Congratulations to the winners of round March 2024: Király from Skåne was awarded another Gold, FeTaTo from Scotland turfed home a Silver in her hunt for unique zones, and semaj65 from Skåne turfed home his second Bronze. Well done mates!
Turf Awards 2023
The voting for Turf Award 2023 is open all of April. The winner in each catogory will be revealed at the Bonanza banquet on September 14th. Vote HERE.
Upcoming events
If you are organizing an open event, don't forget to write to insider@turfgame.com a couple of months in advance to get the information about your event into the news letter :)
Open Turf Event in Ängelholm, Saturday 5th of May
A Foot event in the woods close to Råbocka Camping. The event will start at 11 am and end at 1 pm. A prize cermony will take place at 1.30 pm close the zone Råbockastigen. There will be possiblitiy for parking close to the zone Råbockastigen and SandISibirien. Prize to all young participants (17 or younger). Don't forget an extra pair of shoes and socks, the woods can be very wet this time of the year! The orgnizers will turn on their grill after the event, so bring sausages of any kind to put on it :)
SCOnanza aka Scottish Turf Open – Saturday June 1st
The SCOnanza is coming! Turfers from all around the world are being invited to the second Scottish Turf Open Championships! Hosted again in Edinburgh, this time from Friday 31 May to Sunday 2 June, and offering you completely different parts of the city to enjoy from last year. Following positive feedback on the format last year, again we are having a welcome foot event (Friday evening), 90 minute bike and then foot open championships (Saturday), followed by Sconanza banquet (Saturday evening) and then a “Crazy Closing” fun event (Sunday morning). Plus enjoy the neutrals of Edinburgh at the start of the June round. Everyone is very welcome! More information HERE. This is the second installment of this already legendary event. Don't miss out!
24h Event 7th of June in Luleå June
Here's an invitation from the organizer Kygni:
“In Luleå it never gets dark for the entire month of June. With the exception of a very breif rainfall in the event of the summer of 2022 it has been good weather both summer events I have organized (which is always in the beginning of June). On the 7th of June, a 24 hour event will take place in Luleå, it will start at 11 am on the 7th and end 24 hour later, giving people time to sleep between the event and the dinner which takes place in the evening at 7 pm.
You can participate in the event either by bike or foot and be in a team or do the entire thing individually, the event will take place on Porsön and there will be a place to sleep at (but bring your own matress and sleeping bag) the gathering place during the event if you play in a team. If you want to play in a team but don´t have teammates, you can tell that in the registration formula and I will try to set up a team for you. Note that you have to register since the event is gonna be private when it occurs.
In Sweden, 6th of June is a public holiday making 7th of June a so called 'squeeze day' which makes it easier to take a 4-day holiday, but I sincerely hope that we also get some guests from outside Sweden as well. Since the event is Friday-Saturday it is easier for people to stay during the dinner and according to me, a nice turf meeting/dinner is half the fun of an event :)
Last year we had the dinner outside in the sun. Of course there will be a plan B to have the dinner inside just in case we would be unlucky with the weather. Last year, I had Asian cooks fixing an authentic asian dinner. One indonesian, one nepalese and one indian. This year I am going to do the same thing. It is possible for people to bring or order their own food from a restaurant if they do not want the authentic asian food."
Sign up and get more details HERE. You can book a room at Scandic between the 5th and the 10th of june using the code luleturf2424 and get 10% off. Here is a picture of the sun from Luleå in June of 2022 just 3 minutes before the solar midnight. Make sure to join the fun in 2024!
Bonanza 2024 on the 14th of September in Enköping
The planning has begun in earnest with turfers from both Västerås and Uppsala joining forces. One goal for the Bonanza 2024 is to gather more than 233 turfers in order to take the Assit 233-medal. There will be, as always, a Foot event and a Bike event followed by a Bonanza banquet in the evening. More news will follow when we get closer to the date! Don't forget to mark the date in your calendar!
Turf Skåne will be hosting several events this summer open for non-members:
A 24 hour event in or around Malmö 29-30 June. Participants will be awarded the 24 event medal. We are still working on the details and have not yet opened up for applications, info this far can be found HERE (in Swedish).
