I welcome all of you youngsters to Nurmijärvi; the landscape of Aleksis Kivi’s Seven Brothers.
Arvo Paulin has updated the map and the Chief Course Planner Riitta Karppinen has enchanted physically and skillfully demanding courses in this Alhonniittu terrain. Riitta, being an experienced course planner for children, has taken you young participants well into account. There is some demanding orienteering on offer but if direct route choices seem too scary or difficult there are also plenty of outdoor rails and roads.
There isn´t a lot of green in the map to slow down the speed. The lighter green color tells more or less about poorer visibility. At this time of the year the vegetation is very rich, which is good to remember in the terrain. There are lots of great hill areas with bare rock where you can keep up the speed or have just a little break because the bare rock areas always happen to be on top of the hills.
The Finnish Championships Relay for seniors was organized in this terrain in 2008. I had the first leg of the relay and I give You youngsters a tip: take it a little bit easier than I did on the first hill. I think I was the last one to punch on the first control of those who had the same forking as I did. When I reached to top of the hill I couldn’t locate myself on the map for a while, all the blood must have moved to the toes from my head.
Enjoy and get out of breath
Course controller Tuomo Kauppinen, Hyvinkään Rasti