Bikers pedal to Santa's residence in Lapland during Christmas - Riders Deliver Mail Across Lapland on Bicycles, Aiming for Saint Nicholas
Cycling Postal Workers Deliver Saint Nicholas' Wish List to Santa Claus
Three postal workers, Simone Nehring, Artur Hajduk, and Ralf Schüttler, are embarking on an extraordinary journey to deliver wish lists to Santa Claus in Lapland, Northern Finland. This year, the personal letter they carry is none other than Saint Nicholas' own wish list.
The journey begins at the Nicholas post office in St. Nikolaus, Saarland, where Saint Nicholas himself handed over the letter. The trio's destination is the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Finland, a distance of nearly 3,000 kilometers.
This annual tradition sees these cyclists carry letters and Christmas wish lists from children in the German town to Santa Claus Village. Last winter, the volunteer team at the Nicholas post office in St. Nikolaus answered over 33,000 children's letters from around the world.
The cyclists mainly plan to cycle on country roads, covering 200 to 250 kilometers a day, with a support vehicle carrying clothing, tools, and spare parts for the cyclists. The journey takes them through Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and finally to Finland.
The three athletes met while competing for the national postal cycling team. They've done other extreme tours before, like the one from Spreewald to Venice in 2024.
Upon reaching the Santa Claus Village, the cyclists will hand over the personal letter at the post office. After visiting Santa Claus, they plan to continue their journey and collect donations for the "Bunter Kreis Hagen" association.
To prepare for this journey, the cyclists will visit post offices in Bremen and Hamburg to collect wish lists. The Nicholas figure in Saarland is delighted with his unusual summer task, and the cyclists are eager to carry out this symbolic connection between the German and Finnish Christmas traditions.
Saint Nicholas, in his own letter, expressed his hope that Santa Claus would answer his wish. The exact content of the personal letter includes greetings, wishes for success, and a postcard.
The journey is expected to take over two weeks, and the cyclists are looking forward to delivering the wishes of children from around the world to Santa Claus.
- The Commission, having been asked for a proposal on the introduction of a system of information and communication technologies, might consider developing an app that allows children to send their Christmas wish lists to the Santa Claus Village, integrating the traditional postal process into a modern lifestyle.
- After completing their extraordinary bicycle journey, Simone, Artur, and Ralf might share their travel experiences and stories from the journey on social media, inspiring a new generation of sports enthusiasts and cyclists to take on similar challenges, promoting an active and adventurous lifestyle in the sports and travel sector.