24 August we will host Skåne Open again. Participation will give you the event medal. Details will come later this summer but you can sign up already now HERE.
At some point during the summer we will arrange for a picnic with a short 30 min foot event, this will be announced with short notice as we want to make sure weather is perfect.
Besides these events we have also worked with Laynus at Turfportalen to test a more compact format for region competition running over one week only. We are testing this out with Scotland and Västra Götaland last week of April, a summary will follow in the May edition of the Turf News email.
Report from LuleåIce24 by TurfDanne
Luleå
Ice '24, the first-ever open Turf event on ice, took place on
the
frozen
river around Luleå. It was a beautiful day with almost clear
skies,
a few degrees below freezing, but the sun was warm. A bit of a
wind
made one direction easy and the other harder. A total of 14
Turfers
participated by taking at least one event zone. There were
people using
ice skates, skiis, kick sleigh, and walking/running.
After half the
event, Kygni had gained a small lead, but there
were five other Turfers
also competing for the medals. The silver
and bronze positions changed a
few times, and in the end, Kygni
took the gold with grock in silver
place and Tuxina receiving the
bronze. Congratulations! After the event,
there was a gathering on
the island Gråsjälören (where the zone LuleIsle
is located).
There, the medal ceremony was held, and then we had hot
dogs
grilled over a fire. In the evening, a few of the Turfers gathered
in
a restaurant for a Turf dinner. Thanks to all who participated in
the
event, and I hope to see you all again, and many more, next
year for
Luleå Ice '25!
During Easter 6 turfers from Uppsala visited Åbo and a Turf lunch was organized by local Åbo turfer TortugaVeloz. A total of 12 turfers showed up. From TortugaVeloz:
"During Easter we had the great pleasure to have some Swedish Turfers visiting Åbo/Turku in Finland. We met up for a good lunch with our visitors and some local turfers and spent a good 2 hours chatting about nothing and everything. After which we took an assist zone together. This proves that Turfgame is not only a good game to motivate outdoor activity, it is also a social game. Welcome back anytime :-) Åbo/Turku is a good place to visit for some unique zones."
From the left: redmountrider, KingOfTheSlope, Lazytraveller, Chairman, TortugaVeloz, Munin, TriggerHappy, BikingBookworm, Pandora, Ojarnstr, BadLoser.Photo by : Kayaker.
Åbo is a very nice city to visit as a turfer, not too hilly, friendly locals and lots of nice zones :)
World Heritage Zones - Part 1
UNESCO World Heritages are described by UNESCO as ”World Heritage is the designation for places on Earth that are of outstanding universal value to humanity and as such, have been inscribed on the World Heritage List to be protected for future generations to appreciate and enjoy. Places as diverse and unique as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, the Taj Mahal in India, the Grand Canyon in the USA, or the Acropolis in Greece are examples of the 1007 natural and cultural places inscribed on the World Heritage List to date.”A long time ago we agreed in Crew that all World Heritages (WH) should have a zone with the World Heritage attribute. As we started working a few rules of thumb were developed and we still make WH zones accordingly:
All WH sites should have one WH zone.
All WH’s should have one zones only, no matter if the actual WH is spread over several areas.
The zone should have a shape that reminds of the WH logo.
We have made WH zones up until the ones approved by UNESCO 2021.
Turf Insider asked two travelling turfers to write a little bit about some WH zones they have visited. Enjoy their stories!
By allinug
”When you are going on a longer trip and have no specific goals, just pull out the "Turf map" and plan a route. There are many different options, e.g. World Heritages, which right now guide my path. Then you are guaranteed to get to interesting places. Two that I particularly appreciated on this trip are impressive buildings of different ages. One about 2000 years old, the other 131.
Bizkaiko Zubia (Basque), Puente Viscaya (Spanish), or as we say "Biscayabron", is the world's first "transport bridge", i.e. a suspension ferry connecting Portugalese and Getxo, located on either side of the Nervión River just west of Bilbao. The big advantage of this construction is that boat traffic is not disturbed. The bridge was designed by one of Gustave Eiffel's disciples and is considered one of the outstanding architectural iron constructions of the industrial revolution. It was completed in 1893 and is still in use around the clock. An estimated half a million vehicles and four million people use the bridge each year. And this year, one of them was me!
