History

History

History of Vändra Marathon I 1956-1994

It was the year of 1956.
With the initiative from Elmar Amboja, a long distance runner from Vändra, and with the help from Enn Tammai, the foreman of Vändra`s districts sports association, the first Vändra Marathon was held. The race proceeded towards Pärnu. The headjudge was Otto Juhansoo. In the history books, there are 22 people marked as referees. There were 6 men at the starting line.

Very precise records of organisational work have been preserved. For example, 50-metre metal measuring tape was used to measure the track. The township provided a travelling trophy. In order to secure the trophy indefinitely, the marathon needed to be won three consecutive times or five intermittent times. The three best runners got a diploma and a memento which was given to all participants. In order to take part, the competitors had to prove their identity with a passport, sports club membership card and a special permission from a doctor. During the marathon, open athletics competitions were held on the stadium. So was the tradition of Vändra marathon established.

The first two marathons were run in the direction of Paide, the next three in the direction of Pärnu. Various light athletics competitions were always organised on the stadium during the event. Soon after, the marathon was included in the Estonian runners’ running series. The row of runners was accompanied by cyclists, bikers, not to mention cars. The weather has not always favoured the runners – there have been cold and rainy weather conditions. Beginning with the 6th marathon in 1961, there were participants from outside Estonia. On the 7th marathon, there were several competitors from the Soviet Union. It is worth to mention that bronze medal was achieved by Allan Õiglane from whose offspring we expect to see future talents. Indeed, the sons of his son Jaan – Jan and Janek – are promising youngsters for Estonian light athletics. We hope that they will some day debut at their hometown’s marathon.

In 1963, a particularly high number of runners took part. The cross- Soviet Union champions
of the sports association „Dünamo“ were established. It was the 50th anniversary of the
Estonian marathon-running and the first state-wide „Power“competition was held, in which the
second place went to Jaanus Tõnissaar from Vändra. Already at this point, split times after
every five kilometres were announced via radio to spectators on the stadium. It was considered
a very innovative fact during the time. During this marathon, people of Vändra were thrilled by
light athletics competitions in which the famous Charles Vallmann (javelin thrower) also
participated, throwing 77,95 metres. Decathlonist Uno Palu also competed in javelin throw,
Enn Erikson shot put 15,50 metres. Father and son Otto Juhansoo (50) and Enno Juhansoo (21)
also took part in the same run. Furthermore, Otto helped with the organising of the marathon. It
was the first marathon for Enno and the fifth for Otto.

Up to date, no-one has indefinitely won the grand prize. Arkadi Birkenfeldt came closest three times. All runners were guaranteed accommodation the night before the marathon and catering the day before. There have been mishaps in the organisation. For example, the national sports federation had promised to make badges for all runners, but did not.

In the following marathons, there were plenty of participants from the Soviet Union, master class norms were fulfilled. Institutions of the township even arranged their own championships. This was lead by the Vändra’s branch of „Viisnurk“, where Otto Juhansoo worked at the time. The winner was Jaanus Tõnissaar. Special prizes were also provided, for example to the oldest participant. On the 12th marathon, it was Otto Juhansoo. A record number of competitors took part in the 13th marathon, participants coming from outside were required to fulfil at least the first sports category. They were secured accommodation for a week before the competition. Some inhabitants of Vändra surely remember the times when some athletes were here to become acclimated for even longer than a week.

Organisational aspects
In the years 1961 to 1977 the Vändra marathon was in the Soviet Union-wide sports calendar
and first places were distributed across the Soviet Union. The winners came from Minsk, Ulyanovsk, Cheboksary, Kyrgyzstan, Kemerovo, Sakhalin, Uzbekistan and farther, not to mention runners from neighbouring states. There have been mishaps in the organisation. For example, the national sports federation had promised to make badges for all runners, but did not.

