In the Lappee-Jukola relay during the weekend there is a speciality which has not been experienced during the Jukola 68-year-long history. In about half of the legs the track runs through the competition centre thus bringing the orienteers in front of the eyes of thousands of spectators. The run trough will be via the spectator control point which the Jukola and Venla orienteers will punch first and then run along the fenced path next to the ditch via the overpass bridge to the other side of the centre where the orienteering will take place at another part of the terrain.
The publication of the run through was deliberately delayed until the Wednesday before the competition in order to avoid speculation on the trails. The Event Manager Mr. Juha Heimala is thrilled about finally being able to announce the attraction of the competition. –The whole competition centre has been designed so that the people in the Jukola village are in the middle and the different operations take place around the visitors, he starts. –For the first time the Jukola spectators can view the action on video screen, spectator control point, run through path and the home stretch and if wanted, enjoy the high-class restaurant services at the same time, praises Heimala the 64-acre competition village built on the fields.
Map and Course Manager Mr. Ari Torniainen, reveals the idea of a run-through having developed already at an early stage of the track planning process. –The idea came from the track expertise group when the all-including usage and wear of the terrain were being planned. There were several options introduced for the run-through until the final version serving the land owners and the competition centre the best was found. According to Torniainen, this not only brought new interest into following the competition but also new additional opportunities. – We carefully considered which legs would be taken to the run through.
The final result, where about half of the competitors come in front of the spectators for cheering, is very successful according to the experienced track master and Jukola participant. –By the run through we wanted to bring the competitors and the spectators new points of interest. This kind of a solution has never been introduced in Jukola before, says Torniainen. The information on the legs including a run through part will not be revealed until in the announcements just before each leg’s lead arriving to the spectator control so that we won’t reveal too much of the trails.
The Lappee-Jukola competition centre will open for public on Friday June 17th at 10.00 a.m. The Venla relay of almost 1,400 teams starts with a joint start on Saturday June 18th at 2.00 p.m. and the open Jukola relay’s over 1,700 teams will start their journey into the darkening forest on Saturday evening at 11.00 p.m. The competition is organized with the help of some 2,000 volunteers and there are about 50,000 visitors expected to the area during the weekend.
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