Jukola

[Ravinous]

And I guess Ifor, proving that last years Jukola win was not a fluke either! (And maybe their World Cup Sprint Relay win on Thursday which contained 2 of the girls in the team - was not a fluke either!?) ...

[JK]

Great run by Cat, best time on Venla leg 3, taking over 38th finishing 7th, team finishing 3rd.

For tonight Doug still leg 7 for TuMe and Nick leg 2 for Ravinen 2, but lots of other changes and late news of British runners in non-British teams.

Will Gardner leg 7 for Ravinen 2.
Rob Gardner leg 7 for Södertörn 1.
GG leg 6 for Moras.
Jonny Crickmore leg 5 for Ravinen 1.
Scott Fraser leg 5 for SNO1.
Alasdair McLeod leg 5 for Lillomarka 1.
Josh Beech leg 3 for Södertörn 1.
Matt Speake leg 2 for Lillomarka 1.
Peter Hodkinson leg 1 for Södertörn 1.
Ralph Street leg 1 for SNO1.

And possibly more.

No Kris Jones or Mark Nixon this year? They had good runs on leg 1 last year as I recall.

[Tatty]

Mark was injured at POM, during Day 3 and hasn't run since! Hence he missed the selection races. Kris could be in the middle of exams?

[JK]

Mark was injured at POM, during Day 3 and hasn't run since! Hence he missed the selection races. Kris could be in the middle of exams?

Doh! POM ... of course ... I should have remembered since I was there.

I think Kris said he was in FIN so I'd assumed he meant he'd be there for the WC events and Jukola - presumably he's doing some other training for WOC.

[JamieP]

Think Kris took a tumble at the Edale fell race last weekend and is injured.

Another Brit to look out for on 1st leg - Alan Cherry running for Varegg.

[Ravinous]

Don't forget the man with exceedingly long feet - Murray Strain running for the Nopesport Team Banter lads - http://online.jukola.com/tulokset/en/j2 ... lijat/316/ He was 7th home last year running the last few controls with his back up mini Petzl.
So my money is on him to bring home the 1st place on first leg goods...

[JK]

Great start for Ralph leading the 2nd pack at the first TV control:
1 16 IFK Lidingö SOK SWE 26:44 Jo Forseth Indgaard 26:44
2 99 Bäkkelagets SK NOR +4 Carl Godager Kaas 26:48
3 13 Södertälje Nykvarn Orienter SWE +34 Ralph Street 27:18

Maybe a surprise in 5th place - Gion Schnyder - Swiss Ski-Orienteer who had his best results this last winter.

Pete Hodkinson 20th and Murray 26th safely in the pack.

[JK]

Welsh Champion Sander Vaher of SBOC (and Estonia) is well up at the next split for Rajamäen Rykmentti.

[paul]

Ralph back in 4th

[ifor]

Winner looks like he did at least 3/5th all by himself well out front. Very impressive.

[JK]

Winner looks like he did at least 3/5th all by himself well out front. Very impressive.

He is probably the most recent World Champ on 1st leg so he'd be one of the favourites.
He was known as Carl Waaler Kaas when he won Middle in Trondhem 2010.

[Tatty]

Thierry bought Kalevan Rasti through on the final leg to win. Sodertaljte, with Ralph(4th on Leg 1) and Scott (won leg 5) in 3rd place a couple of minutes down.

[graeme]

Well that was rough. Anyone who thought that BOC was hard going should try Kuopio.

Good effort from TEAM Nope as best "Brits" in 314th (Just a couple of ringers), 8 mins up on BOK. Good efforts from two junior-heavy MarOC teams, the A team fastest GBR, but sadly DQ'ed, the B team somewhere around 500. JOK bringing up the GBR rear in 727. The JOK team had the same seven "Brothers" as 18 years ago, now planning for 2032.

Jukola remains the unique event everyone should do. The message is getting through - there were more British runners at Jukola than on the Men's open at the British Relays.

(A VFM 14.1k in 2:43:44 mins since you ask. And yes, I have run a marathon in less time..)

[JK]

... The message is getting through - there were more British runners at Jukola than on the Men open at the British Relays.

Maybe that says more about the BRC !

I used to love the Harvester, but over the past few years watching Jukola it just seems lacking somehow. Definitely on my TODO list!

[Ravinous]

The Men's and Women's Short classes need binning at the British and JK Relays. The main Open/Premier classes are now so short, they are pointless. The winning times are more like a Sprint Relay - 21 & 20 minutes for the leaders at BRC, which is closer to a Sprint than a Middle WT. I expect 15 years ago the Short had the same winning times as the Open/Premier has now - with all the dumming down that has happened on Open relay courses. There are not the numbers to support both classes anymore so amalgamate! Use the old 'Short' trophies as a 'club in the top 3 which has not been in the top 3 for the last 5 years' trophy or similar. Or a handicapped trophy or for the best 35s class. This is particularly necessary for the main women's class to stay competitive.