If you take a trip to Scandinavia, you are sure to find animal races, but not the ones you may expect. In Finland, traditional reindeer racing is a cultural pastime that has been drawing in spectators from around the world.

In early March, the Salla Reindeer Cup was hosted in Oulu, Finland, a town just south of the Russian border. Despite the frigid temperatures, around 1,000 people from different countries across Europe eagerly attended the event. The spectators come from places as far as Italy, Germany and France. 

For decades, reindeer racing has been an important part of Scandinavian culture, especially for the Sami Indigenous peoples. Now, the races are professionally organized and regulated, but it originated as an entertaining pastime for men who spent most of their winters in forest surrounded by native reindeer. 

The Salla Reindeer Cup was a premier event that had qualification requirements: competing reindeer had to run a kilometer in under one minute and 19 seconds.

“It’s a science. A lot depends on the reindeer’s character- it has to tolerate a lot: the audience, other reindeer, noise, movement,” Lasse Aatsinki, the head of the Salla Reindeer Cup, said. “Every owner has their way.”

The reindeers pull their handlers behind them on skis as the race across the snow covered tacks. During the race, crowds yell at their favorite racers, cheering them on by yelling “hyva, hyva” or “mene, mene,” which translates to “good, good” or “go, go.” 

In between races, spectators kept warm by eating reindeer soup and kampanisu, a local and traditional pastry from Salla.

This year’s winner is named Pompom and his handler is named Hannu Krupula.

“Pompom is exceptionally fast and smart. You rarely find [a reindeer] like that,” Krupula said. “If there’s any weakness, it’s that he’s not very good-looking.”

After the race Pompom and the other competing reindeer were awarded with lichen, a symbiotic organism that the animals love to eat and were praised for their hard work.