Last Minute Drama at Jasper Challenge – Fatty Fell From Victory to Abyss

Ice One Racing team's boss was seen smiling on the riverbank

Jasper challenge had a dramatic final, as Heikki's Fatty (”Läski”) was already raising his fins to celebrate victory, but fell unexpectedly more than 10 meters down from the  outlet of the water power plant at Korkeakoski. Fatty was unfortunate, to say the least, since the flood outlet was open just for an hour for minor constructions.

Fatty ended up in impossible position below the dam. The way to victory would have forced him to return to the sea and swim back to the starting area and so forth, all the way up to the Koivukoski area, were the GP got it's solution. However, a trip to the sea always means disqualification for the day, and therefore Fatty was guaranteed to be out as soon as his massive body hit the river underneath the dam.

To everyone's surprise the winner turned out to be Kimi of the Ice One Racing team, contrary to the information that spread out just seconds before the finish. The victorious news reached Kimi, who was swimming rapid circles at Ruhavuolle, having lost the sense of direction again, late in the afternoon. Eyewitnesses reported he raised his left fin and lip readers were convinced that he said something like "yess" after hearing the news, although it might have as well been "were the hell is my cell phone and will there be a party here in Kotka or what?".