– The task of being the course planner in the Jukola Relay is something you just cannot refuse. It’s a task of honor, offered only once and only to few.

So says Jukka Oksa, the course planner of the Jukola Relay at Louna-Jukola, who’s already on the home stretch of his two-and-half-year-long effort. And he believes he will have considerably more time for everything else after reaching the goal in June.

– Time use in the barrage of family and children, daytime job and being a coach in the club of Paimion Rasti is challenging at times. However, the comprehensive nature of the task is the best about it. Not a single moment goes by without me thinking about the Jukola courses as well as the awareness of that in this task, if any, one should strive for perfection. Although, I don’t think anyone will reach it in the end, describes Oksa.

The whole thing started in exactly the same place and time as with the Venla Relay course planner. To be accurate, the event manager had already approached him about the task a bit earlier, albeit without specifying which relay it would concern.

Oksa’s course planning ”career” began at the Isotonic competition in 2001, which, arranged by Paimion Rasti, was the last event to carry that name. The name changed into FinnSpring, but the courses of the 2013 event were again planned by the same man. In between, Oksa was responsible for the courses of several Silja-Rastit and Huippuliiga competitions. So, he has plenty of experience, but the Jukola Relay is still something quite different. What, then, is the decisive difference?

– I’d say it’s the number of orienteers. It poses considerable challenges for course planning group and also the terrain, from the number of punching stations per control to trail formation and placing refreshment stations. Also the locations of TV controls as well as other schedule-related issues are constantly present in course planning, naturally. In Jukola, everything takes place on the biggest possible scale, reflects Oksa.

Key factors supporting the course planning process include, according to Oksa, numerous, carefully analyzed test runs and successful cooperation between different organizing committees. In addition, the knowledge and experience of course controller Ilkka Saarimäki, also Jukola course planner some years ago, have been of great benefit.

– Despite all support, I’ve done quite an amount of background work. I’ve planned courses for several events in Louna-Jukola terrain area earlier, so no specific familiarization with the terrain was needed in the beginning. Some parts of the first course plans from the spring of 2013 are still in use, even though a major part has changed since then. One forbidden-to-use area and a couple of zones protecting endangered organisms have had some effect on my work, says Oksa.

In addition to a rowing boat, the high and steep hills of the competition terrain have brought forth also something else unexpected.

– On one terrain visit I heard weird clatter. I went to take a look in case some changes would have to be made to the map. Only when I arrived at the spot, I realized I need to look upwards. “I’m preparing an exercise site for rock climbing”, shouted a man hanging from a rope over the cliff.

The courses of the Jukola Relay are all but ready to be printed. Printing, personification and bagging of the maps will take a big part of the remaining months.

As course planner, Oksa intends to provide the participants of Louna-Jukola as diverse an experience as possible, for which the terrain offers excellent circumstances.

– Orienteers are surely waiting for fast and beautiful bare-rock terrain. Surely that is something they will get, but that’s not all. It would even be a bit silly not to utilize the variety of areas available. Different kinds of places and sceneries will provide the participants charming experiences, promises Oksa.

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