Last Saturday 90 female players made history in Estonian disc golf. The largest disc golf competition “Sportland presents: Rajal ainult naised” dedicated to only women took place at Tallinn Song Festival Grounds, in Estonia. Was it the biggest women’s disc golf competition held in Europe so far?
More and more women are meeting on different disc golf courses, both beginners and more experienced players. For some reason, however, when it comes to competitions, whether it is a weekly game or a bigger competition, the number of female participants is very low. Therefore we had an idea to create a competition to bring together female players and get to know each other better. Done! Together with the Discgolf.ee team, a women’s-only disc golf competition “Sportland presents: Rajal ainult naised” was announced.
The motive for the competition was the desire to bring women together and get to know each other better. Therefore, we decided to make the game format an individual round and also a doubles match in which the pairs were drawn. What better way to meet new female players than to pair with a player you don’t know?
After the competition was announced it was a big surprise for us when in just two days the event was sold out. Do we really have so many female players here in Estonia that nobody knows anything about? I can now confidently say, yes, we do!
As we all know, small details are important to women and they evoke positive emotions. Therefore, in between two rounds we had a small lunch break where each competitor was greeted with salads by Gustav Catering by Joel Ostrat. Hot mulled wine was also available!
All the winners of the individual game were awarded with Sportland and Discgolf.ee gift cards and the winners of the doubles match were awarded by Discgolf.ee. All players were boosted with Vitamin Well vitamin drinks and Barebells protein bars and Sportland made sure to support spring shopping with different coupons.
Results of the “Sportland presents: Rajal ainult naised” competition:
Division with a rating up to 834: 1st place Maarja Roht, 2nd and 3rd place Anneli Ostrat and Triinu-Liis Tõhk.
Division with a rating of 835+: 1st place Kersti Miller, 2nd place Kaidi Allsalu and 3rd place (replay) Kelli Ellus.
In the doubles competition the victory went to Eve Jänes and Kaidi Allsalu. Second place was won by Anu Normak and Anni Eesmaa and the third place was won by the duo consisting of Triin Paabo and Ly Teder.
Some comments from the women who were competing:
Kadri Akk: “It was an extremely nice Saturday in the company of talented women in disc golf! There was enough excitement and challenge on the track and even a wonderful spring weather was present. I liked that the players who have less experience were given opportunities to succeed because it can often be difficult to play the same courses and compete in the same conditions as men but it is the experience that is most needed at the beginning. I hope that similar competitions will be arranged again because the women's power that was felt on the track was just great! The evening put competition was especially memorable because I would have wanted to take away the prize myself. I'll practice more for next time!”
Kaire Tekku: "What I really liked about the competition was the fact that at the event I saw several familiar faces, some of whom had been hibernating and had now found their way back to the course. It was also extremely great to see new faces and play together with new players. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to play with new players in both rounds, e.g. with Triinu-Liis (the sister of Mats Erik Tõhk) who showed long throws and gave me several suggestions. The putting mistakes that were made on the course were corrected in the evening at the putting race held in Discgolf.ee’s store. It was a great experience to take part in such a competition and to leave with victory. I feel that disc golf has added a lot of nice people to my life!”
The day ended at the Discgolf.ee store, where there was a competition to find the best putter. The winner was awarded with new Nike running shoes by Sportland. 20 women took part in the putting competition and the tension ran up til the end. Kaire Tekku left the battle as the winner this time around.
To sum up the day, I would like to say that the goal of the competition was most certainly achieved – to bring women together to enjoy a positive competition, find new acquaintances and companions for future training and competition rounds.
Thank you to all the sponsors and supporters: Sportland, Vitamin Well, Barebells, Gustav Catering, Discgolf.ee, Silver Leetma, Marko Narits, Ralf Rogov, Timmo Ordjas and all the other helpers.
The main organizer of the competition
Maria Liivamägi