# In Estonia, there is a race where leaving the sauna too early costs you fifteen minutes.

- Series: [Saunantakaa](https://miu.fm/saunantakaa.md)
- Published: 2026-10-11
- Page: https://miu.fm/saunantakaa/in-estonia-there-is-a-race-where-leaving-the-sauna-too-early

## Story

In Estonia, there is a race where leaving the sauna too early costs you fifteen minutes.

The European Sauna Marathon in Otepää is, in its organisers' words, "a fun orienteering game between saunas". Teams of four, with a car, visit as many saunas on the map as they can. A timing chip registers each team IN and OUT, and everyone has to stay at least three minutes, or the team gets a fifteen-minute penalty for that sauna.

In 2016 there were 217 teams, about 900 bathers and 21 sauna points, among them kvass barrels and saunas made of plastic film. The winners were a team called Here4Beer, in 2 hours 55 minutes. First prize was a hot tub.

The rules also say: "Drunk competitors are not allowed in the saunas!" Every ice hole a team visits takes ten minutes off its time. And teams that finish after 18.30 are not ranked. They are listed as "Sauna enjoyers".

The main organiser, Ago Arro, puts it this way: "The sauna is not a place for rushing; it is a journey and a process that should be enjoyed."

Would you race, or stay?

Sources: European Sauna Marathon, rules and organiser's page (saunamaraton.com, read 10.10.2026); Otepää municipality, results of the marathon of 6.2.2016 (archived page). The map in the film is drawn freely and is not the event's own map.
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