Jukola '97 BAOC does the Jukola

August 23 - Finally got some time to scan in photos from the Jukola.  As a bonus, I have four photos taken by Helsingin Sanomat photographer, Jukka Gröndahl, including the photo that ran with the article about the team.
- The article for Orienteering North America is nearly done! It should appear in the Oct 1 issue.

June 7 - At last, we have returned! Actually, Van and I flew back over a week ago, but it takes awhile to jet-unlag and catch up on life. Not much to say at this point. The pages I wrote while in Finland and Germany are available from my much faster work address. The page includes final results, the news paper article about the BAOC team, and some of my musings about Finnish orienteering. (Nothing added since Germany)

I'm currently working on an article about BAOC's participation in Jyväs-Jukola for (hopefully) publication in Orienteering North America. I'll try to get some pictures scanned in next weekend.

THE STANDS

Start time: Saturday, June 14th, at 12:30 pm Pacific time. (10:30 pm Finnish time)
(It's hard to predict when a leg hand-off will occur. We will probably take 14+ hours to finish the race.)

From here you can watch the Jukola from the safety of your Internet terminal. The Jukola is going to maintain an interactive web page during the event (won't be set up until shortly before the race). They expect to provide updates every minute (!) for the current leg. In addition, it may be possible to submit comments to be read over the event public address system. This page contains more details about "Interactive Jukola."

See the Legs section for the running order of the team.

I hope to provide my own updates directly from Finland. They won't be posted until after the event, probably on Monday or Tuesday after we return to Helsinki. I will need to find Internet access to do this, so if the page isn't updated, then I'm off-line. I'll send a message to Bay-O-Net if I get on-line. (The update page will be stored on my old Netcom account and will load more slowly than this page.)

If you want to send email to me or the team members, try booga@netcom.com (my Netcom account). If I can get on the Internet in Finland, I can forward the messages and respond.

Here are some links to the official Jukola web pages.

Jukola 1997
General Jukola information

NEWS

June 11, 2:14 pm - We have prepared a press release for our Jukola team. This will be sent to the local papers and should find its way to the Finnish press as well.
- Updated the Legs section with the final proposed running order.

June 10, 4:35 pm - The race is nigh upon us!
- The team is seeded 937 out of 1194 Jukola teams. We have tent #401.
- Jorg sent his travel plans. He's flying into Jyväskylä and will meet us at the Park World Tour.
- The press release is almost done!
- Tapio says the weather in Helsinki is a nice 85^o F. That's magic to us thin skinned Californians.
- I'll be making one more update before I leave. All the info for those interested in following the event and the team will be at the top of this page. If I can provide updates from Finland, there will be a link for that as well.

June 4, 11:10 pm - Got a couple more links for Finnish weather: TV news type map and weather forecast. Temperature might not be too bad during the day, but it's likely to be in the 40s F at night. Rain jacket would be a good idea.
- Finnish lesson: aamupaiva = morning / iltapaiva = afternoon / huomisaamu = tomorrow morning
- Our team number is 937 out of 1191. Our goal is to place higher than 937^th.
- Finally got Trevor and Syd's flight plans.
- Got some nice email from Marko Hakkinen. He's been running the Jukola since 1977. He thinks the courses are going to be alot easier than the Jukola average. If the weather is good, the night legs won't be very dark. Yay!
- Also received email from Wyatt Riley who gave us a description of the Finnish terrain relative to SF Bay Area standards. Be conservative, lots of detail.

CONTENTS

 

News	Accommodations
Team Status	Daily Plans
Legs	The Jukola
The Run	Links
Preparations	Old News
Travel Plans

 

TEAM STATUS

We currently have a complete team of seven runners and one maybe.

	Van Boughner	M21	van@activesw.com
	Jorg Hofer	M21	jorg.hofer@ac.com
	Steve Jankowski	M21	steve@activesw.com
	Tapio Karras (Captain)	M35	tka@dp.com
	Greg Lennon	M40	greg@mendel.llnl.gov and onorris@juno.com
	Trevor Pering	M21	pering@tongass.EECS.Berkeley.EDU
	Syd Reader	M21	sydryck@leland.Stanford.EDU
maybe	Gavin Wyatt-Mair	?	gwyatt-mair@kacc.com

Tapio has run the event in 1988, '89, and '93.

