.

On Thursday I had my last race here in Christchurch, as we had the 400m final. For me that was a really painfull race, but anyway I was able to finish it with the help of our great physio Maarit and doctor Vesa. They taped my arm and I finished seventh by time 64,83s. I'm really happy about the time, as my only goal was to finish the race despite the bad pain in my ar. The official results of the race can be found from http://202.50.239.38/results/ATM43143150000001..C73A.ENG.1.2.pdf.

So as the competition is over for my now, it's time for some well-earned holiday from training. Tomorrow we will have the closing ceremony here and on early Monday morning we'll begin our trip back home.

See ya soon again!

Yesterday afternoon I had the 100m final race. For me, the race didn't go as planned at all...

I had quite a good start, but after about 30-40 metere my right wrist, already hurt in Monday's heats, strained again. And this time really painfully... So basically that was it for my race.

I limped to the finish, though, and finished seventh by time 18,70s. But I'm now pleased at all, because without the injury I would've had good chanses all the way to the fourth place, I think.

But that's it for explaining, what happened, happened and that's it. The official results can be seen in http://202.50.239.38/results/ATM13013050000001..C73A.ENG.1.0.pdf.

The 400m final will be raced tomorrow. I was sort of lucky there was a few withdrawals from the 400m race in my class, and that the competition is a straight final now. Because now I have one day to try and get my hand a bit better, and tomorrow we will tape it up so that I can try participating in the final. But naturally, any hopes for some good time is now gone. My only goal in the race now is to try and finish it.

Today I had the 100m heats, and I gualified to the tomorrow's final as expected. Though it was quite close, as I hurt my right hand a bit at the start and couldn't put absolutely everything in at the race. But the most important thing for now is achieved, though, and tomorrow I'll promise put everything I have in play.

100m heats results can be found from http://202.50.239.38/results/ATM13013010000000..C74A.ENG.1.0.pdf.

The 200m final yesterday was quite a gamble, because about only a minute before our start, a slight drizzle started, and that affected a bit on most of us. In the end, I finished sixth by a very moderate time 35,20s.

Otherwise yesterday was a great day for Finnish racers, as Leo-Pekka Tähti won the gold medal in class T54 100m race by a new championship record time 14,14s. Today our class T51 racer Toni Piispanen won the silver medal on 100 meters, so that makes it three medals in total for the Finnish team.

Today I had my first competition start in the Worlds. I got what I was aiming for in it, a place in the class T43 200m final tomorrow around noon.

Everything felt good in the race, except that there was quite a strong head wind through the bend. I was second in my heat which means straight qualification to the final. My time was 33,67s, which is quite moderate. But as it is enough for now, I'm pleased.

The official results of my race can be found from http://www.ipcathleticsworldchamps.com/results/ATM23423410000000..C74A.ENG.1.0.pdf.

Today also meant the first medal for the Finnish team, as Toni Piispanen finished third on class T51 200m race which was a straight final. So, congratulations Toni!

Tomorrow is the day when the real action finally bagins here in Christchurch. My first competition will be 200 meters heats around noon tomorrow. I have waited for this a long time, and it's nice to get competing tomorrow.

I hope to earn the place in the finals. For sure anyone of us needs to do good to achieve that, as everyone seems to be in good shape here.

We are living interesting times! Let's see how things go tomorrow, I'll keep you posted!

Last night around 3am we arrived in Christchurch after the preparation meet in Sydney. The plane was full of disabled athletes, and that meant some challenges with the luggage. Us three had to leave our racing chair frames in Sydney, because there wasn't room for all the chairs in the plane. Those should arrive today, though.

We arrived in Sydney in the morning of the prep meet, so we had to wake up around 3:30am to manage to catching our flight. Partly 'cause of that, I think, I felt a bit tired during the races. So the result weren't that good for me. For example, my time on 100m was a quite moderate 18,62s. But, let's hope that a moderate times before the Worlds mean better things in the main event.

Before the competition, we will have a couple of training sessions on the main stadium to get used to the track. My first race will be 200m heats next Saturday.

I'll let you know how things go.

Yesterday we had the last training session in Geelong before tomorrow's prep meet in Sydney. It was a good session in sunny, though quite windy weather. So all seems to be going according to plans. Now we just hope we get all our luggage in Sydney with us, and most of all that the racing chairs are all ok after the flight to Sydney.

The prep meet will be held at the warm up arena of the athletics centre of Sydney Olympic Park. We've heard the Mondo track there should be quite fast for racers, so I'm hoping for some good results there after the soft tartan track here in Geelong.

I will be doing 100m, 200m and 400m races tomorrow, 100m being scheduled to start at 6:00pm local time. I'll let you know how things go! :)

Today we had a rest day from training, and went to visit the Jirrahlinga Koala & Wildlife Sanctuary near Geelong. It was very a very relaxing trip, and was great to see all those fabulous creatures up close. I have added a few pics from the excursion to my Facebook, go check out.

This day once again gave me lots of energy for the preparation. Tomorrow we will have the last training session in Geelong, and on Friday morning we'll fly to Sydney for the World champs preparation meet.

Stay tuned, I'll be back soon!

This morning I woke up in cloudy Geelong, it has rained a little during the night, too. Let's hope the sky clears during the day, but if not, this seems to be a perfect weather for some wet-weather training in the afternoon. :)

Yesterday morning's training session was a success in every way, so it seems that things are quite ok considering the jetlag already. And as there is still twelve days before my first race in the Worlds, I'm feeling pretty confident now.

Yesterday afternoon we went to a sightseeing trip near Geelong. If you wanted, you can check out some photos taken there from my Facebook profile.

Today we had the first training session after arriving at Geelong on Thursday. Understandably the jetlag is still affecting a bit on us (for example, this morning I woke up already at 4:45am :) ) so we didn't do any hard pushes today. My main goal was just to get my body back on the training rhythm and to check the racing chair for any problems after the flights. From that point of view, everything is in order.

In the morning before the training session we went to the Barwon River to check out some rowing training and to catch some sun. If you like, you can watch some pictures I've taken from this trip at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=264094&id=589548520&l=3605ac8455. I will be adding more pictures to that album regularly.

Hi folks. Yesterday we arrived to Geelong after a bit over 33 hours of travelling. Yesterday was a really touch day, as Ineeded to stay awake the whole day even though almost falling asleep all the time because of jetlag. Today already been a bit easier in that sense, and I haven't felt too tired anymore. Let's hope the worst is over regarding jetlag then.

Luckily the racing chair seems to be in one peace after all the flights. Allthough, we haven't had any training session here yet. Tomorrow we'll see if everything is ok in the chair, too.

The weather in Geelong has been quite hot. Today it has been +36 degrees Celsius here, and the temperature is forecasted to stay around +30 at least tomorrow. I like this. :)

So all in all, everything's great here. I'll tell you something more about the feelings after the first training session tomorrow. See ya!

