The
highlight of the summer, the Christmas of all orienteers, Jukola and Venla
relays, were held this year in urban surroundings of Vantaa, near the Finnish
capital city Helsinki. It gathered together over 15,000 runners and tens of
thousands spectators to Hakunila sports park on beautiful mid-June weekend. The
atmosphere was fantastic and the weather was just perfect. But what would it be
without dramatics? Last year we were running towards a clear victory until the
last meters and the second last control where a small mistake dropped us to a second
place. This year we were again running solo in the lead when the worst possible
news hit and broke us: we had taken a wrong map and we were disqualified. What??? Can't be true!! But it was. We all
ran well and punched carefully the right controls, just a tiny little mistake
in the changeover got us disqualified. Maybe we were too focused on winning,
too used to number one or just can't count any further. I can't provide any
rational explanation but here's my version of it anyway.
I got the
honour to run the first leg and start together with 1246 other women. It was
amazing to start in such a crow and the excitement was palpable. I knew it
would be demanding terrain, right from the start point, and that I should get
the first control right to make a good start and a good run. I also knew the
number of my map at this point and checked it several times before the bang. "2-1. Correct. Yes it is. It's still
the same, hasn't changed". The
way to the start point was long and there was plenty of time to read the map
before that. I skimmed through the whole course and made plans to the first
control. I knew where I climbed up the first hill but suddenly just before the
control I wasn't 100% sure which of the parallel hilltops I was running. I made
maybe a half a minute mistake on the first control. Not a big one but big
enough to get a bunch of runners past me. After that I ran well the rest of the
course but it took some time and effort to pass the runners in front of me. Gradually
I gained places and at the end of the course I got sight to Silja Tarvonen who
changed 3rd. Merja Rantanen from Jämsän Retki-Veikot got a minute gap to rest
of us but I was happy to come 12th, only 23 seconds behind the second. Great
start and we were along in the fight!
After the
finish line I ran into another runner and got a bit confused where the maps
were. I tried to find the maps with small numbers and when I after some
hesitation found them I just took one with number 2 on it from the end of the
stand. I was in a hurry and assumed I took the map with label 2-2 but accidentally
I tore the adjacent map, the map 1-2, which was Domnarvet's map. I was
exhausted and didn't notice this awful mistake. I passed the unopened map to
Anni who also checked the number 2 on it and ran off. She made an excellent run
and came in in the lead with a clear marginal to the chasers and sent Saila
away with a happy face totally unaware about what had happened. The nightmare
came out after the Emit readout which revealed that Anni had run a wrong
course (the forking of Domnarvet instead of ours). We both felt bad about it
and tears came out when we met.
Saila went
out and ran her race unaware of what had happened. It wasn't until she came
into the changeover when everyone knew for fact what had happened and she got stopped
after the finish line. Venla never got a chance to fight for the medals, she
was forced to wait a half an hour before they let her out. Obviously we didn't
get any official result either. I feel terribly sorry about what happened, not
only because of what happened to us but also for Domnarvet who missed valuable
time before they got their extra map. These things
happen every now and then and it certainly tears you apart when it happens to
you in the world's greatest orienteering event in front of thousands of spectators.
Next year
it will be even harder with the numbers because we'll be punished and won't be running then with a
single number...
