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Eighteen teams from six countries are taking part in the Admiral Pitka Recon Challenge, the Estonian military endurance competition that replaces the discontinued Erna Raid.
18 teams participate in Admiral Pitka Recon Challenge
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The competition was opened in Tallinn on Tuesday and the teams will take off on Wednesday.
According to Defense Minister Urmas Reinsalu who opened the competition in Tallinn near the monument of Johan Pitka the Admiral Pitka Recon Challenge will be carried out according to the best practice Estonia has, including using the years of experience from organizing the Erna Raid.
Parnu company of the volunteer corps Kaitseliit (Defense League) will field three teams and both the Jarva and Tallinn companies will enter with two teams. Among the participants will also be a team of Kaitseliit's women's corps, teams of the defense forces' Guard Battalion and Scouts Battalion, and a team of the Police and Border Guard Board.
Foreign teams entered for the competition come from Belgium, Finland, Georgia, Lithuania and Poland. Representatives of the armed forces of China, the US and Denmark will observe the new competition.
The competition will be held mainly in the northern Harju County from Aug. 7-10. Kaitseliit chief Brig. Gen. Meelis Kiili will be in charge of the event.
Like Erna Raid, the Admiral Pitka Recon Challenge is for teams of four that must solve different tasks requiring military skills while traversing the long distance course. With Kaitseliit as the main organizer, also the defense forces, the Erna Society, the Estonian Reserve Officers Association, the Estonian Shooting Sports Association and other organizations are involved in preparation and conducting of the competition.
Future competitions will be held in different Estonian locations so as to reduce the home field advantage of Estonian teams. That was one of the reasons why Erna Raid that had been held annually for almost two decades in northern Estonia was canceled last year.
Admiral Johan Pitka was the Estonian military commander from the Estonian War of Independence until World War II.