LEGS

A wide variety of conditions and course lengths are available in the relay legs. Sundown is 11:11 pm Saturday and sunrise is 3:24 am Sunday.

Each leg includes 0.9 - 1.25 km of marked route. Note also that climb is nothing like what we are used to here.

Depending who will attempt the 1st long dark leg we may only have one dark leg ;-)

Mass start for the first leg is 10:30 pm, Finnish time

 

	Length	Climb	Controls	km/Control	Light		Runner
1	12.2 km	300 m	17	0.66 km	light/dark		Syd
2	11.2	280	17	0.60	dark		Jorg
3	13.2	330	19	0.64	dark		Tapio
4	7.3	200	16	0.39	dark/light		Steve
5	11.9	180	14	0.78	light		Trevor
6	6.4	180	14	0.39	light		Greg
7	14.6	420	24	0.57	light		Van

 

Distance between controls increases the difficulty of a course. Most of the legs are grouped around 0.62 km per control. But the short legs have the same number of controls, resulting in much shorter navigational stretches. Leg 5 looks to be most challenging navigationally. At least the climb is low for that leg.

Take care! Except for legs 4 and 6, these courses have more distance between controls than on most advanced BAOC courses which are almost always 0.5 km/control.

The source of this info also listed the estimated completion time for each leg. But I didn't bother with those since we'll be lucky to finish in under twice the time of the top runners.

Disqualification

The members of the dropped out or disqualified teams may run the courses starting on Sunday 15.6.1997 at 9.30 am., but the organizers can not be held responsible for their safety.

THE RUN

Don't get lost! Don't follow the wrong train!

The serious night leg runners use Halogen head-lamps made by Silva. We have two available, so we should be set.

Some Petzl head lamps can be found at REI, Tapio looked like he would be embarrassed if we wore one of these wimpy things at the Jukola. I (Steve) did not find a halogen model to my liking (not a great selection), so I bought one with a standard bulb. The packaging was not very clear, but it kinda seemed like a halogen bulb could be substituted for the standard bulb.

PREPARATION

Our team is registered for the event and we've received the official event materials. They included multiple copies of the 3 training maps right next to the event site. Those would provide some good training opportunities during Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday morning.

Steve bought a Petzl standard head-lamp at REI. Whoever is running the night legs is welcome to use it. Evan Custer has graciously loaned us his Silva halogen headlamp. Tapio will get it from him at Joe Grant. Jorg also has a Silva headlamp, so we're set for the two night runners.

Ev Beuerman has printed special BAOC "Jukola" T-shirts. Thanks Ev! Tapio got the BAOC "flag" to hang outside our tent.

May 9 - Van, Steve, Trevor and Syd do a little night O' practice in Joaquin Miller park. Van decides he likes to see where he's going (who would have thought?). The rest of us have our moments of skilled and non-skilled navigating. Trevor decides he likes running around in the dark, so volunteers for one of the night legs.

May 21 - Tony Pinkham is holding a night practice session on the Stanford Campus. I think all the confirmed team members will be there to run in the open/foresty part of the campus. Afterward, we will congregate at Syd's domicile (on campus) to scheme, plan, watch Tapio's home videos, and toast our emminent victory over mugs of Gatorade. Tapio has videos of his previous Jukola experiences for us to enjoy.

TRAVEL PLANS

Tapio would like to see us travel directly to Jyväskylä Friday morning and begin practice runs. But, Tapio wants to see the Park World Tour being held in downtown Jyväskylä starting at 1:45 pm. Our train arrives at 1:41 pm, so this seems fairly convienient.

From Jyväskylä we can get to the event site and our tent by bus.

Details

        SFO->HEL on Thursday June 12th
                    - leaves at noon, arrives at 8:10am next day (11 hr. flt)
        HEL->FKF on Friday June 20th
                    - I don't recall the time (3 hr. flight)
        FKF->HEL->SFO on Saturday June 28th
                    - FKF->HEL: 9:40am->1pm (3:20 hr. flt),
                    - HEL->SFO: 4:50pm->5:30pm same day (10:40 hr. flt)

Wed 11 June
dep SFO 11:15am on UA844, arr JFK 7:38pm
dep JFK 9:30pm on LU405 to Frankfurt [FRA]
 
Th 12 June
arr FRA 11:00am
dep FRA 1:30pm on LU3004, arr Helsinki [HEL] 5:00pm
 
Tu 17 June
dep HEL 9:45am on LU3001, arr FRA 11:30am
dep FRA 1:45pm on LU422, arr Boston 3:50pm
dep Boston 6:00pm on UA35, arr SFO 9:18pm