Another building material was used 2000 years ago, when the (now French) city of Nîmes needed to be supplied with water. The skilled Romans then built a 50 km long aqueduct from Uzès to Nîmes, which it supplied with water for 500 years. And that with a remarkable precision: the gradient is only 12 m on the long stretch! It is also difficult to understand how they were able to lift 6-ton blocks of stone more than 40 m and insert them precisely in place. The highest bridge (in the entire Roman Empire) Pont du Gard, where the zone is located, is 48 m high, 275 m long and consists of three arches. Water flowed on the top level, people walked on the middle and heavier transport went on the lowest level. Coming to this place also gives you a nice nature experience along the river Gard. I took a bus from Avignon to Remoulins and walked not only over the bridge but also in the area, a nice change from long city walks.
Now off to another World Heritage, this time a natural phenomenon...”. We will hear more from allinug in next Turf Insider!
By FeTaTo
”I visited New Lanark World Heritage site (and took the zone) with the Scotland resident parts of my family for my birthday treat in March. The site is situated in a beautiful steep sided valley on the River Clyde to the south of Glasgow. It was one of the largest cotton milling factories in the world and also had progressive social aspects for that period of time - late 18th century. Around 2000 people lived on site. Education was provided for the children and emphasis was put on providing a good natural environment around the factory. Working conditions were significantly improved compared to other factories. My young grandchildren particularly liked the roof garden with hidden metal animals to search out and seeing the waterfalls that helped provide the energy. I thoroughly enjoyed the visit though might have to go back without the grandchildren so that I have time to see it from an adult perspective rather than that of young children.”
Turf Picture of the Month
This months Turf Picture is of the zone Museumei taken by DXP2K. There were lots of really good entries this round. Turf Insiders photo editor felt we needed a laugh this time ;) Keep the pictures coming!
If you have a Zone picture you want featured as Turf Picture of the Month, send it to insider@turfgame.com Please include your Turf nick for recognition!
Turfa lugnt/Safe turfing!
//Munin
...if you want to contribute to future Turf Insiders, send your story to insider@turfgame.com :) C'mon and share your big and small stories with the Turf world.
Round winners – February 2024 (Round #164)
Congratulations to the winners of round February 2024: gerald_flux.rc from Berlin became the second German to turf home a Gold, AJHB from Greater London added a Silver to his Bronze, and semaj65 from Skåne turfed home his first Bronze.Well done mates!
Upcoming events
If you are organizing an open event, don't forget to write to insider@turfgame.com a couple of months in advance to get the information about your event into the news letter :)
LuleåIce24 Saturday 16th of March
The
event will take place on/near the ice track around Luleå. You
are
allowed
to use ice skates, skis, kick-sled or walk/run. More information
and
registration HERE.
There is still winter up north in Sweden!
Scottish Turf Open – Saturday June 1st
The Scottish Turf Open Championships is BACK in Edinburgh at the start of June for its second year! Come along and we promise you will love it! Everyone is very welcome! More information closer to the date.
24h Event 7th of June in Luleå June
This is the third time a 24 h Event is organized. Read more HERE and apply, either in a team of 2 or 3 or by yourself. In June, it will never get dark in Luleå, so it will for sure be a very special Event.
Bonanza 2024 on the 14th of September in Enköping
More news will follow when we get closer to the date!
Nominations for Turf Awards 2023 is over (last day was February 29th) and Crew is busy going thru the nominations and setting up the vote. Everyone will be able to vote for their favorites later this spring :)
I recently moved a newly made zone in Umeå and it became ”hidden” for some turfers. This is a known bug that can be very, very annoying. The most ”famous” hidden zone is FarEast. No one is able to locate this zone in the Turf app without first searching for it. Even if you know where it is, it will not show itself unless you search for it.
FarEast is a very special zone, but the same affliction can occur when a zone is moved, usually soon after it was made. Not much is known about WHY this happens. It usually corrects itself with the next restart of the Turf servers, but until that happens it can be very frustrating since not all turfers always are affected by this.
