Course setter Jyrki Kajavalta after a succesfull Venla relay. Photo: Esa Soon
Planning the Venla relay course has been a nice challenge for the Venla relay course planner Jyrki Kajavalta. He has worked before as the course master for the FinnSpring event twice for example, but Jukola is quite the unique experience.
– Women were much faster than we estimated in advance. In the first intermediate control the top orienteerers were two minutes ahead of time, but in the second and third intermediate control the top runners were orienteering according to schedule. We did know in advance that the terrain is fast in the beginning and in the end, says Kajavalta.
– I started planning the routes in the summer of 2013, and they were ready in December 2014. I was not very familiar with the Paimio terrain from before, unlike Jukola course planner Oksa was. The maps went to press in March 2015, explains Kajavalta.