Trevor and Syd

        Wed, June 11th -

                LV San Francisco at 3:45PM on United 2051
                AR Los Angeles   at 5:05PM

                LV Los Angeles   at 6:40PM on Lufthansa 453
                AR Frankfurt     at 2:20PM (June 12th)

                LV Frankfurt     at 5:10PM on Lufthansa 3016
                AR Helsinki      at 8:40PM

     6/13  AY 854 Hamburg - Helsinki  9.40 am - 12.30 pm
               AY 289 Helsinki - Jyvaskyla 1.15 pm - 2.05 pm
               I will come to downtown Jyv.

    6/15 KF 288 Jyvaskyla - Helsinki 4.05 pm - 4.45 pm
              AY 855 Helsinki - Hamburg 5.50 pm - 6.50 pm

ACCOMMODATIONS

We have reserved a heated tent at the Jukola for the team. The tents are rated at 15 people, so there should be plenty of room. This will cost about $60 (300 FIM).

DAILY PLANS

Thursday

Trevor, Syd, and Greg fly into Helsinki. Tapio meets them at the airport and they drive back to Tapio's family cabin.

Steve and Van fly into Helsinki. Take a bus to the train station to join the rest of the crowd for a rail trip to Jyväskylä. Tapio will practice and try to get us to join him. I will sleep.

Train reservations

        train# P51, reservation# 015-95182
        Helsinki       9:58 am
        Tampere       11:59 am

        train# P105, reservation# 015-95183
        Tampere       12:06 pm
        Jyväskylä      1:41 pm (Just in time for the Park World Tour)

The relay doesn't start til 10:30 pm, so maybe some sleep during the day for the jet lagged and light practice for others. Otherwise just hang out and enjoy the Venla scene.

Sunday 6 am - We finish the relay in record time! (and I've got a bridge to sell you ...)

Sunday 1 pm - When we will actually finish the relay.

Sunday

Sleep, drain blisters, eat, sleep, think about what to do for the next two weeks, decide to sleep that time. Tapio is heading off with his family. Van, Syd, Steve, Trevor, and Greg get a train back to Helsinki Sunday and check into a hotel. (maybe get rental car at train station?)

        train# P94, reservation# 015-95185
        Jyväskylä      3:28 pm
        Helsinki       6:58 am

Rent a van (?), run recreational O' course in the evening (in Helsinki's big park , I think)

Iltarastit @ Paloheina (http://www.vtt.fi/rte7/o-text/iltar97.htm)

Another training/recreational O' course.

O-skill training meet (http://www.vtt.fi/rte7/o-text/taito97.htm)

Another training/recreational O' course.

Vantaan Rastit @ Fira (http://www.iuakk.fi/~pihkan/vsr97.htm)

Most team members start leaving for other destinations.

Lansirasti @ Solvalla (http://www.helsinki.fi/~junkkaal/lr.html)

Lahden Torstairastit @ Halvala http://www.sci.fi/~lata/torstai.htm)

THE JUKOLA

The Jukola relay is a yearly organized international night orienteering relay (still, a head lamp is needed only on two of the legs) with teams of seven men. The relay is held each year in early June in different locations in Finland. Alongside the Jukola relay there is a Venla relay for teams of four women.

The Jukola event is the largest orienteering event in the world, with approx. 10,000 competitors and almost twice as many spectators. In the '96 Jukola there were over 1100 teams all starting in a HUGE mass start. (I have a couple of video tapes of it if you'd like to see.)

This year Jukola is held near Jyväskylä (mid-Finland) during the June 14-15 weekend. To find more information about Jukola visit their web page at http://www.jyu.fi/~mikpera/jukola-97/

LINKS

Jukola 1997

General Jukola information

Finnish Orienteering (for foreigners)

Finnish Orienteering Events in 1997

Helsinki Orienteering Events

Bay Area Orienteering Club

Seven Brothers by Aleksis Kivi can be ordered from the Finnish American Bookstore in Wisconsin (715) 394-4961. The price is $14 + $ 1.75 for shipping.

Stuff about Finland

http://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/english/akivieng.html - a poem by Aleksis Kivi, author of the "Seven Brothers" novel which inspired the Jukola relay.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com.au/dest/eur/fin.htm - General travel info about Finland, a bit tongue in cheek.