Several times during following years, there were a few participants from outside Estonia’s borders.
Estonian winners:
Villy Sudemäe – 4 times,
Arkadi Birkenfeldt - 3
Aare Kuum – 3.
Better known Estonians having competed: Jüri Liim, Küllo Tiido, Benno Viirandi, Laurenti Altoja, Rene Meimer, Harri Timberg, Einart Alus, Vladimir Heerik, Ergo Rand.

Starting from 1975, a record has been kept of the rankings. Some interesting facts from these. In the beginning of the list of rankings, next to foreign names we can find:
6. Rein Leinus 2:20.03,0
24.Maido Keskküla 2:22.23,0
25. Valeri Belov 2:22.23,0
44. Ergo Rand 2:23.42,0
67.Vladimir Võštšinski 2:25.10,0

Organisers

For a very long time, the head judges were Enn Tammai, Aksel Laul and the Secretary-General Anni Ruukel.
For ten years or more the following people were involved with organising the marathon:
Otto Juhansoo, The chairman of the district sports committee Enn Tasalain, leaders of the township Eha Ilves and Tiiu Ling, merited doctor Vello Tamra, later Mart Mõttus.
Organisational work was supported by the physical education teachers of Vändra High School.
For years, Elmar Jürs lined the runners up.
The people of township have always been involved:
Diploma-writers – the hundreds of diplomas were back in those days written by hand. There were people distributing drinks in refreshment points.

Participants
Several generations of runners from Vändra have took part
1. Otto, Enno and Janno Juhansoo;
2 Elmar and Allan Amboja

II
At the 19th Vändra marathon in 1974, father and son Elmar and Allan Amboja competed against each other, the latter being the youngest – 19 years old – participant in that race.

More specifically on the 20th marathon, which was yet again held under the name of an anniversary marathon. 57 athletes took places at the starting line, almost half among them from the Soviet Union. The first Estonian to finish was Küllo Tiido who was fifth at the finishing line. The title of the oldest participant went from Otto Juhansoo to the 62-year-old Andrey Ivanenko from Leningrad.

During these times, women were rarely seen on the marathon track, but two women have so far participated in Vändra. The first was a competitor from Leningrad in 1971 and in 1973, an Estonian living in Moscow Tiiu Kaganova achieved the 27th place among the 57 athletes.
In the beginning of 70s, running series competitions were held for shorter distances, where in the shadow of the marathon, Lea Parksepp and Sirje Luuga struck through among women and Enno Juhansoo among men.
It seems that the number of participants started to decline because in the cross Soviet Union calendar, Vändra marathon was not among the competitions at which it was possible to fulfil the master class norms.
22nd marathon in 1977 was historical for the fact that there were relatively few athletes from the USSR, only around ten, and the number of participants had come down to 34. But the representative of the cross Soviet Union sports committee announced that from thereon it was possible to fulfil the master class norm at the Vändra marathon.
This obliged the organisers to find a head judge and a secretary with a cross-Union category. Over several years, the 23rd marathon was won by an Estonian, Aare Kuum. During these years, the flag of people from Vändra was held high by Elmar Amboja and Aleksander Margus, for whom the organisers needed to wait for an hour or even longer compared to other athletes.

Another, 25ft anniversary marathon was highly praised by the participants. Laurenti Altoja has completed our marathon 25 times. For the winner of this marathon, Aare Kuum, it was the third win in a row, but it was not possible to establish whether he remained the owner of the travelling trophy.
A long-time chairperson of the township, Tiiu Ling and the chairman of the Pärnu district sports committee Enn Tasalain belonged to the organising committee. He held the opinion that the rising interest for Vändra marathon could be used in order to turn it into a popular event by bringing in for example a 15 km or a 20 km run. He also adjusted the date of the marathon – whereas the weather is better in August, marathons can be found from the calendar almost every day.

