To avoid potentially offending any Finnish readers or confusing the rest of you, I thought I should briefly explain that the “Helsinki” 24hr race isn’t exactly taking place in Helsinki (the city) but rather in Espoo (which is actually another city).

Espoo is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen.

Espoo (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈespo]; Swedish: Esbo, [ˈɛsbo]) is the second largest city and municipality in Finland.

For those of you wanting to know more, Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen. Today, Espoo is the only municipality in Finland to fully enclose another municipality. The city is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, in the region of Uusimaa.  The population of the city of Espoo is 244,353 (31 December 2009), or currently a little more, due to all the visiting ultra-runners!