The first leg of the Jukola relay proved tough for many of the pre-race favorites. The terrain—described by course setter Olli-Markus Taivainen was not designed with recreational orienteers in mind — proved extremely demanding and challenging right from the start. Among the favorites, OK Linné (SE) had to withdraw entirely, and several other top teams fell far behind the leaders.
From the very first control, OK Denseln (SE), OK Kåre (SE), and OK Ravinen (SE) emerged as the leading trio and held their positions until the first changeover. Stora Tuna (SE), who made a major mistake early on, managed to recover and, together with NTNUI (NO), overtook the leading trio at the end of the leg. Ultimately, NTNUI reached the changeover first with a time of 1:31:17, followed by Stora Tuna and the original leaders.
Among Finnish teams, Jämsän Retki-Veikot came in tenth, exactly one minute behind NTNUI. Valkeakosken Haka, Tampereen Pyrintö 1, Ikaalisten Nousu-Voima, and Kalevan Rasti 2 finished in positions 14–17, about 3:15 behind the leaders.
Of the pre-race favorites, IL Tyrving (NO) was 11th (+1:05), Helsingin Suunnistajat (FI) 23rd (+3:59), Malungs OK (SE) 28th (+5:29), IFK Göteborg (SE) 37th (+6:25), and Kalevan Rasti 73rd (SE) (+10:38).
Text: Elina Häkkinen
Photos: Kimmo Hirvonen
Translation: Mariya Loginova