At the 26th marathon, Villy Sudemäe was a tough competitor for the athletes of the Soviet Union and won the race, whereas it was his first time to run a marathon. A few Estonian women participated. At the 27th marathon, A. Margus competed next to Oleg Ridalaan. This marathon went to history because over 300 children of up to 12 years of age ran the 1,2 km distance at the park. Every participant got a badge and a pennant.
A family run was held with 37 families taking part. There were participants outside Vändra, on the stadium, a football match between Suure-Jaani and Vändra was held. Sirje Eichelmann was on the track and finished with a 17th place and Estonian women’s record 2:56.30. The youngest participant, 15-year-old student of Vändra High School Urmas Põldre became the champion of Pärnu district – he was the 20th native of Vändra having ever participated in the local marathon. Again, Oleg Ridalaan and Aleksander Margus were on the track.
At the 28th marathon in 1983, there were a few participants from the Soviet Union, but the majority were nationals of Estonia. In the history of our marathon, the grandson of Otto Juhansoo, Janno Juhansoo, participated as the youngest competitor. He was only allowed on the track with the permission of Vello Tamra, a doctor, and together with his father Enno Juhansoo. Husband and wife Niina and Jüri Liim ran the marathon.

In parallel to the main race, at the 29th marathon a 2 km track in the parc was open for the third year in a row; again over 3oo runners took part. In those years, participants were registered at the township government (which was called „executive committee“ back then). The start was on the stadium. The tireless Laurenti Altoja and Aleksnder Margus still participated. The symbolics of the marathon and the mementos were designed by the artist of the Vändra district, Elve Saarmaa. The track was continually marked down by Otto Juhansoo who also tidied and decorated the stadium. Without him, no marathon was held in Vändra.
Prizes were provided by the institutions of the township, with monetary support from the executive committee of Vändra and the sports committee of the district. From 1961 to 1981, the runners were given memorial ribbons which depicted a bear in different postures. From 1982 first emblems and then pennants appeared.

High school students continually volunteered as drink distributors, there were cultural staff of Vändra and other helpers. Also present were an oak wreath and damsels in national clothes who put it around the winner’s neck. The number of participants showed an upward tendency, there was plenty of praise on the organisation of the marathons in the media.

More specifically on the 30th anniversary marathon in 1985. All the leaders of the biggest institutions of the township were members of the organising committee, with the chairperson Tiiu Ling. Next to Vello Tamra, Mart Mõttus was employed as a doctor. Radio transmission was organised by Kaljo Kollom. The person who prepared the victory wreaths in the previous years has not been named, but for this marathon, it came from the hands of Reet and Mihkel Eesmäe. Elve Saarmaa designed the emblem, pennant, diploma, badge, hat and the memorial medal, prepared the slogans, advertisements, kilometre indicators etc, and was naturally of help with her skills during the race. For the 30th marathon, Otto Juhansoo proposed the preparation of the flag. Its realisation was made an assignment to Fred Rohula from “Mistra“. Ülle Kalmet, Kalev Käärson, Jaan Saluste, AnneJuske and TiiuMännik also helped. It was also Otto’s idea to depict three bears on the medal, one for every decade. An ex-Vändran, artist Johannes Juhansoo designed an ex libris for the 30th marathon. A bookled was published on Vändra and Vändra marathon. The honour of raising the flag was given to the best Vändran of last year Urmas Põldre and the winner Villy Sudemäe. In parallel, almost 300 children took to the track, they were lead by the running enthusiast Ants Metsla. During the run, chess was played on the stadium. Cross bowers Lembit Peetri and Veli Randmer introduced their sports. The winner of the marathon was Villy Sudemäe. There was a remarkable number of Vändrans running the marathon: Urmas Põder, Andres Roosmaa, Joel Tints, Sulev Paap, Hillar Karik, Oolo Tedre, Jüri Tõnisson, Tõnu Laks, Endel Kaas, Sven Kivistik, Fred Rohula, Ants Paberits, Merike Tohv, Vello Hunt, Aivar Luhaorg, Aleksander Margus. Before the prize ceremony, artists of the Vändra circus troupe „Varia“ performed to the spectators.

