Vuokatti-Jukola course setters Jarmo Puttonen and Marko Uotila toured the Jukola terrain in Vuokatinvaara in May 2026, and the goal was, among other things, to look at the locations for the television controls. In addition to the course setters, representatives of television production were also present on the terrain.
The course setter duo already had a ready vision for the positioning of the television controls before the field trip. It is important that the distance from one television control to another remains appropriate for the broadcast.
“TV controls must also be picturesque locations so that they bring life to the broadcast,” says Uotila.
In May, the course setters will have access to the competition map completely re-mapped by Teemu Köngäs and Jussi Silvennoinen, which will allow the advanced course plans to be refined into their final form.
According to the course setters, the coming months will be the most exciting in terms of course planning, as the goal is for the courses to be in more or less their final form by the beginning of July.
Time has been set aside for the rest of the year to sit at the computer and edit the courses in case of aha moments. The maps will be printed during the winter.
“So we are on schedule,” says Puttonen.
Training maps available in late May
There will be plenty of orienteers training in Vuokatti this coming summer and autumn for the relay race to be held in Kainuu for the first time in the summer of 2027. How do the course setters encourage training for Vuokatti-Jukola?
“It is worth honing your physical capacity to the max,” suggests Puttonen. “It is also worth practicing slope orienteering. You will be on the slopes almost all the time.”
The Vuokatti-Jukola training maps will go on sale in late May, and some of them also bear the handprints of the course setters. The organizers’ trainings offer orienteers a feel for the Vuokatti-Jukola terrain, where the most significant difference from the terrain in Southern Finland is the large elevation differences.
Read more about the hill terrains in Kainuu!
