And it´s time to get to know more about Linda 😉

Ciao! I am Linda Tetsmann, 27 years old (born in 1992) kayaking enthusiast. I grew up in Vändra (my hometown, Pärnu county) and in 2012 I moved to Tallinn where I started my recreational management studies at Tallinn University. What can I say, thanks to this period of my life I got in touch with kayaking. Way earlier I was doing horse riding for nine years and thanks to my family, I have been enjoying an active lifestyle from the very beginning of my life 😊

How exactly the kayaking section started in my life?

At the beginning of 2014, my university lecturer Mart Reimann asked: “who would like to take part from paddling competition, Võhandu Marathon 100 km”. By the way, pointing out a teaser that not a single K2WOM (female tandem kayak) from our department (at that time: Institute of Health and Sports Science, Tallinn University) hasn't reached till the finish. For me and my dear coursemate and friend Hanna, it was a true wish to paddle from the start line till the finish as first ladies from our department. During the moment when we accepted the challenge, we actually didn't have a clear picture of what kayaking means, because we had no experience before. But we accepted the challenge!

So on the 22nd of March 2014, we sat in a kayak for the first time in our lives and paddled some kilometers on the Jägala River. Mart was sharing information to us and others how to hold a paddle and how important it is to use your torso and not only arms. Hmm… this took some longer time (years) to master the more efficient paddling technique (to keep in mind it is an ongoing process). Right before our first Võhandu Marathon, we managed to go kayaking for four or five times.

22.03.2014 at Jägala River, with Hanna Riive

We paddled in 2014 (4th place in our class, time: 13:41) and 2015 (2nd place in our class, time: 11:00) with Hanna, in the K2WOM class on Võhandu Marathon 100 km. As I was studying in Prague at the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015, I knew that I was coming back to Estonia for Võhandu Marathon, and this way it happened. Võhandu Marathon appeared to become my favorite sports event of the year! Check more from here if you haven ́t heard about it: https://www.vohandumaraton.ee/en/

Times in Prague…. well, that was a life period! Here greetings to NO-KETCHUP group and all fellows with who we created amazing memories! During this time I had an amazing chance to practice sports (like swimming, climbing, karate) and also kayaking. I even had a chance to try whitewater basics and also experience kayaking expedition around Corsica island.

Before whitewater course in Troja, Hlavní Město Praha (2015)

Kayaking expedition, Corsica (2015)

Same years (2014 and 2015) both of us took part in Lahemaa Marathon, 24 km (Estonian Seakayaking Championships). Hanna became a champ in K1WOM class on both years and I was 2nd in K2WOM class with Margot Saharov in 2014 and again 2nd in K1WOM in 2015.

2016 I started to race on a single kayak (K1WOM class) as Hanna couldn't join Võhandu on that year. For me, it was a very important race (VM, 23.04.2016) in my life. Thanks to that kayaking became a lifestyle for me. I can really say that happened thanks to Ahti Reinup with who I had an amazing chance to paddle side by side half of Võhandu. He was there to motivate me when the weather got quite bad (windy and sleet started to come down from the sky) and I felt tired. In the end, I reached a 2nd place (time: 11:20) in my class. Same year Ahti invited me to other events connected with kayaking.

In 2017 Eric Hints (colleague and one of the owners of 360 Degrees, where I worked at that time) put an idea in my head that I really could win Võhandu Marathon in my class. Following, Ahti Reinup and EastPole Kayaks provided me better equipment. At that first part of the season (spring) I paddled with WK540 (produced by World of Kayaks, in Estonia). I also started to take part in other great kayaking marathons, like Türi-Tori Downriver Race (https://tyritori.ee/ ). This race became an important preparation race for Võhandu Marathon. I paddled 47 km distance and became 1st (time: 4:47) in the K1WOM class. One week later, Võhandu Marathon 100 km went great! It was the first time for me to win this big sports event in the K1WOM class (time: 11:09). It felt fantastic!

The same year, in autumn Ahti brought me a brand new kayak WK525 (produced by World of Kayaks, in Estonia) for Lahemaa Marathon. These rough conditions during this day gave me a very good experience on the sea (to point out that I do not consider myself as an experienced sea kayaker). Afterward, for the first time and for the last competition of 2017 I went finally abroad, to Latvia, Gaujas bāziens 70 km race. Paddled together with my kayaking fellow Olden Jentson side by side and took 1st place in K1WOM class (time: 5:22). This felt real mental race for me as I could sense the pressure by my competitor Ilze Balode, who was behind my back, but really close. Thanks to Olden I learned to understand a bit of river flow during this race.

Gaujas bāziens, Latvia (2017)

2018 was similar to 2017 according to the competitions I took part in. The difference was that from 2018 I started to concentrate more on preparation, as for me it mattered to have a good feeling, to win again and reach a better result during my favorite sports event of the year. You must already know that it is Võhandu Marathon. (I will bring Võhandu experiences through different years to you in our next posts). But here I want to mention another very important person, Urmas Varm, thanks to who my paddling technique has become better and I have reached on better results during different competitions. He started to help me with my preparations in February 2018. And that year I did my best result on Võhandu Marathon. It was the second year when I took 1st place in K1WOM class, but with a time: 9:58 and being on 55th place overall (out of 832 competitors). I also started to practice paddling with sprint kayak and mastering my paddling technique under Urmas. I had more training hours during that year than previous ones.

2019 is remarkable by the things that have happened. World of Kayaks became behind my back. I started to race with “WK 595 Marathon” kayak. It was the third year in a row I took 1st place in Türi-Tori Downriver Race (47 km), 1st place in Võhandu Marathon (100 km) while I had my biggest support team “LTeam” next to my side. Two weeks after Võhandu we went to Latvia, Gauja XXL Relay Race (380 km instead of 420 km due to low water level) as the first ladies ́ team in history. World of Kayaks team (Linda, Anette, Merike, Eve, Annabel and Tiina). The time while we were driving to Latvia with Anette and Eve in one car (others with another vehicle), the topic of Yukon River Quest araised. But about this topic, you will get to know more about in our next blog posts and also about other competitions where we paddled together with Anette 😉

Võhandu Marathon 2019 (Photo by Anette's father)

Me & LTeam, Võhandu Marathon 2019 finish (photo by Egert Kamenik).

Anette: „Before getting to know Linda personally and now, after having gone through some ventures together, I was and still am really amazed by the organizative side of her doings, the willingness to take actions while trying to involve and offer positive emotions for as many people as possible. With Linda I can be sure that intriguing ideas won't just stay as ideas, but will turn into unforgettable memories.“