Map Help assists with all map-related issues.
Photo: Paula Lehtomäki
The Jukola restart—an official mass start for all orienteers who had not yet entered the forest—lived up to its name. By Sunday, fewer than 70 teams had managed to finish the anchor leg before the course closed. Thousands of runners from legs 2 through 6 had also not yet started.
The restart is divided into two waves: first, the anchor leg runners are released into the terrain, followed by the remaining runners from all other legs. Both waves resembled the original Jukola start, with thousands of orienteers rushing to get the best possible position toward the finish.
Adding to the chaos is the fact that the restart begins directly from the map stands. This created significant congestion, especially since most of the remaining runners came from teams with higher bib numbers.
In the restart, runners were moving in both directions as extra maps were accidentally taken.
Map Help to the Rescue
Grabbing the correct map—without taking extras—proved challenging for many teams. Numerous athletes were seen heading back along the start chute in the wrong direction to return extra maps mistakenly taken from their team’s slot.
The restart also brought a buzz of activity to the nearby “Map Help” station, which assists with all map-related issues. During the restart, this mostly meant tracking down missing maps and guiding runners to the backup map station.
Throughout the competition, Map Help (kartta-helppi) also supports teams that have been disqualified or have withdrawn. If a leading team, for example, is disqualified or drops out, their restart is delayed by 45 minutes. Map Help ensures this delay is enforced and provides the map to the next runner at the appropriate time.
In the dark hours of the night, Map Help also assists those who, for one reason or another, cannot find their next runner.
“We search for maps and hand them to the next leg’s runner—just in case someone overslept,” explained Sanni Kettunen, who worked at Map Help.
Text: Paula Lehtomäki
Photos: Lotta Niskanen
Translation: Mariya Loginova