Review of Reval Hotels Cup (0)

In the winter of 1998 a new tradition in the world of athletics was established thanks to Erki Nool’s initiative and the support of Reval Hotel Group. This was the time when the international world-class combined events meeting, then bearing the name of Erki Nool Reval Cup, was held in the new Tallinn Sport Hall. By now Tallinn as the meeting place has earned an exceptionally high reputation among multi-event athletes and fans of combined events from every corner of the world. The competition held in Tallinn is exceptional not only in Estonian athletics but in the entire indoor season of track and field events.

As an indicator of the good reputation of the meeting, Reval Hotels Cup was included in the official calendar of European Athletics Association (EAA) events as early as in 1999, the year when the meeting was held only the second time. Since then it has been listed annually. Reval Hotels Cup is the only indoor athletics meeting entered in the official EAA events calendar in Estonia and the only indoor combined events meeting officially recognised by EAA in the world.

The fact that all medallists at major competitions of the last decade and all world record holders of the same period have competed in Tallinn also shows the indisputably high level of the meeting. Over the years, the scores collected at the meeting have repeatedly led the world seasonal ranking of combined events.

One of the main aims of Reval Hotels Cup is to promote doing sports and leading an active lifestyle among the younger generations. From the very first meeting onwards, this has been supported by the idea of allowing children to watch the competition free of charge. Races for children and teenagers, which the organisers have added to the competition schedule, work towards the same goal.

The organisers’ attempts to make the competition more family-centred have also received positive feedback. During the last six years the organisers have provided guided activities for small children. For that purpose a special activity area has been created in the sport hall, where fun relay races for different age groups take place. Among other exciting activities, children can also draw and eat sweets there. Ideally, the way the children can watch the competition as well as participate themselves would encourage them to practise hard and become the future champions.

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Tallinn Indoor Meeting is an annual athletics meeting held at the Lasnamäe Indoor Arena in Tallinn, Estonia. The event is currently one of the EA Indoor Permit Meetings.