Soon after the Venla relay was finished for the top teams, an interview was held in the media centre of Louna-Jukola. In this interview the competitors of the winning team Domnarvets GoIF and those of the best Finnish team, SK Pohjantähti shared their thoughts on the race. The happy competitors praised in unison the good weather, well planned courses and Jukola’s unique atmosphere.

The first leg runner of Domnarvets GoIF, Dana Safka Brozkova, was satisfied with her own part in the competition. Her goal had been to run close to the top and give the next runner as empty terrain to go into as possible. Brozkova came to the changeover in a good position, less than two minutes after after the first.

The second leg runner Karolina Höjsgaard had planned to do a clean and safe performance. According to Höjsgaard the most difficult thing was to stay with her own plan when there were masses of other orienteers in the forest. The team had already discussed this problem beforehand and prepared themselves well. The experienced orienteer took part in Jukola for the first time as a 15-year-old in 1986. Höjsgaard wishes that she’ll be able to participate in next year’s Jukola as a celebration of 30 years since her first time attending.

At Vehkalahti, four years ago, Lena Eliasson had been the anchor of her team and secured the victory for her team. This year Eliasson was happy that she wasn’t the anchor. Two weeks ago she had run a marathon in the time 2 hours and 44 minutes, which still weighed on her feet and the astounding fitness of the team’s anchor, Emma Johansson, wasn’t a question to anyone. Eliasson shared additionally that she’s happy to have given a good performance and have a good team, in which she enjoyed to do her share.

Emma Johansson, who gained the victory for her team, hadn’t even by the interview quite realised the greatness of her team’s performance. Johansson had begun her leg together with Elin Hemmyr Skantzen of Järla Orientering.
– Back then it was difficult not to think about the position and focus on performing, Johansson told. Only after she had seen Skanzen wander on the wrong side of a pond, she realised that victory would be a possibility. The runners who were trying to catch up with her Johansson had not feared. The good performances of the team’s other members had given the team a good headstart on the other strong competitors.

– I felt energetic and I knew I’d do well if I were able to concentrate. Even Johansson had slight problems with performing well. After those it was important to find the concentration and mindset back on track and get back to performing well. As the finish line was getting closer it took confidence to run ahead of everyone else. Johansson shared that she had gained confidence from her good performances in the competitions during the Spring and from the great performances of her teammates.

This year’s best Finnish team in the Venla-relay was SK Pohjantähti from Oulu. The classic ”How do you feel now?” -question was given to Sofia Haajanen right after reaching the finish line. The points Haajanen brought up in her answer were repeated in the comments of her teammates. The first leg runner Heini Wennman confessed that she was happy with her performance, but wished she had managed to do a more controlled performance. Wennman also thanked the Course Setters for their mercy, as the always interesting first control point was simple to find. Wennman said that she had trusted on the fact that after surviving through the chaos and mass of people in the start her own performance would rapidly become better. The team had analyzed that the second control point of the course would be near the gravelpit, finding that with ease brought extra confidence to the rest of the leg.

The youngest of SK Pohjantähti, Anna Haataja, whose previous team was Ounasvaaran hiihtoseura, was appointed for the first time to the second leg. Haataja recounts that she was happy with the leg, as this made her less nervous of the start than she had been on the earlier years. Excluding the one minute’s extra detour Haataja was happy with her performance. In the middle of the second leg the top teams crossed paths with those teams who were still on the first leg. The mass of people had Haataja confused for a moment and as she approached her control point she began running with the wrong crowd.
– I should’ve just paused and made my own decision, Haataja commented sorrowfully.
– An amazing performance, Haataja nevertheless summed the performance of her team.

Marttiina Joensuu who was faced with the third leg shared that she regard this years performance as better than last year’s fourth place. After having a tough Spring of being ill, running in the forests of Paimio was almost euphoric. Her good mood showed in her performance, she caught up with Venla Niemi of Tampereen Pyrintö and was sixth at the changeover.

Sofia Haajanen, the anchor of Pohjantähti, began her leg alongside Saila Kinni of Tampereen Pyrintö. Haajanen shares that she enjoyed the pursuit and a good start gave her a boost of confidence. Even with the confidence boost she had to run to every interval near her limits and hit the breaks only near the control point. In the last slopes her legs felt dead and she held onto the rhythm only by repeating the landmarks out loud. Haataja was left irritated by the Alfa-Ösa OK and Järla Orientering who stayed ahaed of her in the last stretch of the race. Haataja confessed that she had run as well as her body allowed, anyhow the being placed as fourth in the Venla-relay was an amazing achievement for the team.

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