History

In the midsummer of 1976 Raimo and Ritva Hyyryläinen were visiting Harri and Marita Tuominen when the idea of establishing a borzoi club was born. The founding meeting was held the very same day. They named the club as Suomen Borzoiklubi - The Finnish Borzoi Club ry. The first president of the club was Harri Tuominen and the first secretary was Ritva Hyyryläinen. These four people formed the first board, to which Erkko Hurme joined at the end of November.

In the first annual meeting in November '77 20 members were present. At that meeting the first rules for lure coursing were approved. The first unofficial lure coursing event was also held at that gathering.

In time the club got different committees. The breeding committee has been serving the club members since 1979, the leisure committee since 1984, the newsletter committee since 1985, the show committee since 1986 and the coursing committee since 1989. The article sales began in 1991.

The first borzoi weekend was held in the fall of 1978. The Turku show at Vätti track can be considered as the club's first show as the club was one of the organizers. The judge was Anita Gielisse from Netherland. After that the club has organized a borzoi specialty yearly. The first official track racing event the club organized was in Vätti, Turku on May the 5th 1980, and the first official lure coursing event September the 1st 1985.

The first newsletter was published by the Christmas of 1980. Currently the newsletter is published quarterly and contains around 90 pages per issue.

The club has published four anniversary publications, 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-year anniversary books. The 15-, 20- and 25-year issues are still available, and do belong to every borzoi enthusiasts library with numerous useful articles, pedigrees and borzoi pictures. The books are written in Finnish, but contain a short foreword and a short word list in English.

Currently the club has about 300 members. By estimating the number of borzois in Finland we can conclude that most finnish borzoi owners belong to the club. The club has a representation in Suomen Vinttikoiraliitto - The Finnish Sighthound Association, through which we can influence more in decisions which concern sighthounds.