Most successful athletes: Tapio Räisänen (SJ), Jouko Karjalainen, Jyri Pelkonen (NC), Anne Kyllönen (CC) Promising talents: Arttu Mäkiaho (NC), Jarkko Määtä, Wili Loukasmäki (SJ)
Two hours by car north of Kuopio lies Kajaani. The city's nowadays quite small ski club has a cross-country and ski jumping / nordic combined section. Children of all ages (and especially 5-13 year-olds) can develop the necessary skills for ski jumping on the 5 hills of Vimpelinvaara (K60, K38, K24, K10 and K5) and various cross-country tracks in the area. At the moment, there are only some junior training activities in wintertime and the club is lacking coaches. But due to the strong work done from 1998 to 2010 there are some very talented young guys competing on international level. A great advantage is the close vicinity to the big sports centre in Vuokatti (30 minutes by car). Also Kainuun Prikaati, an army brigade in Hoikankangas, offers athletes the chance to complete their basic military training on a special schedule aligned with their training sessions. A major sponsor for the young and coming ski jumpers and NC athletes is the local company Jana-Pro Oy.