Gallery: Utria Assault 2019 ends at Narva-Jõesuu
The annual Utria Assault military navigation competition came to its climax Saturday morning, quite literally with an assault course close to the shore at Narva-Jõesuu, in the east of the country.
A total of 29 international teams took part, including from Latvia, Germany, Canada and Switzerland, and three representing the British contingent of the NATO enhanced forward presence (eFP) battlegroup based in Tapa.
The race covered a course of over 100 kilometers, plus 16 checkpoints; it started Thursday evening in Jõhvi, Ida-Viru County, meaning two overnight stages were involved, leaving little time for sleep for the participants.
This year's competition made no use of skis due to the unusually warm winter, though drones were permitted, for the first time at the competition.
Utria Assault (Utria Dessant in Estonian) commemorates an action 101 years ago on January 17 1919, which saw 400 Estonian marines and 600 soldiers from the Finnish volunteer battalion conduct an amphibious landing at Utria, on the northeast Estonian coast between Sillamäe and Narva. This led to the liberation of Narva from Bolshevik forces.
Editor: Andrew Whyte