Which team: Nope Team Banter. Mainly students and graduates from Edinburgh University.

Goal in Jämsä-Jukola: Placement last year was 445. This year they are reaching for a top-three hundred placing.

One of the most interesting international teams comes from the United Kingdom. Nope Team Banter, a youthful team includes former orienteers from Edinburgh University orienteering club. The members are gaining international fame supported by their co-operation partner, an orienteering spirited website, Nopesport.

A member of the team, spokesman and coaching responsible Duncan Grassie describes Nope Team Banter’s preparations as enthusiastic and coulourful. “With some of the blokes we participated in a Sprint the Bay, one of the Orienteering World Cup events, in New Zealand. We had the night stakes in our minds already there – they should be well prepared for in time before the big event. Coaching programme include also other international events: ” I am preparing for the Jukola also in Romania where there are bears and wild dogs to keep the run brisk”, Grassie continues with a twinkle in his eye.

Nope Team Banter’s own, nationally traditional programme includes a lot of running on the Scottish moors and haggis, the local specialty, as nourishment. ”We intend to surprise the competitors with fast route choices and confident performance even under the heavy pressure in the competition. I have also suggested the night-stake-blokes to start sleeping with their headlights on. Thoughts and energies are to be focused on finding the red-and-white signals hidden in the Finnish forests, states Duncan Grassie and raises questions about the Scottish team’s actual potential. Well, we will see that in June!

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