Some links Greg found about night relay races

http://www.nationwidedirect.com/hoodtocoast/

http://www.therelay.com/

http://www.therelay.com/Articles/relayarticles.shtml

OLD NEWS

June 3, 10:25 am - The Jukola O' suits have been ordered at a final cost of 2170 FIM ($423.37 at the current exchange rate.)
- Hugh Wright reports that he was recently in Jyväskylä where it was 5^o C at best. Burr! Come prepared for COLD weather. I found some links for Finnish weather, but nothing about Jyväskylä specifically: Southern Finland radar and Helsinki weather.
- The BAOC Jukola t-shirts were presented at the Sprint Championships this weekend. Five of the seven team members were present to receive the gift. Thanks to Ev Beureman!
- Reorganized the page a little.

May 29, 11:16 am - Dennis Wildfogel reports that $425 has been pledged by individuals and the BAOC board to cover our Jukola uniforms. At least we'll be stylish! Many thanks to the contributors and the board for their generosity. Here's a picture of the uniform which will have "San Francisco Bay Area Orienteering" printed in gold on the back.
- Fixed the km/Control numbers to exclude the streamered portion of each leg.
- Terho Lahtinen of Club Espoon Suunta sent a welcoming message to the team. Kiitos!
- Moved old news to the Old News section.

May 28, 7:45 pm - Updated the Legs section with length and climb details. Add our train reservations to the Daily Plans and corrected the Travel Plans.

May 27, 8:15 pm - Lots of news.
- The BAOC board has received a majority to allocate $100 for the Jukola uniforms. Together with the individual contributions, $375 has been pledged. That should almost completely cover the uniform costs which are $50 x 7 (+ tax).
- The BAOC T-shirts will be ready for us to pickup at Joe Grant (June 1st). Thanks Ev! Printed on the back is
BAOC - USA
JUKOLA '97
RELAY TEAM
- Ordering info for the book Seven Brothers from which the Jukola was named can be found in the Links section.
- The Jukola can be followed in "real-time" on this web page. They hope to update every few minutes. The relay starts on Saturday, June 14th, at 12:30 pm Pacific time.

May 27, 1:00pm - Team uniforms! Several members of BAOC and the club itself are pledging up to $350 to purchase uniforms for our team. Most of the money is coming from individual contributors, but $100 will be donated by the club pending a vote by the BAOC board. Currently, $275 has been pledged by individuals. Dennis Wildfogel is directing the Uniforms for Jukola effort. I think I speak for the whole team when I say, "THANK YOU!" (I know I'll find controls faster wearing a new uniform).
As there is not enough time or quantity for a custom order, we will have to chose from stock uniforms. Tapio got a picture of a uniform available from a Finnish supplier who can bring the suits to Jukola. They can add a custom print (ideas?). The suits are about $49 each (FIM 250).

May 23, 9:08 pm - Jorg Hofer has joined our team! We are now seven brothers. I've updated the Legs section with the assignments we talked about at our meeting. And the Daily Plans are more concrete now that we've talked about what's going on.

May 21, 5:51 pm - Lots of updates. Peter Graube has expressed interest in joining the team (his words were "an outside chance.") He's been added to the jukola97@activesw.com mailing list. I've updated the Team Status with Peter's entry and the class of each runner.
- Ev Beureman is looking into arranging us BAOC "Jukola" T-shirts (send your t-shirt size to Tapio).
- Our team was also mentioned in the local Jyväskylä newspaper.
- And finally, it looks like it would be worth it to reserve one of the tents provided by the event organizers. The ground is too rough for setting your own tent and theirs are set on a nice sand parking lot with heating. They said it was an unusually cold Spring, so bring your thermals!

May 20, 10:02 pm - Ho-boy! Mikko says there was an article in Finland's biggest paper about the first ever US team to run the Jukola. They even mentioned BAOC by name. Hope we can get one more BAOC or US runner to make the occasion complete.

May 19, 11:12 am - A nice halogen headlamp has been loaned to the team.

May 17, 11:57 pm - Done adding known information. As updates are made, I will add a summary to the News section. New info will come from our mailing list (jukola97@activesw.com) and personal meetings. The mailing list has all the addresses listed in the Team Status section. Our first meeting is May 21st, after the Stanford practice Night O'.

May 17, 7:49 pm - Created page.