Finns blow the biggest and longest...glass

By Agnieszka Flak

IITTALA, Finland (Reuters Life!) - Juggling a giant ball of molten glass is all in a day's work for masters at the finals of the Iittala Cup glass-blowing championships.

Some 32 participants from Finland, Sweden, Norway and Hungary took part in Saturday's Cup in the northern Finnish town of Iittala, which has been organised by the Finnish design company of the same name every two years since 1984.

Finn Keijo Kopra, who won the cup after three rounds of blowing and twisting, said four hours of training each day in the past few weeks has finally paid off.

"hat we really wanted was to keep the trophy here in Finland -- it won't ever go to Sweden again," said the 54-year-old, who has worked for Iittala for the past 40 years, referring to the friendly yet fierce competition in most things between the neighbouring countries.

There are three parts to the competition: in the first, participants blow a plate, in the second, a cylinder and in the third, a ball. On each round their goal is to make it as big as they can within a six minute time frame.

This was the 14th time Kopra participated in the event and he has won the Cup twice before. But it was the first time ever winner has won all three of the rounds.

His plate was 61.2 cm (24.09 inches) wide, the cylinder was 281.8 cm long and the diameter of his ball was 53.7 centimetres.

But he said it was the juggling of the honey-like glass mass and blowing just the right amount that made it work.