The training has been quite light after the successful training camp in Playa de Las Americas. We'we mainly tried to keep the good feeling in my body in this cold Finnish winter for these three or so weeks that I've stayed in Finland.

And today is the day when the trip to Australia and New Zealand begins. First we'll have a week-long training camp in Geelong, Australia, and then we'll fly to Sydney for the IPC athletics World championships prep meet in Jan 14th. I'll do races from 100m to 400m there, so three races in one evening. In Jan 15th we'll fly to Christchurch, New Zealand, and the competition in the World championships will begin in Jan 22nd.

My program there will be as follows:
Jan 22 200m heats
Jan 23 200m FINAL
Jan 24 100m heats
Jan 25 100m FINAL
Jan 26 400m heats
Jan 27 400m FINAL

I'll keep you up to date on the coming developments. I'll be posting my thoughts regularly to here, and to my Facebook profile (http://www.facebook.com/janneseppala). Especially the pictures will be posted to Facebook at first, and I will create a new gallery also here after the championships when I'm back home.

I'd like to thank all my sponsors and supporters already at this point from making this preparation for the Worlds possible for me. And I'd also like to thank my employer for understanding the importance of it. Now it's up to me to show what I can do.

See ya all!

Greetings from Playa de Las Americas.

Part of Finnish wheelchair racing has been training here for about two weeks now. From my point of view, the camp has gone really well, and I have achieved most of the goals set for this three week long task. Speed has improved quite a lot, with the help of being able to train outdoors on a warm weather and quite a fast track.

First two weeks were about quite a hard training. I did 17 sessions plus massages on ten training days. The goal for the last week here is to ease on the training a bit, to get to best possible speed out. After this camp I will train about three weeks in Finland, before travelling to Melbourne, Australia on January 4th. We'll stay there for about ten days, and then we have one race in Sydney before heading to Christchurh, New Zealand for the IPC World Championships 2011, where I will be doing 100m, 200m and 400m races.

I'll keep you posted on the upcoming development. See ya soon!

Hi again!

I've had my racing chair in use for about two weeks now, so I thought of sharing some thoughts with you.

Training results have been quite promising. Concentrating to the gym training for a while is starting to show up, as I'm already close to the training records especially on short distances. That's a good thing, and gives me great motivation to continue training for main target next January.

Next stop on the way there is the national team training camp in Pajulahti Sports Institute in the mid-November, where some important information regarding the World championships will be shared. And about a week after that we will be heading for a three-week-long training camp in Tenerife, Spain.

I will keep you posted on the upcoming developments on the task at hand!

After a while, I decided to share some thoughts about the preparation to the World championships in Christchurch next January.

After my summer season 2010 ended to the Finnish national champs in the beginning of September, I sent my racing chair frame back to Draft Wheelchairs for some checks and fixes to be done. During that time I have been mainly concentrating on improving the strength, and it's starting to show quite well. I'm already close to my record levels according to a few tests during training, and that gives me great confidence that we are on the right track with my coach.

After I get my frame back from repaint, it's time to start converting the gained strength to racing. A very important part on the task is a three-week-long training camp in Playa de Las Americas, Tenerife, where the most part of Finnish racers go in November. The goal of that camp for me is to familiarize myself to race outdoors in the middle of long winter in Finland. That way I hope to get the explosive strength characteristics better in use, to be in a best possible shape for the World championships.

After the camp I will spend a few weeks in Finland before starting the trip towards Australia and New Zealand in the beginning of January 2011.

I will keep you posted on the upcoming developments. See ya soon, all!

Last Thursday we were racing in Lappeenranta Games where we had 100m and 200m races. 100m was done on a tail wind, and the 200m on a head wind. Apart from being quite windy, the weather was abdolutely great, as the temperature was around +30 celsius and no rain in sight. I myself felt great from the morning on, and really hoped for good times in the evening.

The 100m race was absolutely great for me. On the first start attempt I got a very good start, but that attempt was called back being uneven. At least that's what the starter said. On the second attempt I took the start quite safely as I didn't want to be DQd because of a possible false start. Anyway, I got a good start, and the +1,9m/s tail wind helped the acceleration quite a bit. And as everything went well - in fact the first time this season - eventually my time was 17,88s. That's my new SB, and the second time ever under the 18 second mark. So, job well done, I'd say. ;)

The -1,8m/s head wind affected quite a bit on the 200m race. I got a good start on this as well, but the wind on the home stretch really killed me. But anyway my time was 34,25s, so I'm quite pleased on that, too.

My next important race will take place in Söderhamn, Sweden, on the Swedish open championships. I will probably do 100m, 200m and 400m races there.

Last Sunday I had the last competition on a two week long tour in Jämsänkoski at "Pikajuoksukarnevaalit", where we had 100m, 200m and 400m races. Knowing from the last few years, the track in Jämsänkoski if very fast even though it is a tartan track, so I was expecting some good times.

The first race was 100m on a slight -0,4m/s head wind. I managed to get quite a good start, and that helped a lot, as the last fifty or so meters wasn't too easy, I would say, because of my starts in quite short time. But anyway I managed to do my SB, as the time was 18,41s. I'm very pleased to that.

After about an hour we had the 200m race. The story is quite similar to the 100m race, the last 50-60 meters was quite tough even though we had a 0,4m/s tail wind in the race. My time was 33,35s, so that was 0,14s slower than my SB on 200m. But I'm quite pleased to that, too.

The last race of the day, 400m, was absolutely great. I decided to take it quite easy all the way knowing that on the first two races I wasn't that fresh anymore. But, taking the first 200 meters a bit easier paid off very well at the finish as it quite often does on 400, as my time was 1.02,70, which is only 0,10s slower than my PB on 400m from year 2006.

This tour gives me great confidence for the next races this season. Next time I will be competing in Lappeenranta Elite Games in July 15th. We'll have 100m and 200m races then. Hopefully I can do some new SBs or even PBs then.

The weather has been absolutely great in Switzerland the whole week same as today. The temperature was +18 degrees Celsius already at 7:30am when we got to the competition venue.

This weekend I'm competing in Swiss Open championships in Arbon. I had 100m and 400m races today, and tomorrow morning I will be doing the 200m.

Everything felt good right for the start at the warm up. Chair was working great, and after finally waking up, I knew I would be able to do good today. The first race was 100m on a light +0,4m/s tail wind. This time I got quite a good start too. Everything was fine until I slightly missed the right pushrim at around 70m, and messed uo my rhytm a bit. But anyway I beat the "A" standard for the Worlds doing 18,58s.

This meant MISSION COMPLETED for this trip to Switzerland, as my first target here was to get the standard done on 100m.

After a few hours of resting I had the 400m race. I might have pushed the first 200 meters a bit too hard, 'cause the last 100m was really killing me. Anyway, my time on the very fast track of Arbon was 63,72s, which is my all time third best time on 400m. I'm very happy about this time knowing all the difficulties during the spring time.

