Jukola orienteering relay start

This is a backblip from Sat night. Got back home around 3am on Sunday morning...

This is right after the start bang, and the alltogether 1500 first leg's runners have just proceeded a couple of meters.
Jukola is a great & fun event, one of those where both top elite and amateurs run together.

This year I participated the ladies' relay earlier in the afternoon in my niece's friend&family team. We were one of those joining in just for the fun of the event, running around 400+ ranking and very satisfied as everyone did well. Totally enjoyed being one of the 900+ ladies start hassle.

Part of Jukola is, there is always the huge sauna tents that accommodate app. 100 bathers each (those who know Finns also know that there's a special sauna culture in this country). So it's about washing away the muds after your run, many gathering to sauna to do the after-speculations. And then getting back to the competition center to follow the relay.

The top teams are wearing a gps so that their moves, mistakes (even top teams make mistakes at some of the legs) in the woods can be followed on a big screen at the competition center. There's also a radio and a tv program going on typically through the competition and on-line result services through the night.