TALLINN, Jul 31, BNS – Twenty-nine teams including ten from seven foreign countries will line up for the 15th edition of the Erna Retk military competition starting next week.
Erna Retk 2008 will begin with a landing in the bay of Kolga on the northern coast on Aug. 6 and end on Aug. 9, spokespeople for the competition said.
Among the 29 participating teams are representations of the Kaitseliit (Defense League) voluntary corps, reserve officers, Women’s Home Defense, defense forces, military school and border guard. Foreign teams come from Lithuania, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Latvia and the United States. Denmark has three and Norway, two teams registered.
The distance to be covered by the competitors is about 100 kilometers and the competition area covers 960 square kilometers of very difficult terrain.
Meelis Ratsep, president of the Erna Society that organizes the competition, said this year’s edition of the event will be more technical than earlier ones. “The course is shorter, but the teams will have to perform more tasks on the course,” he explained.
Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish peacekeepers will serve as umpires.
Both Kaitseliit and the defense forces, as well as the North prefecture of police, are pitching in on the organizational side.
Enthusiasts can watch the opening of the competition in Tallinn’s Jurioo park on the morning of Aug. 6 and the landing on the beach of Salmistu in the afternoon of the same day.
The 2007 Erna Retk competition was won by the team of the Reserve Officers’ Association ahead of the Tartu company of Kaitseliit and team No. 2 of Finland.
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