So now I just need to recover from today and to keep the good things in mind, and tomorrow I'll be definately aiming for a PB time on 200m on that lightning fast Mondo track.

This weekend I was racing in Stoke Mandeville, UK, in BWAA athletics competition. On Saturday I had 100m and 400m races, and on Sunday the 200m race. We all had two different starts on each of those distances.

Saturday was a very windy and cold day. On the first 100m race I had a 5,1m/s tail wind, and on the second one a 4,5m/s tail wind. My times on 100s were 18,44s and 18,15s, but naturally those aren't valid for qualifying to the World championships in June because of the wind.

My better time on 400m was the first one, 1.08,33, and that beats the "B" standard for the Worlds. The second one was quite a mess because of some problems with the steering of my chair, and the time was 1.15 something. :)

Sunday was a very good day for me. The morning race on 200m was a bit difficult because my back was a bit stiff after Saturdays races. But that race seemed to ease to pain and flex my muscles quite well.

The second race was absolutely perfect considering my current shape. We had a nice tail wind coming a bit from back left, and that helped us from about 50 meters from the start to finish. My time was 33,25s on a +0,9m/s tail wind. That is my all-time second best time on 200m, and it beats the "A" standard for the Worlds.

My next races will take place in Arbon, Switzerland next week, hopefully I can beat the qualification standard for 100m there.

Last Sunday I opened my outdoor season in 4 Athletics GP in Tampere, where we had a 100m race.

The race was quite a disappointment to me, as I messed up the first push and lifted the front wheel up about 10cm. So that pretty much destroyed the hopes for a good time.

Last 50-60 meters was quite ok, though, and my time was 19,28s on a -0,6m/s head wind.

Now I just need to get my start work better before the next competition in Stoke Mandeville, UK, next weekend. I will be doing 100m, 200m and 400m races there, and hopefully I'll manage to qualify for the IPC World championships in New Zealand next January by those results.

After Stoke Mandeville I will compete in Arbon, Switcherland, where I will have two different competitions during the week after Stoke. So, the next week or so is quite important considering the place in the Worlds.

So, my current location is Cambridge as the story title says. I'm here to get a new racing chair from Draft Wheelchairs.

The necessary measurements were taken on last Monday morning, and the company's mechanic (I could also call him a witch) Dan started to create the chair from there. Yesterday I had the first fitting of the new chair, and according to my wishes Dan made the necessary changes. Today I had the final testing of the racer, and after that the frame was finalized and so on.

I have to say I'm very pleased to result we achieved according to the tests made upto now. The chair is very lightweight and rolls fabulously! Now it's all about getting myself used to the new sitting position and to a bit different push angles and things like that.

All in all, the trip here has been a big success atleast until now. Now I'm just waiting to get home and to be able to start the training with the new chair. If I get to stay fit this winter season, I'm quite sure I can make a few new PBs and maybe even the new ER on 100m next summer!

And the last but definitely not the least, I really want to thank all my sponsors and supporters, and of course all those people at Draft Wheelchairs. Without the help from all of you, all this wouldn't probably haven't been possible. So, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, ALL YOU GREAT PEOPLE, now it's my turn to try and keep my promises!!!

Yesterday evening we were racing in Lappeenranta Elite Games, and we had 100m and 4*100m relay there.

The first race was 100m which went absolutely great. The conditions were great as the temperature was quite high and tail wind (+0,5m/s) was blowing during the race. My start wasn't too good once again, but the last 80 meters was fabulous. At the finish line my time was 17,75s, which crashes my previous PB by 0,49 seconds! Unfortunately the IPC permit was not applied for this competition, so I doubt that the result will be confirmed as the new European record of cless T34... Well, new PB anyway, which is great after last winter.

The 4*100m relay also went great. We (Esa-Pekka Mattila, me, Henry Manni and Leo-Pekka Tähti) managed to beat the previous Finnish national record 62,12s, as our time was 58,49s. And we still have a lot to improve on the echanges.

My next race will take place in my home town Rovaniemi next weekend, when I'll probably do 100m 200m.

Yesterday we were racing in sprint races meeting in Jämsänkoski, Finland. We had 100m and 200m races there.The conditions were exellent. There was blowing constant tail wind of about 1m/s, and the temperature was way over +25 degrees celsius. So we were expecting some good results.

The first race was 100m. I had quite a good start, but then missed the left pushrim once after about 20 meters. The rest of the race went very well, until...

After about 80 meters I heard the presenter announcing there had had happened some kind of an accident on the finish line. So, I instantly raised my head a bit to see what it was, and saw Leo-Pekka flying in the air over the finish line.

The front fork of Leo-Pekka's chair had snapped, and the front end hit the track, which throw him in the air. When he landed, he hit his head, shoulders and lower back on the track, but luckily he was ok considering the crash. There was a chance for a lot worse...

A photo finish picture from 100m race can be found f.ex. from http://www.iltalehti.fi/urheilu/200906299849514_ur.shtml.

Leo-Pekka won the race with his time 14,25s, but without the crash he could have beaten his WR 13,76s. My time was 18,48s, which is only 0,04s slower than the current ER on class T34. Considering that I just rolled to the finish for the last 20 meters to avoid any more damage, I think the time could have been very near to my PB 18,24s. Well, next time then.

On 200m Esa-Pekka and I did not have too good of a feeling to race because of Lepe's crash, But we did that though. My result was 33,49s on that, which is my all time third best time on 200m.

Our next races will take place in Lappeenranta, Finland, on July 12th. We will have 100m and 4*100m races there. Let's hope that Leo-Pekka is fully fit then.

Yesterday I opened my summer season at Kuortane Elite Games 2009.

I have to say, that the start to the season was very promising. Knowing all the difficulties from the past winter, and even the thoughts about ending my racing career, I'm really pleased to yesterday's results.

The first race of the day was 100 meters, where we had great conditions. On 1,4m/s tail wind I finished third and did 18,70s, which is my all time best on the very soft track of Kuortane. My previous record there was 18,78s.

After a slow reaction to the gun - and quite powerless first twenty to thirty meters - I thought I couldn't even beat 19 seconds. But apparently the second half of the race went very well because the time was even this good. But there is still a lot to do to get to the times I did last season, but anyway this was a good start.

At second and the last start of the day, we as a team made some kind of Finnish wheelchair racing history, as after over twenty years, we are able to form a relay team now on 4*100m relay. We had Esa-Pekka Mattila, myself, Tuomo Himanka and Leo-Pekka Tähti in the team, in that order.

Since this was our first official relay race, our target was just to take it safe and to get some kind of a "benchmark" for the coming races. As a bonus, we were able to beat the previous national record, 62,89s, as our time was 62,12s. As we took the exchanges very safely, I'm quite convinced we can beat at least the one minute mark this with this team.

