Competition director Juho Siikilä is pleased with the large number of participants.
Next weekend’s Pre-Jukola races in Mikkeli Otava are of interest
The Jukola relay in Tikkala, Mikkeli, on 15-16 June 2025 and the World Championships in Kuopio in July will gather teams to camp and get to know the Savoese terrain. Around 900 competitors will take part in the two-day competition. The individual races will have categories from 10 years old to 80 years old.
For Saturday’s individual World Ranking Event (WRE), there are 138 competitors registered in the main men’s category and 76 in the main women’s category. The men’s series will be split into two series. The top ranked athletes will compete in the E1 series and the rest will be placed in the E2 series.
The most prominent competitors in the women’s category are Marika Teini of Kaleva Rast in Joensuu, Iida Haapala and Tereza Rauturier (formerly Janosikova) of Suunta-Jyväskylä in the Czech Republic. All three are under pressure from last weekend’s European Championships in Hungary, so the others have a chance to challenge them. At least the young Venla Taulavuori and the experienced Saila Kinni of Tampereen Pyrinnö can be counted among the front runners.
During the European Championships, our country’s number one national champions Topi Syrjäläinen and Olli Ojanaho injured their legs badly enough that they will not be seen in Mannila’s Sydänmaa terrain. Among the European Championships visitors are Valkeakoski Hakka’s Aaro Aho and Helsinki Orienteers’ Veli Kangas.
Joonas Ahola, Aleksi Karppinen, Vinski Malinen and Ilari Sulkula from Navi will participate in the middle distance race.
Recent sprint mixed medallist Tuomas Heikkilä of Helsingin Suunnistajien will also take part. Heikkilä is currently ranked fourth in Finland and seventh in the sprint international rankings. There are several dozen foreigners in the field. Some represent Finnish clubs and some from their home country. The most prominent of them are Yannick Mihiels, representing the Belgian world championship medallist Turun Metsänkävijöitä, and Timo Sild, representing Tampere Koovei in Estonia. Others to watch include Kalevan Rast’s Maxime Rauturier of France, Scott Fraser of TuMe Scotland and Ruslan Glebov of Ukraine.
Japan’s Yuki Nitami and Aoi Yamasaki have also signed up for the men’s and women’s main series, but they are more interested in getting to know the terrain than in success.
All the top Finnish teams in the message
Sunday’s 3-part relay has 46 teams entered in the women’s and 89 in the men’s series. The race is also the fifth round of the Viestiliiga. Södertälje Nykvarn OF will challenge the Finnish teams in the relay. The use of the European Championships visitors from the weekend will add interest to the team formations. Some will need a rest from the tough competition schedule, but others will have recovered and thus strengthen the team. Recent European bronze medallist Miika Kirmula of Kaleva Rast would be a great addition to the KR squad, if he feels it makes sense to take part in the relay.
Tampereen Pyrintö leads the women’s Viestiliiga and has fielded four teams. Their challengers are Kaleva Rasti and Lahden Suunnistajat -37, who finished second and third in the Venla relay.
Helsingin Suunnistajat, the men’s relay leader, has entered as many as 13 teams. The challenge for the HS teams is to replace the injured Syrjäläinen and Ojanaho. Other teams to watch are Ikaalisten Nouseva Voima, Kaleva Rasti, Tampereen Pyrintö and MS Parma.Swedish Södertälje Nykvarn OF, who finished 19th in the Lakia-Jukola in last June, will add their own spice to the battle for victory.
Anttola Urheilijoki and Olavin Rast from Savonlinna have teams in both relays. There are no teams from Navis, as the representative traversers are doing the same work as next summer’s Jukola.
Pre-Jukola is a test competition for the organisers
Juho Siikilä, the race director, is pleased with the number of participants. The actual Jukola next summer will be a competition with around 20 000 participants, but certain functions, such as the scoring service and TV production, can be tested on a smaller scale. “The competitions are an important step for us towards the Jukola, which is intended to test the functionality of our organisational machinery and at the same time serve as a good opportunity to practice the work of the various committees and individuals. We are sure to have a great event,” says Siikilä, who is also chairman of the Mikkeli Jukola 2025 organising committee. Olli-Markus Taivainen, the Jukola relay track master, will be the track master for Saturday’s race, and Topias Ahola, the Venlo relay track master, will be the relay track master.
The races can be followed on site in Otava, where there is also a fitness trail. The race centre is signposted from the junction of Hirvensalmentie and Hasantie. On Saturday, the individual competition starts at 12.00. On Sunday, the women’s race starts at 10.00 and the men’s race at 11.20. Entrance to the races is free. The relay can also be watched live on ISTV on Sunday.