Once this happened to a zone here in Uppsala. It was made in a very precarious location and moved within a day or two to a less dangerous spot. I went to take it with a friend and my friend could not for the life of it, see the zone in the Turf app. I could, and I was also able to take it. My friend was not, not even after cleaning the Turf app's cache, uninstalling/reinstalling the app. It became so frustrating my friend almost uninstalled Turf for good (overreacting a bit). A few months later, we both could take the zone without any problems.
So, if you happen to come across a zone that is ”hidden” to you or your friend/s, write an issue about it, preferable reported as a ”Non-critical app or server” issue. Do NOT report it as a "Zone issue". The more information about when and where this happens, the bigger the possibility this might get solved beyond ”wait for the Turf server to restart”, but until then...there is nothing wrong with the actual zone, nothing wrong with your phone, just another irritating Turf bug. Patience is required from you as a turfer and apart from the famous FarEast zone, all other ”hidden” zones I have heard of, have become unhidden in time.
Turf Picture of the Month
This months Turf Picture is of the zone Ruinenberg taken by DasHuhn. Turfers from three different countries had submitted pictures this time, very much appreciated. Keep those Turf pictures coming :)
If you have a Zone picture you want featured as Turf Picture of the Month, send it to insider@turfgame.com Please include your Turf nick for recognition!
Turfa lugnt/Safe turfing!
//Munin
...if you want to contribute to future Turf Insiders, send your story to insider@turfgame.com :) C'mon and share your big and small stories with the Turf world.
Round winners – January 2024 (Round #163)
Congratulations to the winners of round January 2024: Jomii from Värmland braved the January cold and added a fourth gold to his medals, gerald_flux.rc turfed home a bit over one million points and secured a Silver with that, while turbosmith from Scotland came third and was awarded with his first Bronze. Well done mates!
Upcoming events
If you are organizing an open event, don't forget to write to insider@turfgame.com a couple of months in advance to get the information about your event into the news letter :)
VBWinterC24 Saturday 10th of February in Umeå, Sweden
The winter classic is back in Umeå and will be for both bike and foot on the same day. It will be cold, hopefully lots of snow and during the few hours of daylight at this time of the year.
LuleåIce24 Saturday 16th of March
The
event will take place on/near the ice track around Luleå. You
are allowed
to use ice skates, skis, kick-sled or walk/run. More information and
registration HERE. This will be the first ever Turf Event on ice. Back in 2015, a Turf Event on ice was planned in Västerås, but due to a warm winter, it was changed into a land Event. But they sure did produce a killer advertisement for their Event, LINK HERE. If you want some on ice action, head to Luleå in March :)
Scottish Turf Open – Saturday June 1st
The Scottish Turf Open Championships is BACK in Edinburgh at the start of June for its second year! Come along and we promise you will love it! Everyone is very welcome! More information closer to the date.
24h Event in Luleå 7th of June
The 24 h Event is a very special Event that goes on for 24 hours. It has been run twice before. The first ever took place in Umeå, back in July 2017 and you competed in teams of 3 turfers, taking turns being on the map 2 hours at the time. So each player turfed for 8 hours during the 24 hour Event. In June, it will never get dark in Luleå, so it will for sure be a very special Event.
Bonanza 2024 on the 14th of September in Enköping
More news will follow when we get closer to the date!
You can nominate turfers in four different categories until February 29th. Nominate HERE. When the nomination period is over, up to five nominees are selected in each category by Crew. During April, all turfers will have the chance to vote for a winner in each category. The winners will be revealed at the Bonanza banquet on September 14th.
Voting for new Medals
The vote for the New Medal is over: Monumentalist won with a landslide and the work to create the new medal will begin soon. Monumentalist was “a series of medals for number of unique visited monument zones”.
A reminder what a Monument zone is:
"A zone placed in the direct vicinity to or directly on a monument. A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage. The zone name should normally reflect the monument name. Only one zone per monument can have this attribute."
So, any old statue is not by default a Monument, any old building is not by default a Monument. It will take a little more than it being old, to make it a Monument.
Turf Crew has a new member: DXP2K, a new zone maker from Germany. Turf Insider asked him a few questions in order to get to know him better :)
1. What is your turfnick? Is there a story behind it, if so what?
My nickname on Turf is DXP2K and there is actually no real story behind it. DxP is the short form of DxPepper, the name I use for online games on the XBOX. I don't even remember what motivated me to add "2K", it was too long ago.