Our next relay start will take place in Lappeenranta Elite Games in about a months time. Before that we will race in Jämsänkoski on June 28th, where we'll have 100m and 200m races.

Last Saturday I was competing in Kempele, Finland. The Finnish championships for the disabled athletes was held there. I had three races, 100m, 200m and 400m.

The first race for the day was 100m, which went quite well considering the soft(ish) track of Kempele. My time was 18,54s (+0,4m/s), which is the third best time for me this season. I even missed the left pushrim a little about 20 meters to the finish, so I'm very pleased to the result I got.

The next race was 200m after about an hours rest. I went absolutely great, even though there was blowing quite heavy head wind at the start for about the first fifty meters. At the finish straight the wind conditions were absolutely perfect, though (+2,0m/s). That helped me to a great result (33,18s), which is the all time second best time for me on 200m, and the best time I have ever achieved on the races in Finland.

After about an hours rest again, we still had the 400m race to go. It did not go quite as well as I had planned, as my time was 1.09,70. Tough head wind on the back straight killed me, and the last 150 meters was absolutely horrible looked from every aspect... But I have concentrated on 100m and 200m this season, so...

All in all, I'm very happy with the results in Kempele. This was a very good ending to the season 2008. I have to be very pleased to my season as a whole, even though I wasn't able to get the ER on 100m to my name as there wasn't IPC's observer invited to Kalevan Kisat in Tampere. At least I know that I'm in good shape now to start training for the next season.

Hello again.

Last weekend I was racing in Swiss open championships in Huttwill. I had 100m, 200m and 400m races there. The results were quite moderate, because the track was very soft there.

My first race was 100m at 9:00am on Saturday. My time was 20,13s on 0,9m/s head wind. I have to admit I'm not happy at all to this, knowing that my season best is 18,30... I probably was not awake in the race yet, because I could not get enough power to the pushes at all. But you know, that's life. ;)

The second race on Saturday was 400m, which went actually quite well considering the track. My time was 66,92s. I'm quite pleased to that, because the last about 100 meters was really tough struggling against the head wind. My complete concentration on the 100m races this season really made me pay the price there.

My only race on Sunday was 200m, were my time was 34,82s on 0,2m/s tail wind. I'm quite pleased to that also, even though I missed my season best 33,98s by about a second.

My next and probably the last races for this season will take place on Kempele next Saturday, when we have the Finnish national championships there. I will do the races from 100 to 400 meters there.

Last weekend we were racing in Finnish national championships Kalevan Kisat in Tampere. We had two races there 100m on Saturday and 200m on Sunday.

Satuday's race was great for me. I had a pretty good start, even though some misunderstanding about the starting position of us all by starter officials, and we had to give a bit of information before the second try. Especially the last 40-50 meters were very good, and my time was 18,30s, which beats the current European record by 0,14 seconds. This was the first time this season when I managed to go under 18,44 s, but unfortunately the event was not an official IPC ranking event, so the time will not be recognized as a new ER. But, at least now I know I can take the ER to my name this Sunday in Lappeenranta Elite Games, since that event be an IPC ranked one. Let's just hope for the good conditions there.

I'll keep you posted.

Last Tuesday I had my first race outdoors for this season, when I raced in Rovaniemi. I had a 100m race there.

I'm very pleased to the result I got. The conditions were allmost perfect. The temperature was over 20 degrees Celsius, and also the wind was very mild (+0,2m/s). My time was 18,44s, which is the same as the current European record in my disability class T34. My start and finish weren't quite what I was hoping for, so I'm very confident that I can break the ER this season.

Last weekend we also had a Finnish national team training camp in Kuortane. I had a very good weekend there also, so everything looks good now concidering the upcoming races.

Next time I will compete in Tampere Elite Games next Wednesday. We'll have a 100m race on a Mondo track there.

Yesterday one of the photographers of StrapPhotos.com, Petri Uutela, published a photo story of me, where he was following my training etc. for a about a year's time.

You can find the story from http://www.strap-photos.com.

We had a training camp in Kuortane last week, from Thursday to Sunday. I'm quite happy with the achievements of the weekend. According to the tests we made everything is looking good at this point of the training season.

Results from the racing tests are almost at the record levels, and also the muscle strength is currently near my all time best according to the tests we made. I'm very happy about that, remembering the shoulder problems which stopped me from doing the gym training at full power for a long time.

All in all, the current state of my shape looks promising concerning the summer racing season, and I'm really looking forward to a few Mondo races next summer. Let's hope that thing continue to go smoothly also from this point on.

So, last weekend we had the first training camp of this year in Kuortane. I'm quite pleased to my test results, eventhough I could not do the strength test because of my a bit painfull right shoulder.

But I am glad that the racing tests went so well as they did. For example in 100m race test I managed a time which is only 0,29s slower than my all time best in that test. So, racingwise everything is going well, now I only would need to find a way to get rid of those shoulder aches which are stopping me from doing the normal weight training at this time of training season.

The next step in preparing to the summer is the indoor national championships for the disabled, wihich will be held in Kuopio on the 2nd of February. I will do at least 60m and 200m races there.

Howdy All! It's been quite a while since I last posted something here, so let's shortly describe what's going on.

I have trained toward the season 2008 for about two months now. First four weeks I made longer distances to improve my aerobic strength and stamina. After that I switched to shorter distances, ie. from 600m to 1000m. Target of that period was to improve unaerobic strength so that I can perform the hard training of the winter season without my "engine starting to cough".

Until this point things have gone quite well except for small challenges with my right arm right now, wihich making strength training a little difficult. But I'm happy it's not affecting on the racing exercises at all.

During the last week I have started to chenge my training more towards maximum strength exercises, On the track this means for example starting practise with additional weights and so on. All has gome well except that after the unaerobic exercise period I haven't quite yet been able to get the maximum speeds up the way I would have wanted. But I'm confident this will fix after a few more exercises.

I will probably check my current fitness first time in the race on Nov 25th in Rovaniemi, when ther is an indoor competition coming up. But before that we also have a training camp in Kuortane, which allways gives great insight of where we are going.

Well, the title tells pretty much all about what I have to say, but...

Last weekend I was competing in the national championship for the disabled athletes. Bad result on all the races showed that everything was not ok. Then, after I came back home, I had cough and my temperature was a bit high on Tuesday morning. So I had got some kind of infection again...

Due to this, I have been able to exercise only since yesterday. So I made a very sad decision to end my competing season.. It feels really bad, because the last race would have taken place in my home town tomorrow.. It would have been nice to end the seson in front of the home crowd. But there is no sence of racing if you basically haven't been able to train during the last week.

But anyway, in spite of not that great season, I want to thank all the people supporting me in various ways throughout this season. I appreciate the input of all of you. Without it it would not be possible to me to concentrate on the training and competing the way I can now.

