A thrill seeker has become the fastest Brit to complete a gruelling 100km ice skating race in Finland.
Jack Harrison, 28, competed in the Finland International 100km Ice Skating Marathon, Kuopio, in February 2025.
He completed the race in five hours, 42 minutes, and six seconds, making him the fastest Brit to complete the race.
Jack is one of the first Brits to complete the race since its inception in 1984.
This isn’t the first time Jack has competed in ultra-endurance races. In 2024, he spent a year taking on Europe’s most gruelling sporting challenges – including scaling Mont Blanc.
(Image: Jack Harrison / SWNS)
Jack Harrison, a helicopter engineer from York, said: “It is the premium ice skating race.
“It took me five hours and 42 minutes of ice skating, but it is probably the nicest race I’ve ever done.
“It was so scenic, and the route was really nice. There were frozen boats in the lake, and you went through this village.
“I was a bit worried at the start line when we arrived at five am. I didn’t know what to expect, and people turned out in Lycra, which was when I knew it was going to be tough.
“I was looking at the times before the race, and a British guy had done it before, so I was trying to beat his time.
To prepare for his latest challenge, Jack would train at Leeds Planet Ice, and he would roller skate at a running circuit close to his home.
He trained for three months before jetting off to Finland in February to start the race.
Jack said: “I went out a week before and used it as a training camp.
“I was doing two or three sessions a day of ice skating in the morning and cross-country skiing.
“I took to skating quite well, actually, and there is a lot of correlation between skating and skiing.”
(Image: Jack Harrison / SWNS)
The race took place in Kuopio, Finland, a four-hour drive from Helsinki, on a lake that freezes over every year.
Jack said, “As soon as I finished, I knew what time I was aiming for, as I had looked at past times before the race. Towards the end of the race, I knew I could do it.
“There was actually another Brit behind me, so I was hoping that he didn’t race past me.”
After he finished this race, Jack and his friend Sam, 28, completed the Nordenskiöldsloppet, the longest cross-country ski race in the world.
From left, Jack Harrison and his friends Sam and Henry cross country skiing in Sweden (Image: Henry Oldham / SWNS)
Jack said: “There was a lot of thinking in that race. It was all fun and games in the first 50km, and we started at a nice pace.
“But when the 50km checkpoint came around, things became more painful. It was all timed focus, so it was good to keep that in mind, and it kept me occupied.
“Once we turned around and started coming around, it became a slog. Around 140 km, it became really cold as soon as it was night-time, and it was dark.
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“It was nice having a mate with me because it was good to have that company; otherwise, we would have been packed in.”
This coming week, Jack is flying to Switzerland to take on the longest ski route in the world and also ski down the second-highest mountain in the Alps.
Jack also wants to climb Mount Everest, race across America, and row the Atlantic Ocean.