2. How long have you been turfing and how did you found out about Turf?
I've been turfing since the beginning of 2021. According to warded.se, I recorded my first session on February 26th, 2021. A colleague recommended Turf to me. After all, I am a gamer and a biker, so it just had to be right for me ;) Due to the COVID-19 measures in Germany...lockdown, ban on contact, etc. I had a lot of free time and now finally something to do. Alone, cycling with friends wasn't possible, but there was something to do.
3. What is the best thing about Turf? And the worst (if there is any)?
Good question...Turf motivates me primarily through competition. It motivates me to go out and go for a ride even if I don't really feel like it. Just to score points if another player gets too close or I have another player within striking distance and can move up the top list. The bad thing about Turf, if you want to call it that... Turf is a time waster if you want to be at the top. When you have work and a family it is sometimes really difficult to find time for turfing. Unfortunately, Turf takes a backseat and that can really ruin the current round.
4. What made you want to become a zone maker?
I am absolutely convinced of the concept of the game and the more I was able to look behind the scenes, the more I wanted to take part. Since Turf doesn't seem to have really arrived in Germany yet and is currently focused more on the hotspots around Hamburg, Berlin and Cologne/Bonn, it was clear to me that I had to be one of the ones to change that.
5. Which is your fave zone? Can be divided into a) the one you take most often b) the one you really felt "WOW" when taking
The zone I go to most often is the S-Bahn station Friedrichsberg in Hamburg. I come by there often and it is well frequented. If things go well, you can come here several times a day. But the zone isn't anything special.
The zone with the biggest WOW effect so far was definitely the “AlbormozFort” zone in San Marino / Italy. Currently the only zone in the dwarf state. The view over Emilia-Romagna is breathtaking from up there.
The view in the picture is towards the east.
6. Anything else you'd like to tell the Turf World about yourself
I founded the Discord server “Turfen in Deutschland” (Turf in Germany) about 3 years ago. It offers a German-speaking platform for turfers to be able to communicate comfortably. Ask questions, get answers or just show off your latest medal or the latest, most beautiful zone photo. Unfortunately, it is difficult to reach all the turfers in the country and invite them to join us. Many people are alone in their region and don't even notice it. That's why I'll take advantage of the opportunity, if it's okay. > If you would like to join us, you can find the invitation link in the German Section of the Turfforum. ;-)
Turf Picture of the Month
This months Turf Picture is of the zone YarmViaduct taken by Annie9jobs.
If you have a Zone picture you want featured as Turf Picture of the Month, send it to insider@turfgame.com Please include your Turf nick for recognition!
Turfa lugnt/Safe turfing!
//Munin
...if you want to contribute to future Turf Insiders, send your story to insider@turfgame.com :) C'mon and share your big and small stories with the Turf world.
Monumentalist won with a landslide in the vote for the next medal!
This means the work to create the medal will begin next.
Thanks to all supporters who took part in the voting!
Round winners – December 2023 (Round #162)
Congratulations to the winners of round December 2023: Király from Skåne decided to take one more Gold, gerald_flux.rc from Berlin added another Silver to his medal row and nicos from Berlin turfed home his first Bronze. Well done mates!
Upcoming events
If you are organizing an open event, don't forget to write to insider@turfgame.com a couple of months in advance to get the information about your event into the news letter :)
VBWinterC24 Saturday 10th of February in Umeå, Sweden
The winter classic is back in Umeå and will be for both bike and foot on the same day. It will be cold, hopefully lots of snow and during the few hours of daylight at this time of the year.
Bonanza 2024 in Enköping
I hope you have booked the14th of September 2024 for attending the next Bonanza in Enköping, Sweden. More news will follow when we get closer to the date!
Voting for new Medals
As a Supporter you have the chance to vote for the next new Medal in Turf. Five different medals have been suggested by Crew and you can vote HERE until the end of January 2024.