Now it is time to start training towards the next summer. I think the main focus during the next couple of months will be rebuilding the endurance and strength, so that I could get them back to, or even near the levels they were at the and of season 2006 before various setbacks during the winter and spring. So let's hope things go smoothly from this point on, and we'll see what does the season 2008 bring to us.

Hello, and first of all sorry for not posting this entry earlier... I have been quite busy with work and training for the last week, so here we go...

On 12th of August I was racing in Kuortane Elite Games 2007 with Leo-Pekka ad Esa-Pekka. We had 100 meter and 200 meter races there. Unfortunately the weather was very wet especially during the 100m race, so the result was not too great. in the -1,0m/s head wind my time was 19,23s, which is 0,99s slower than my personal best. So there is still a lot to improve in the wet races for me...

The 200m race was a little better for me. The rain wasn't that heavy during the race and also the wind had calmed nicely. The only not that great thing was that I could not get my pushes relaxed during the whole race, so I think the result was not the best I could have done in the current shape. The time was 34,12s. I have to be quite pleased with that anyway, remembering the difficult last summer, and even this spring.

So let's hope I can get all the peaces in place before the national championships for the disabled in Nurmijärvi next weekend. I will do races from 100 to 400 meters there, and the first target is to acchieve the season's bests on 100 and 200 there. We'll see how it goes.

So, yesterday I had a marathon in my home town Rovaniemi.

The preparations for the marathon had gone OK, and everything seemed to be in order. We had a good weather during the race, the wind was not blowing too hard either. So I was confident about making a new PB on the race.

The first half of the race went great, my time at half way marker was around 1.12, which was about two minutes better than my record on the half marathon. BUT... A bit after the 36 kilometer marker on the second round, the disaster struck. At a ninety-degree turn to the right, my left rear tire puntured... Petri (my supporter during the race) fought for about fifteen minutes to change a new tire, but as I knew at that point that a chance for a record had been lost, I decided the retire the race... It is very sad that this had to happen this close (less than 6 kilometers) from the finish, but what can you do. This kind of misfortune sometimes belongs to this sport.

Despite the retirement I am quite pleased for the yesterday. Mainly because of the first half of the race, which clearly shows that I am in quite a good shape even though the winter training season was very challenging in many different ways. Now it is time to concentrate on the track distances again, and let's see what the rest of the summer season still brings to us. ;)

Hello again.

Yesterday I had two races in Jämsänkoski at "Aita- ja pikajuoksukarnevaalit 2007". I have to admit I'm quite pleased with the results there,

The first of the day was 100 meters. We had very good weather conditions during that one. Nice 1,5m/s tail wind was blowing at the time of the race, so that helped all of us (me, Leo-Pekka, and Esa-Pekka) quite a bit. The only unfirtunate thing about this race was that I missed the left pushrim once after about 15-20 meters of the distance. So maybe one or two tenths of a second was lost there... But anyway, my result was 18,42s which is one 0,03s slower than the first 100m time of this summer which was acchieved in about +4-5m/s tailwind in Rovaniemi in the beginning of June.

So this tells me that I have managed to get my starting a lot better in one month. And since even this race wasn't the best possible one considering the technic, I think I can still go under my PB 18,24 in good conditions.

The second race was 200m, which had to be done on a very wet track after a heavy rain shower just before the race. That's why my pushrims got all wet after the start and I hardly had any grip on them during the first 30 to 40 meters. But even in those bad conditions I made my best ever result on a wet race, 34,20s. Even though it is 1,5s slower than my PB on 200m (32,80s), one has to remember that that one was done on a dry Mondo track. So on that perspective I am more than happy with the result.

So all in all, the trip to Jämsänkoski was again a big boost to my confidence after a difficult winter. Now it is time to still concentrate on the starts, which will make up a lot of time once I get it better before the next track races. Probably the next track event will take place in Kemi at the end of July. I will keep you posted.

Hello all!

Last Wednesday I had the first race of the outdoors season 2007 in Rovaniemi. I had a 100m race then. I'm quite surprised about the result, but there is still a lot to be done.

My time was 18,39s, which is only 0,15 seconds slower than my PB on 100 meters. So resultwise it went quite well. But, I had the worst start ever... The frontend of the chair was still bouncing up and down after about 15 meters into the race... If I was able to keep the frontend from bouncing, I guess I could have broke my personal best...

But anyway, it was quite reasonable kick off to the season. Now I need to concentrate on making my start a lot better before the next races on July 1st in Jämsänkoski, Finland. I think I will do 100m and 200m there.

Let's keep in touch!

Unfortunately the recovery from the surgery has not been as quick as I anticipated. I have been able to exercise lightly for just about two weeks now, so I decided not to take part in the training camp in Kuortane this weekend.

I probably will have a 100m race in Rovaniemi in June 6th, and then we'll see how the hands take that. Hopefully I can start training normally quite soon, because I would really want to compete a few times this season also. But fortunately I hardly have pain on the hands anymore, so I think I'm in quite good state concerning the recovery now.

Last Tuesday I had a surgery on both of my hands. The recovery has begun quite well, allthough the palms are still a bit painfull at times.

The doctor told me that I should have at least two weeks' break from training after the operation. But I think I will try to keep it on a safe side, and maybe will start the easy training when something like three weeks has passed from the operation.

The stitches will be removed next Friday, and after that I can start doing normal flexion training for the palms. Next week I will try to swim a bit to get some cardio training after the break, in case the wounds have healed properly and I get the permission from the doctor. Then probably at the first weekend of May I can do some easy exercises with the racing chair allready.

Eventhough the operation forced me to have a break from training, I hope it was the right choise to have it done now, concerning the future of my racing career.

Hello again!

Due to some painfull neck injury I had to skip the training camp in Kuortane last weekend. But hopefully I can get to the normal training rythm soon.

Because of many injuries and other sicknesses I have suffered this winter, I have started to think of maybe skipping the international races next summer, and to get myself back into shape for the season 2008. One big factor on this decision will be how will my hands recover from an operation to be done in March or April this spring. So we'll see how it goes.

But whatever the decision may be, I will compete in the domestic competitions next summer. And as one famous guy said: No pain, no gain! ;) Who knows if I'm even in better shape in 2008 than last summer, being able to fully concentrate on training next summer and winter.

Anyways, let's all enjoy the spring now! I'll keep you posted how things progress.

It has been a bit quiet here for a few months, but now I'm back. So, the season 2007 was officially started in Vaasa last weekend, when we had the Finnish national championships for the disabled in Botnia Hall there.

Unfortunaly the event didn't go very well for me. I have been sick quite a lot this winter, and even in Vaasa I had a bit of flu, so I couldn't manage to do the best possible results. But luckily there is still some time before the outdoor season will start, so now I will just concentrate on getting over this injuryfull winter and trying to get on the best possible shape, and we'll then see how the summer season goes.

