Growing up in the snowy landscapes of northern Finland the determined and skilled snowboarder Enni Rukajärvi started her journey on a snowboard at the age of 10, after cruising on skis since a little nipper. Pushed by friends and family she has been competing for only a few years and soon after one winter of top results in national events she appeared on the international competition scene.


Enni started competing in 2007 at the Girlsessions in Ruka, Finland and after a successful event went on to compete at the 2Star Finnish National Championships, placing 4th in slopestyle. Her career picked up immediately and she was invited by Roxy Finland to join their team.  Only two years after she grabbed the titles for both slopestyle and halfpipe at the 2Star Finnish Championships in 2009 and went on winning the 3Star Oakley Girlsessions.

Enni has begun to stir up the noise outside her home country since she made international headlines with her win at the 4Star Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam 2009 in Austria, beating the likes of Cheryl Maas.

 However, the big bang on her career really came along with her victories at the 6Star Roxy Chicken Jam in Saalbach and the 6Star BEO Slopestyle. The 19 year old is has just finished her studies at a sports high school and is getting ready to take on the snowboarding world, so watch out for Enni.




Interview with Enni Rukajärvi in October 2009

When did you start snowboarding?
I started at 10 years old. I wanted to try boarding after skiing for 3 years, and some friends of mine tought me how to ride.

Where do you ride and with who?
I ride in Vuokatti and Ruka together with my boyfriend and a couple of other guys. Sometimes I also ride with my girlfriends, but not so often.


How did you begin your competitive snowboarding career?

I started competing in winter 2007 first at the Girlsessions and then in the same winter I took part in the Finnish Championships.

How did you end up competing outside Finland?
After the Finnish Championships I was given the opportunity to go to my first event abroad, which was the Junior World Championships in 2007. Once I had joined the national junior team I was always invited to the Junior World champs and this is when I started to get interested in participating in TTR events.



What are your plans for this winter?
I will be riding more than ever and I want to go to more events abroad. For example, I will participate for the first time to the European Open and Roxy Chicken Jams.

What have you found to be most difficult on your snowboarding career, and what has been exceptionally easy?

I found picking up the tricks on Halfpipe to be a ton of work, but now I feel that I slowly got it down. Also, at the moment, speaking better English would be great.  What has been easy for me is hard to say… maybe the rest of things have been a bit easier, but, not too easy.



How did you overcome those difficulties?
To improve my skills in the pipe there is no other way to learn but to keep riding, and I’m working on my English skills.

Who pushes you to ride better?

Boyfriend, coaches, sponsors, family, other girl riders and my own motivation.

What is your dream to achieve on your snowboarding career?
To become so good that I am satisfied with myself.

You are still studying, is it your goal to make snowboarding your career?
In fact my high school is about to finish this December and next spring I will apply for further education. I think it’s good to keep studying. A career in snowboarding is one goal, but its good to keep other options open, as you never know how far my snowboarding skills will take me.