Kangasala-Jukola organizers achieved yet another milestone with the arrangements recently, when the newly printed competition maps arrived to Kangasala. That concluded the almost two-year period of course planning and the orienteers can only speculate what kind of challenges lay ahead in the forests of Kangasala.
– It was an exciting moment when the maps where sent to the print. We have been planning and speculating the courses, legs, details, and so on, for nearly two years and now as the maps are printed, that fun is over – we can’t change them anymore, course setter Petteri Laitinen describes the feelings.
It takes time to create courses for an event like Jukola relay. The course setters have been spending hundreds of hours both in the forest and on computer planning the race. Test runners have been testing courses and route choices on several occasions. There has also been lots of meetings, emails and phone calls included to tie things together with other parties such as the TV production.
– It’s been inspiring to be involved in this project. All the key persons have been really committed to their work! Together we have already accomplished great things, course setter Jarkko Liuha tells about the big picture of course planning.
The course setters won’t reveal any details about the courses yet, but it has become clear that the orienteers have to be alert in the forest. The base idea in the planning has been to make such courses that they themselves would enjoy running.
– None of the test runners have said that the courses or the terrain are too easy. But they’ve had great moments running the courses. That gives a smile to the course setters face, Liuha concludes.