Turf insider October 2018
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Contents
Round winners
The winner of round 99 hails from my own home region Uppsala: Kygni, he is the fourth member of the exclusive sub-20 age group of Turf World winners :) He announced his intent the first day of round 99 to Uppsala turfers, and he kept biking all the way, taking Greed-350 during the last weekend. Lejfis from Örebro grabbed his first silver with a will of steel and constant smile accordingly to fellow turfers in his region. MaXi, another young one, from Dalarna won his first bronze in fierce competition with runner-up snickaren. Something tells me MaXi will be back for more of the valuable medals in the future. Well done mates!
Winner Zones
After winning Gold in the World or in any of the official Turf countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, The Netherlands and Korea), the winner gets to place a zone, a Winner zone, in that country. It is common that the zone has the form of a crown or something that defines the turfer who won (simpson has winner zones in the form of cats or the first letter of the turfer). The country list has to have at least 30 turfers on it, for a Country medal to be awarded and a Winner zone to be allocated.
To date 367 Winner zones (WZ) have been placed in official Turf countries. The top three cities to visit if you collect WZ are: Oslo (43), Mariehamn (40) and Kampen (32). In Sweden, Kalmar is leading with 13 WZ followed by Linköping (11) and Malmö (11). At http://lundkvist.com/ (site is only in Swedish) statistics over who has taken most WZ can be found and at this time it is the man behind the site, HappyF, that has most WZ under his belt (144). Two of his favorite Winner zones to visit are ElCamino in the Botanical Garden in Gothenburg and WsnurrsHage in the Botanical Hage in Oslo. Do we see a common denominator here? ;)
Many turfers have celebrated their Winner zones not only by being the first to take it, but also with ”bubbles” together with friends. KråkanKrax is sharing a picture of Tompaj and Yoth when they celebrated her WZ KråkansSång. They took it together, again showing the beauty of Assist :)
Turf In Finland and Finland Explorer
Finland is divided into seven regions in Turf. The majority of Finnish turfers can be found in Mariehamn (Åland), Helsinki (Etelä-Suomi) and Turku (Lounais-Suomi). 56 turfers have visited all regions of Finland and are proud holders of Finland Explorer. kingenin and MasterOfTurf were the first to take this medal way back in 2013 (before most of us knew of Turf).
Åland is the Finnish region with most active turfers. They speak Swedish, have a high degree of autonomy from Finland in governing itself and consists of a large number of islands with amazing scenery. The turfers in Mariehamn are very hospitable, something I experienced myself when rozaliona invited me over for coffee one evening. They don't have a Turf club or organized Turf get-togethers yet, but plenty of spontaneous meetings and acitivties.
During last year's Steel FM Help (local radio station sending live on the city square and collecing money for charity), the turfers in Mariehamn donated under the name ”Turf Åland” and had daily Crowdy-takes in a special zone (SteelHjälpen on the sqaure. Thanks to one of the local radio hosts, the Crowdy-size grew every day, culminating in the International record of 52 Assist on New Year's Eve (not counting the Swedish record of 177 at the Bonanza in Jönköping 2017).
A Turf Meeting Story from rozaliona
”This is a picture from Lilla Homen, the central beach in Mariehamn, and beyond the row of birds lies the zone "HolmenBeach". From that, I personally have a very nice memory of the first turf tourist I met. I had paddled all the way there and picked up the phone to start the app. To my surprise, I saw a turf figure on the beach and when I looked up, I saw a man wading into the water, further and further out, until he began swimming with one arm up in the air. He looked up on the phone from time to time and I did not have the audacity to go and block the zone for him (there was no assist back then... which would've been nice), so I waited until he took the zone. This was my first meeting with the Stockholm turfer LBz :)”
For anyone living in or near Stockholm (Sweden) it is easy to take the ferry over to both Mariehamn in Åland and to Helsinki. I have done both, and had my bike with me both times. Mariehamn in August is lovely, and by bike it is a perfect place to visit for a couple of days. I am sure it is fantastic by foot too, but it will take you more than a couple of days to visit all the zones. In Helsinki, I and two other Swedish turfers met up with local turfer FilleFilur for a 3,5 hour private turf tour (long live Assist!). He took us out of the city centre towards the northeast and then back to the ferry. One of the cooler zones we visited was Mamutsauna at the end of a very desolate pier; the zone is next to a metal sculpture of mammoths and a people's sauna open for everyone.
The remaining five regions in Finland are easiest to take by car, but trains and buses are another option, although then it is more difficult to bring your own bike. However, most Finnish cities do not have so many zones since there are few/none local turfers. Any ideas how to increase Turf's popularity in Finland is highly appreciated by TurfCrew :)
My personal favorites among Finnish cities are Kuopio, Oulu and Rovaniemi. All three cities are relatively flat and the number of zones are under 1 zone/biked km (in Kuopio it was almost as many zones per km biked as home in Uppsala!). The zone RanuaKirkko in Lappi is extra special to me, since that was where me and my partner took the Finland Explorer medal in August.
For Finnish turfers there is a page in Finnish at https://turfgame.fi and don't forget the Finland Section in the Turf Forum. If you have zone suggestions you "burn" a little bit extra for, please start a new topic in the Zones section for Finland to get the attention of the Finnish zone makers, so they can pick up on your desire for a new zone :)
Three Quick Ones
This month we look east at three Finnish turfers who have answered the quick questions :)
Turf nick: FilleFilur
What is the most frustrating thing with Turf?
- When the Avatar does not want to go into the zone, even though you're in the middle of it in real life, or when the Avatar jumps out of the zone in the middle of the take.
Which personal goal are you most satisfied with?
- Finland Explorer. I travel very little with work and when I go on holiday, it is rare to travel in my home country.
An accessory (not bike) you used to take a zone?
- Umbrella, the zone was out in water due to high water levels and I had no swim gear with me. Could walk out a bit but it was not enough, so I put the phone in a bag that I stuck on the umbrella, which I then stretched out.
Turf-nick: KråkanKrax
Favorite Zone?
- SleepingBoats. I can go out in my morning robe and take the zone on the other side of the road when I go to the mailbox to pick up the morning newspaper.
Which medal was the toughest to take?
Most memorable zone you have taken. Why?
- The church in Finström (StMikaels) when I took Greed-300 and had the clock against me. I needed more zones and had "everything" in the center of the city.
Turf-nick: TortugaVeloz
What made you begin with Turf?
- It was via a friend. Turf got me out instead of sitting at home
Favorite Zone?
- FöriZone, free ferry over Aura river
A medal you would like to see in the future?
Silver and Bronze in Finland, we in Turku have no chance of winning gold in Finland.
Turfa lungt/Safe turfing!
Munin
