MAROC represented again at Jukola
Jukola massed start
This year Duncan Coombs was the only MAROC member who made the trip to Finland for the worlds biggest O club relay. The relay, held annually in Finland since 1949 is an overnight 7 person affair with over 1500 teams having taking part in 2010. Duncan ran the first leg for the Scotland 1 team that finished in 51st/1400.
Watch it on the web here
This year Duncan Coombs was the only MAROC member who made the trip to Finland for the worlds biggest O club relay. The relay, held annually in Finland since 1949 is an overnight 7 person affair with over 1500 teams having taking part in 2010. Duncan ran the first leg for the Scotland 1 team that finished in 51st/1400.The relay, held annually in Finland since 1949 is an overnight 7 person affair with over 1500 teams having taking part in 2010. This was Duncan's first race since having his major race season ruined by a calf injury sustained at the Swedish Tio-Mila ten person overnight relay in late March.
Jukola Relay is an orienteering relay race held annually in Finland since 1949. The race always takes place on Saturday in mid to late June in different sites around Finland. The northernmost location has been 50 km north from the Arctic Circle. The name Jukola is a family name in the classic Finnish book - Seven Brothers.
The Jukola male relay has seven legs with distances varying from 7 to 15 km. The starting time is around 11 pm when sun sets. Runners on the 1st to 3rd legs use headlights, depending on the geographical site (north or south of Finland) of the relay and the weather conditions. The winning team crosses the finishing line early on Sunday morning, around 6 or 7 am, and the last teams finish just before the finish is closed at afternoon.
For the ladies, an individual race with a common start was organized in 1951 and it was then turned into a three leg relay race in 1978 and four leg relay race since 1981. The women's relay, known as the Venla Relay, is a daytime race on Saturday afternoon.
In 2010 the Jukola relay attracted over 1500 teams and the Venla relay almost 1100. Clubs from 20 different countries took part.
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