Last Friday I got an honour to be nominated as one of the godathletes of Santasport Lapin Urheiluopisto (http://www.santasport.fi) for the year 2007.

The other athletes nominated are:

Antti Autti, snowboarding
Sami Jauhojärvi, skiing
Sari Keskitalo, track 'n field
Hannu Manninen, nordic combined
Pirjo Manninen, skiing
Sami Mustonen, freestyle skiing
Tanja Poutiainen, alpine skiing
Janne Turpeenniemi, football
Normunds Veinbergs, volleyball

It is great to see that the best sports facility of Rovaniemi appreciates my work this much. It is a great honour to be part of the godathlete group.

So, my last races of the summer season 2006 were held in Arbon, Switzerland last weekend. On Saturday I was in 100m and 400m races, and on Sunday I had a 200m race.

Both races of Saturday were absolutely great. The conditions were awesome, and my chair was on a great trim thanks to our "handy man" Pekka who fixed the little problems I had with it before the races.

Saturday's first race was 100m, where my time was 18,24s which is 0,20s faster than the European record in the class T34, and 0,19s better than my previous PB 19,43s. Unfortunately this competition wasn't sanctioned by CP-ISRA, so I guess my result won't be officially marked as the new ER... But anyway, at least now I know it's possible for me to get my name on the records list if I get to race "in a right competition".

I am very surprised about my result on the 400m race on Saturday. Of course we knew from the last year that the track in Arbon is going to be fast, but anyway. I sliced 1,55s out of my previous personal best (64,15s) as my result was 62,60. That is a great result knowing I have basically trained only for the 100m and 200m races this season.

On Sunday the conditions weren't quite as good as on Saturday, and after the 200m race I began feeling a bit sick. And by the time of writing this I'm suffering from a little cold. Because of these reasons I have to accept my 200m time 34,75s. If I wasn't becoming sick I would have to be very disappointed to the result. But this is the life of an athlete, and it has to be accepted. Luckily I don't have any important races still to come this season.

The official results of the open Swiss Championships are online at http://www.stvarbon.ch/upload/rssranglistefahren_total.pdf.

All in all I am very pleased to the season 2006 as a whole. I managed to break my previous personal bests on all of the main distances I compete on, and most importantly on the 100 meters. This shows that an "old man" can still improve. ;) I want to thank all my sponsors and all the people supporting me this season. Without you this would not be possible. I hope we can continue our co-operation on the season 2007!

Now it's time to have a little rest from training for couple of weeks. And after that I will begin the training for the season 2007.

So, yesterday was the second day of the Finnish national championships in Espoo.

The first race of the day was 200m. Luckily the conditions weren't quite as windy as on Saturday, so all of us managed to do good results. My time on 0,6m/s head wind was 33,41s which is the best time I have ever done on the outdoor tracks in domestic races! And as there was some head wind and a soft track, the result is very good. It seems to me, that the 200m PB will be broken in Arbon in three weeks.

After the 200m race, I decided to participate on the 800m race also, just for fun. As I predicted, the first lap was great (split time was 65 seconds), but the second lap killed me. :) My time was 2.19,21. That is over nine seconds slower than my PB, but I haven't trained for the 800m at all for the last year, so I have to be satisfied with this now. A positive thing about this race is that I beat Esa-Pekka, and finished second on the race.

Now it's time to train hard for two weeks before the Swiss Open Championships in August 26th-27th. I'll be back after that.

So, the Finnish national championships started today in Espoo. I had two races today, 100m and 400m.

The first race was 100m, where I finished third after two class T54 racers, Leo-Pekka Tähti and Esa-Pekka Mattila. The times of all of us were quite moderate, because there was blowing a hard 2,3m/s head wind in the race. All of us were about a second slower than our PBs. My time was 19,47s, which is quite good knowing the conditions. The track is also very soft, so I'm quite pleased to the result.

After about an hour of relaxing we had the 400m race. The first two hundred meters was good as the tail wind was helping on the back straight, but the last 150m was very tough because of wind. My split time on 200m was about 33s, but the end result was 68,10s... But, I haven't concentrated that much on the 400 this season, so I didn't have too big expectations about the result. Afterall, my main distances are 100 and 200m. :)

Tomorrow I'm on the 200m race. If the conditions are a little less windy than today, I am expecting to do quite a good time on that. The first half of the 400m race showed it today.

See ya all soon!

Yesterday I had two races in my home town. The first race of the day was the 200m, on which the first half was really tough because of a hard head wind at the start. Finally my time was 35,42s to which I'm not very pleased.

The 100m race was technically allmost perfect. I got a great start, and didn't have any misses on the pushrims during the race. Finally the result was 18,10s which is 0,33s better than my personal best. But, unfortunately there was blowing a hard +4,1m/s tail wind during the race... So no European Record yet.

But anyway, the 100m shows me, that if the conditions are ok, I can quite easily break the ER on 100m on the Mondo track in Arbon at the end of August.

Today I was racing in Rovaniemi on 100m at the Lappland regional championships. The reuslt was great considering the race wasn't good at all from the techical point of view. After the start I missed the pushrim twice which messed up my rhythm completely.

But anyway, the time was 18,48s which is only 0,05s slower than my personal best. Unfortunately the tail wind was blowing just a little too hard (+2,2m/s), so this is marked as a wind result.

It's great to continue training towards the Swiss nationals in Arbon at the end of August. My next race before that will take place in Saarenkylä next Saturday, when I will do 100m and 200m at the 10th Lapin Leiskautukset.

Yesterday evening I did a half-marathon in my home city Rovaniemi, as the SantaClausMarathon 2006 was hel here.

The route was quite tough for me because I'm not that used to road competitions, and there was a couple of steap uphills on the route as well. But all in all I'm quite pleased to my result 1.17.19,9. I didn't even have any target time for the route, since I hardly had any experience of it.

My next track competition will probably be the Lappland regional championships in Rovaniemi on July 12th. Let's see how do I recover from this quite a tough day. ;)

The official results from Ibach can be found at http://www.wcracing.net/Results_WS/resultsDanielaJutzeler.pdf.

Yesterday the Finnish team was racing in Ibach, Switcherland at Daniela Jutzeler Memorial. I took part to the 100m, 200m and 400m races.

The first start was 100 meters. Apart from a bit slow reactions, everything went well. My time was 18,56s in a 0,3m/s head wind, which I am very pleased to. Now I know that if and when things go as planned, I have very realistic chance to break my current PB on 100m later this summer.

The second race was 400m, which did not go quite as planned. After about 80 meters I missed the pushrim with my right hand, and that messed up the steering for the rest of that curve. I took a while to get back in good rythm again, but the last 200m went quite good anyways. Finally my time was 1.05,64, as I was aiming for a new NR after a good 100 meters.

