StudentWork participated in Töölönlahti BlackJack "marathon" for the fourth time in a row.
The Black Jack was held the first time in year 2007. During a night out, the today's spokesman Tuomas Keisteri made a bet with his friend that he would run a marathon the upcoming weekend. Well, after some google time he realized that there isn't a suitable marathon coming up. He decided to run 21 laps around Töölönlahti (Tölö viken) instead, so therefore the name Black Jack (21). One lap is 2,1 km, so the whole distance is actually a bit longer than a marathon. The first year he ran it alone with his friends supporting him.
Here is a picture of the bay, taken from the Helsinki Olympic stadium tower.
The Black Jack story continued the following year, and the friends who were supporting Tuomas joined him. By word of mouth the Black Jack got wings, more runners joined the "marathon", and they decided to make it an official happening. Today, if they wanted to, the competition could be much bigger with lots of runners, but the original runners wants to keep the Black jack within friends and on a smaller scale. That's why the event is easygoing, friendly and fun, and not a competition with the taste of blood in your mouth :)
StudentWork was the first group to join the party four years ago. Since then, there has also been a "relay mode" in the Black Jack. Which means that the team has to complete 21 laps together. (with one runner running at a time). As baton we have every year used a blue cape with StudentWork written on the back.
A picture of me from last years competition:
Anyway, this has become a tradition for StudentWork in Helsinki. For me personally this event is also a sign that the summer is about to begin.
This year we had good luck with the weather. We also won the competition :) Thanks all for good sportsmanship, good hamburgers, nice company, and for the victory!! And next year you are all welcome to join us on the running-or the cheering team.
More pictures below, Cheers!
/Jonas Weckström
Marcus Nyman (Lippe) in starting position. (Yellow shirt, black shorts and socks)
This was yammy!
Tomas an me preparing the Hamburgers on the grill. Notice our suntan!
Almost the whole crew. Can you Heikki (green shorts) teach us that dance move?
The gold medals (and the trophy on Nikis head)
