Norwegian Halden SK takes victory in Jukola Relay orienteering event for men; Sweden’s Domnarvet dominates women’s Venla Relay

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For Finnish national orienteering team member Mats Haldin only one thing had changed in this year’s Jukola Relay orienteering event raced in Vironlahti’s Salpa-Jukola compared to the one a year earlier.
      Again, Haldin, who races for the Norwegian Halden SK team, embarked on his journey home with the gold medal in his pocket, but this time around he did it as a brand-new father.
     
Less than four weeks ago Haldin’s Czech-born wife had given birth to Hanna, the couple’s new daughter.
      For the second year in running, Haldin, who originates from Mustasaari near the Western city of Vaasa, was the only Finnish victor in Jukola.
      Veteran Haldin, 36, who ran the fifth leg of the seven-man relay, contributed greatly to the Norwegian Halden SK’s rise from far behind to the victory battle. On the anchor leg the current long distance World Champion Olav Lundanes broke away from Fabian Hertner of the favourites Kalevan Rasti from Joensuu and secured Halden SK’s seventh all-time Jukola championship.
     
Only Helsinki-based Helsingin Suunnistajat has more (8) Jukola victories, but some time has elapsed from their glory days.
      Haldin now has three Jukola titles under his belt along with three silver medal finishes.
      Of the seven men in the victorious Halden SK team, three are of Norwegian origin, two from Sweden, one from Denmark, and one, Haldin, from Finland.
     
Haldin has yet to decide how to continue his career.
      “I am thinking of the World Championships but no further than that. Because of a small child and a full-time job at a Norwegian cable factory my training has been halved from before. It may well be that this is my last year on the top”, Haldin reckoned.
In the Venla Relay for four-member women’s teams, a fateful and dramatic encounter took place near the second to last control point.
      Anni-Maija Fincke, the anchor of Tampereen Pyrintö, a Tampere-based team that was after its second consecutive Venla victory and her counterpart Lena Eliasson of the Swedish team Domnarvet decided to proceed into opposite directions when they saw each other.
      In an instance Fincke realised that the almost certain victory had just slipped from her grasp. Eliasson, in turn, noticed that she was on her way to secure the championship for her team.
     
Eliasson quickly punched her control card, while Fincke, who had run past the control point, had to make a quick U-turn to return back to it.
      Just 35 seconds separated the two at the finish line.
      “I was quite annoyed when I saw Lena run towards me. I had no chances of catching her after that”, Fincke said after the race trying to hide her disappointment.
     
Fincke and Eliasson set off to the anchor leg simultaneously. At some point Fincke was already in a 2-minute lead after Eliasson’s nerves got the best of her and she ended up making mistakes.
      Before the fateful control point Fincke was still in a minute and twenty-second lead.
      “In the end I simply became anxious and failed to keep it together”, Fincke blamed herself.
     
Pyrintö’s team was the same as a year earlier in Hyvinkää’s Kytäjä, where the victory in a much more demanding terrain came with a 5-minute margin to the runner-ups. The other three members in this year’s silver-medal team were Venla Niemi, Saila Kinni, and Riina Kuuselo.
      For Domnarvet this was their second Venla title. The first one came three years ago in Tampere, but at that time Eliasson competed in another team.
     
Last year the World Championship medallist Eliasson also set off to the anchor leg in the lead but as a result of a disastrous mistake ended up crossing the finish line 15th no less than 20 minutes behind the winner.
      “That was a bad day. I was not mentally prepared to succeed. Now I am in a much better shape even physically”, Eliasson analysed.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Unwell orienteerer Kauppi gets gratifying news (170611)

See also:
  The Jukola Relay is about much more than orienteering (19.6.2007)

Links:
  Jukola Orienteering Relay

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