My last race of the competition was 200m which was allmost perfect. I made great reactions at the start, and technicwise everything worked like a charm. Only minor setback was the 0,7m/s head wind, which may have affected on the final strech a bit. But anyway, my result was 32,80s which crashes my previous national record by 0,66 seconds.

All in all this competition was as great start to the season. It gave me a great boost to confidence after a difficult winter training season. My next race will probably take place in Rovaniemi on June 7th.

Last Saturday I competed in a 10k street race in my home city Rovaniemi. Unfortunately I had to quit after 6,5km because for some reason I had problems with the breathing.

But the promising thing at the race was, that my split time at the 5k turn point was 20 seconds better than my previous best dating back from the last autumn at the same course. So, maybe I just started a bit too hard, and it made me pay in the end. Luckily I'm not mainly a street racer. ;)

My first important races of the season will take place in Ibach, Switcherland May 25th. This race gave a lot more confidence to train towards that.

My first international competition this season will take place in Ibach, Switcherland, on May 25th, where I'll doing races from 100 to 400 meters.

Allthough I've had a little problems with my health in the winter time, I'm confident I can achieve good results on the very fast Mondo track. So I'm really looking forward to the competition.

Last weekend we had a training camp in Kuortane. My test results were quite decent concidering that I have been injured quite a bit during the past few weeks.

We had quite a tough weekend. I had seven training sessions in three days. But anyway, I made my best results on Saturday after two days of training.

Hopefully the injuries are in the past now, and I can concentrate on the training toward next summer.

Yesterday I had an honour attending to the Lapland county governor's New Years Day reception in Santapark in Rovaniemi. Avout 600 guests were invited there. The party was nice and the atmosphere was very warm and welcoming. I also met a lot of great people there.

It's very nice to notice the county leaders appreciate the achievements of the athletes of Lapland. Great thanks to Mrs. Pokka for the invitation.

Today I had a 60m indoor race in my home town Rovaniemi. I could not imagine a result this good in the middle of a hard training season. My time was 12,34s, which is 0,67s better than my previous best!

This gives a great deal of confidence for continuing the training season. The next important event of the preparation is the training camp in Kuortane at the end of January 2006.

Last weekend we had the last training camp of the year 2005 in Kuortane.

All things concidered, the camp went quite well for me. The muscle strength is not at record levels yet, but not far from that. And on the one-hundred-meter racing test, the result was only 0,2 seconds slower than my best result. The weekend gave me a lot of confidence for preparing towards the next season.

I have also added the training camps of the next year to the Upcoming Events list. And I will start adding the races as soon as I get some of the dates vonfirmed.

Today I was awarded as the best Track and Field athlete of the Finnish Lapland region year 2005. There is a group photo of the awarded people in the photo gallery.

Even the chance of being in the vote for this award is a great thing, and I could not even imagine winning it. This was the first time a disabled athlete got the price, and especially for that reason it feels great. Many thanks to people who voted for me to get this price!

The next event on my calendar is the training camp in Kuortane next weekend.

So, today I had my first race after the ending of season 2005. I was on a 10k street race in my home city Rovaniemi.

The first half of the race went well, as I got a lot of help from the tail wind. I even thought that I could break the half hour mark on the race first time on my career.

But the second half... It was absolutely horrible on the hard head wind all the way to finish. After the first kilometer on the second half, I could not keep the speed up over the twenty km/h at all because I was so tired.

After the finish my time was 31.03, so I could not beat thirty minutes. But one good thing about the race is that I made about 45 seconds better time than three years ago when I took part on this race the previous time. And for the first time I beat all the runners in this race.

The next event of the preparation will be the training camp in Kuortane at the beginning of November.

So, the holiday after season 2005 has now ended. On Monday, the day before yesterday, I began my training season towards the season 2006. For the next few weeks I am trying to develop my aerobic strength and muscle strength. Allthough the long training sessions have felt quite tough in the first few days, it is nice to be racing again after the short holiday.

On Friday I had the last race of the season in Espoo, the 200 meters. I am quite pleased with my time, concidering I hurt my shoulder in the race. There was also blowing a hard head wind (-3,7m/s) there. My time 36,36s.

So, as the season has now ended, it is time to relax a few days charging the batteries for the coming season. The main target of the summer is the World championships in Assen, Netherlands.

The week in Espoo has been great. The weather has been awesome apart from the winds. On Tuesday our team achieved the first two medals, as first Markku Niinimäki won the Open European Championship gold medal on javelin, and later that night Leo-Pekka Tähti won the 100 meters on class T54.

Today our team has a busy day, as four of our team members will compete. For example, Leo-Pekka is on the 200 meter final at 5.15pm.

My second will be held tomorrow morning at 9.45am. Today I am just resting and wnjoying the games.

So, the 100m race is now done. Sad to tell, but I had one of my worst races this season today...

At the start I reacted quite well to the gun, but the first twenty meter was very bad. I was not able to get enough power out of me for the first few pushes, and after that I probably started to try a bit too hard. Because of that I was not able to do relaxed pushes during the whole race. Finally my time was 19,55s, which I think is the second-worst time this season.

The results of today will be posted at http://www.espoo2005.fi/start_lists_results/day_1_mon_22_8/.

So, it is just one day to go before the 100 meter race. We will have the opening ceremony this evening at 7pm.

The last training on the competition stadium went well, and I am really looking forward to competing here. Also the weather forecast for tomorrow seems nice, so even that should not be a problem for any competitor.

See ya tomorrow!

Today I came to the athlete village of Espoo. I have used the day for familiarizing myself to the facilities and things like that. The competition stadium seems nice, but the track surface is quite soft.

Tomorrow I will have the first training session in the stadium, and my first race will be on Monday at 10.30am Finnish time.

Yesterday I was competing in Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 400m which was a part of the ATG-event held there.

There was four racers competing, me and Esa-Pekka Mattila from the Finnish team of Espoo 2005, and two Finnish national level racers. Esa-Pekka and I had a tight race for the win. I managed to pass him just 30 meters before finish, and me time was 67,35 seconds. Esa-Pekka also did a time of under 68 seconds, which is good concidering he did his first 400m race ever.

I myself am not very happy about my result. Would have been nice to beat the national record of 64,19s in front of the home crowd. But, knowing that I have only trained for 100m and 200m, it is not too bad. And the main events are still to come in Espoo in two weeks.

Last weekend we had the last training camp in Kuortane before the Open European Championships in Espoo. Everything seems to be in the schedule.

The hard training period has taken its toll, and the results were a bit worse than my best ones. But I think that easing the training now will reveal my true shape in Espoo. My next race will be next Saturday, when I will do 400m at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium during the ATG event of the 10th IAAF World Championships in Helsinki.

I have two races in Espoo. The 100m semis and final is scheduled for August 22nd, and the 200m for August 26th.

See ya all during Espoo!

After returning to Finland last Tuesday I have been quite busy attending different kinds of occasions after the CP-ISRA World Championships. But now it is time to concentrate on racing a bit again before the IPC European Championships in Espoo.