III
At the 31st marathon in 1986, there were many Estonian runners, some participants were from Moscow, Riga, Vorkuta. In parallel, a quarter marathon was held with 17 competitors. The start was given to the park race, there were 476 runners of different ages on the track. There was a football match for spectators which was held between bachelors and married men and culminated with a draw 4:4. The first three places of the marathon came to Estonia: 1.Kalev Urbanik, 2.Einar Oimet,3.Viktor Artemjev.
The champion of the Pärnu district and the best Vändran runner was Jaan Miidla from Vändra EPT. II was Joel Tints and III Madis Mäekalle. During the 32nd and 33rd marathon there was a park race for children and a 10km Rõusa race. The course setter was continually Otto Juhansoo, the track went to the direction of Paide. A one-metre wood divider was used to measure the track. In 1987, a football cup between Vändra, Lelle, Lokuti and Türi “Volta“ was held on the stadium. The Vändrans still taking part were Joel Tints, from women Merike Tohv, and the tireless Aleksnder Margus. Jaan Miidla excelled in the veteran category, Hillar Karik from Suurejõe and Urmas Põldre also ran.
Organising the work of the refreshment points was for years the task of Kalju Tuvike. When at first water was handed out, then later juice was added, those who wished could use their own drink providers.
After the race, the sauna was always available to athletes.
Starting from 1989, before the marathon in August, the „Mistra“ carpet-run was held.
The year 1990 was the last 35rd anniversary marathon. For the first time, the geneal manager of the marathon was Enn Taslain. Enno Juhansoo tried his hand as the course designer. The track first went towards Paide until the new road and then turned towards Pärnu.
After this anniversary marathon, there was an idea to hold one big marathon and to cancel the fragmentary carpet-run of „Mispo“, and to put the money together. However, this did not happen. The former organisers of the marathon lead by the district sports committee and township government could no longer compete with the rich prize table of „Mistra“ and commercial sports. The young men of „Mistra“ were energetic and innovative, they wanted to hold more sumptuous runs than before – this was made possible because of the rich carpet factory. The district and other institutions of the township could not compete with their prize table. „Mistra“ was privatised to new owners who counted their money more carefully and invested less into advertisement and sports.
In 1991, the Vändra marathon was for the first time held in August instead of the beginning of September. It was held under the title of “Mistra” and Mispo carpet marathon. From Vändrans, Urmas Põldre and Jaan Miidla ran. For this marathon, Ergo Rand from Pärnu and Pärnu KEK (the building office of collective farms) prepared pennants to those who superseded the time of Olympic silver medal Jüri Lossmann, because a 100 years had passed from his birth. There were two such men on our marathon. The protocols of 1991 and 1993 marathons have not been found because the novice organisers did not pay attention to their conservation.
The marathons of 1992 and 1994 were held under the title of the carpet marathon, half marathons were also held. Grand old master Benno Viirandi participated, the honour of the township was upheld by Joel Tints. During these years, the main weight of organising was on „Mistra“ and the Mispo running club. With the year 1994 the marathons ended. The last Vändra marathon was held and for years, this race was over.
The organising team lead by Joel Tints is of the opinion that with the 40th marathon, the long-term tradition will be revived. For the organisation of Vändra marathons, it has always been essential that good conditions are created in order for the competitors to enjoy the run. Let’s give our best together!
We invite all Vändrans to help revive the tradition! See you on 4th of May at 11.00 on the stadium.

To conclude, the history of the marathon in numbers (number of athletes having started/finished).

1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965
6/4	4/4	13/13	17/14	17/14	19/18	23/22	84/72	27/21	40/35

1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975
59/55	93/80	127/113	108/97	140/127	200/172	83/79	33/31	42/36	57/53

1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985
42/36	34/32	35/33	52/41	56/50	49/47	57/49	77/68	98/89	126/117

1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
138/126	125/111	132/110	113/106	75/75	148	97/92		48/46

Maie Metsla – from 1979 to 1989 the sports methodologist of Vändra district and one of the organisers of the marathon