It's finally time to nominate the Turf achievements in 2023 that you consider the most spectacular, amazing or funny. You can nominate turfers in four different competition categories until February 29th. Nominate HERE. When the nomination period is over, up to five nominees are selected in each category by Crew. During April, all turfers will have the chance to vote for a winner in each category. The winners will be revealed at the Bonanza banquet on September 14th. Many thanks in advance for your contribution. Remember to start jotting down for yourself the spectacular achievements of 2024 so that you will remember them in a year when it is time to nominate for Turf Awards 2024!
Turfing in Extreme Cold –by Kygni
“During the coldest night of my life, the night between 3rd and 4th of January 2024, I took a two hour long Turf trip after ice bathing and sauna. I started the trip at 02:53 from the center in Luleå, the zone 'Greysoul'. You see the view from the zone in the picture below.
I wanted to make a zone picture, but the phone had a few issues...
From there I wanted to bike straight home because I was very tired, but I also wanted to truly experience the extreme cold so I took a little detour on my way home. As most turfers know, having the phone on the bike is the most optimal, that way you can check the map whenever you need, instead of taking out your phone from your pocket, however in minus -35 degrees Celsius, even the most rugged phone will die on you within minutes.
I had to bike from memory and have the phone in my jacket and even then, the phone struggled to keep warm and alive. I passed two thermometers on the way and both said it was minus 35 degrees, however the official SMHI (red. Swedish weather forecast service) observation in Kallax said it went as low as -36.4C this night. A friend's thermometer showed as low as -37C, and I heard that locally it went as low as -38C. When I passed the train station, every train was cancelled because of the extreme cold. The Cold Record for Luleå is -41,0, recorded in 1999, so it was very close this night.
At the end of my Turf trip, I had a pain in my cheeks and had to use a flag around my face to prevent frostbites. I got to keep almost every zone the rest of the round since the warmest I noticed before the December round ended was the superwarm -23C. No one in Luleå will think -20C is cold for the rest of the winter.”
The coldest I myself have been out biking in, was back in the middle of the 90's when I lived in Umeå and wanted to go to the cinema on a cold Boxing Day, so off I went in a crisp -28C. This was way before Turf and way before any cell phone that would die on me. The other day we had a lovely -18C here in Uppsala and the phone survived 30 min outside on my bike's handlebars before it decided to give up in zone number 14, which luckily was only 100 meters from home.
Turf Insider at Turfwiki- by ojarnstr
”Turfwiki is not only the place for all matters of knowledge of Turf, but also its history. I started a project a few years ago to add all Turf insider newsletters to the Turfwiki. This project is now almost complete with over 10 years’ worth of Turf insider newsletters. https://wiki.turfgame.com/en/wiki/Turf_insider
As always, I am hoping more people will join me in writing articles for Turfwiki. If nothing else, please at least write your own user article. Tell the rest of the Turf world, a little bit about yourselves and how you
Turf.
https://wiki.turfgame.com/en/wiki/User:YourTurfname (eng. wiki)
https://wiki.turfgame.com/sv/wiki/Anändare:DittTurfnamn (sv. wiki)
Funny thing if you do this, you can check all pages that are linked to your user article. If you have been an active turfer for many years… your name will probably come up in a few Turf insiders or other articles.
If you have questions about the wiki, please contact me by mail.
ojarnstr / ojarnstr@gmail.com”
There are a few issues of Turf Insider missing from the Turf Wiki, and ojarnstr would be very grateful for anyone finding the very early issues for him (October 2012 and earlier) and also three issues from 2015 (February, June and August). If you have any of these issues saved, please e-mail them to ojarnstr :)
Turf Picture of the Month
This months Turf Picture is of the zone SkellSquare taken by Marilium.
If you have a Zone picture you want featured as Turf Picture of the Month, send it to insider@turfgame.com Please include your Turf nick for recognition!
Turfa lugnt/Safe turfing!
//Munin
...if you want to contribute to future Turf Insiders, send your story to insider@turfgame.com :) C'mon and share your big and small stories with the Turf world.
The voting is now repaired. Please vote again if you have voted these previous days(17-19dec).
All supporters are now welcome to vote for the next medal in Turf.
Feel free to cast your vote HERE
https://turfgame.com/pages/page_vote.php
Only one medal will be picked, and the voting is closed at the end of January.