Yesterday evening I was competing in Pori at Finnish national championships, Kalevan Kisat. I raced against class T54 athletes Leo-Pekka Tähti and Esa-Pekka Mattila.

The results were not very good because of wet track and hard head wind, -1,5m/s. My time was 19,10s. Complete results of the race are online at http://www.time4results.com/tulokset/2005/kalevankisat/la/59-1-r.html.

My next competition will be on next Saturday in Tampere at our own national champs. So see ya after that!

Today I had the 400m race. It had to be done on a pouring rain, and the time is not very good. I had a bit too much glister on the rims, so there was too much grip for fluent strokes.

I do not have the official results yet, but again I won the race and Stephen Hoskins from Great Britain was second. I will post the results ASAP.

Tomorrow I will have the 800m, which is a combined event with classes C2, C3 and C4. Of course my target is to win it, we will see how it goes.

So, the 100m race is done now, and the result is a World Championship gold medal by the time of 18,54 seconds.

Unfortunately we had only two racers competing, because a few guys are injured, and some may be concentrating for the Open European Championships only. Would have been nice to have more racers on the line for a more exciting race. But I am not worrying about that.

The time was perfect on a very soft track. It is only 0,11 seconds slower than my PB. The results are as follows:

100m Final Men T34
Wind: +1,9m/s
1. Janne Seppala FIN 18,54
2. Stephen Hoskins GBR 24,19

Results will be also at http://www.cpworldchampionships.org later.

Now the long trip is behind, and we are safely in New London. It is our third full day here now.

Yesterday we had the first official training day, and everything seemed to be ok. The chair is fine after the flight and everything looks good.

My first race will be 100m on Thursday. I will be back after that!

Yesterday we had the regional relay championships in Saarenkylä, near my home town Rovaniemi. I had a 100m race outside the official competition there.

The result was quite good, because my track compensator broke about twenty meters from finish, and the chair began to draw left a lot. My time was 18,70s which is good concerning the problems. The track is also quite soft. But the wind conditions were perfect, there was blowing a 1,8m/s tail wind during the race.

Tomorrow morning the long wait ends, when the Finnish strike force heads to New London, CT, for the CP-ISRA Wprld Championships. My first race there will be 100m on Thursday July 7h. I feel very confident about the races now, let us see how it goes. I will be posting my thought here, if and when I get in front of a PC there.

So, the provisional Track & Field Schedule of the CP-ISRA World Championships is now online at last. Below is the summary of my races there:

July 7th 1110 AM ET 100 meters FINAL
July 8th 1220 PM ET 400 meters FINAL
July 9th 1100 AM ET 800 meters FINAL
July 10th 1020 AM ET 200 meters FINAL

The schedule as a whole can be seen at http://nationalsportsfestival.org/2005_athletics.htm.

Today I had probably my last race before the CP-ISRA World Championships. I was racing outside the official competition in my home town Rovaniemi. The only race was 100m.

The conditions were very good this time. On a 1,3m/s tail wind my time was 18,43 seconds, which in exactly same time as in Arbon two weeks ago. I am very pleased with the result, since I did not have a good reaction at the start this time, and I lost probably one or two tenths of a second there.

But, this shows that the preparation for the WC is on a right track. And as a bonus to my targets this season, I was selected in the Finnish team for the IPC Open European Championships in Espoo this August. I will be doing 100m and 200m there.

The results from the 32nd Swiss open championships are now online at http://www.stvarbon.ch

Last weekend me and Leo-Pekka were competing in the 32nd Swiss Open Championships in Arbon. I made some outstanding results there, even though it was raining heavily on Saturday.

My first race on Saturday was 100m, which had to be done in a pouring rain. After one false start I had a perfect one at the second one. Other competitors had huge problems with the grip, and it was an easy heat win for me. But that is not too important... My time was 18,43s, which is one tenth of a second faster than my previous PB, and one hundredth of a second better than the European Record in my class T34. So now we just wait for my time to be ratified as a new ER! And then the first of my targets for this season is achieved.

The second race was 800m after one hours recovery. I might have pushed the first 400 a little too hard, since the last two hundred meters was really difficult. Anyway, the result was 2.09,12, which is my new PB and a new Finnish national record in T34.

The third and the last race on Saturday was 400m. On that race the track conditions were quite dry, which helped a lot. The result was 1.04,15, which is also my new PB and NR. The previous one was chrushed by over 1,3 seconds.

On Sunday I had only one race, 200m. The conditions were quite windy all day, and the times weren't quite at the same level as on Saturday. My time was 34,56 seconds which is just over a second slower than my PB. But, the wind concerned the time is not too bad, since at the start there was blowing over 2m/s head wind.

After the races we began the well-earned journey home. And now safely back home, it is very exciting to begin a couple of weeks of training before the CP-ISRA World Championships in New London, Connecticut, USA. The Finnish team will get there at July 2nd.

Howdy All!

It's been quite a while since I have posted anything here. I'm sorry about that.

Training towards season 2008 has gone quite well, apart from small challenges with my right arm lately. That affects a bit on the strength training, but I have been able to do the track training basically without problems.

In August I began training by doing quite long distances to improve the aerobic stamina. That period lasted 4 weeks, after which I changed to shorter distances on the track, ie. from 400m to 1500m. Target of that period was to improve the unaerobic strength, so that I can perform the actual "race distance training" better in the winter time.

At the moment I'm starting to change my training towards maximum strength training, which from racing exercises' point of view means for example starting exercises with additional weights etc. At least to this point things have gone quite well, just one small "worry" is that there are some challenges on getting the maximum speed up right now. But I'm confident this will fix when I get more exercises under my belt on the short distances. After the unaerobic training season it may take a while before one gets the normal relaxation in the muscles and so on, so hopefully the reason is only that.

I think I'm going to test the current status of my fitnss on the track first time on Nov 25th, when there is an indoor competition held in my home town Rovaniemi. There might be possible to take a 60m race on that competition.

But before that we have a training camp in Kuortane from Nov 16th to Nov 18th. That camp also gives great help on checking where we are currently going with the training.

I'll keep you posted.

Hi folks. Yesterday we arrived to Geelong after a bit over 33 hours of travelling. Yesterday was a really touch day, as I needed to stay awake the whole day even though almost falling asleep all the time because of jetlag. Today already been a bit easier in that sense, and I haven't felt too tired anymore. Let's hope the worst is over regarding jetlag then.

Luckily the racing chair seems to be in one peace after all the flights. Allthough, we haven't had any training session here yet. Tomorrow we'll see if everything is ok in the chair, too.

The weather in Geelong has been quite hot. Today it has been +36 degrees Celsius here, and the temperature is forecasted to stay around +30 at least tomorrow. I like this. :)

So all in all, everything's great here. I'll tell you something more about the feelings after the first training session tomorrow. See ya!