Nopesport

On Saturday evening 1331 men charged into the forest for the biggest orienteering relay in the world, the 2005 Sippu-Jukola.

All the big names were in attendance as Halden Sk looked to try and hold off Last years winners Kalevan Rasti and put the Tiomila disappointment behind them. Jarno Käyhkö of Lahden Suunnistajat lead the 1st leg group back which included GB's Matt Speake, with yet another superb relay performance. the young EBOR man holding 7th. Oli Johnson also came back in a strong 31st position for Espoon Suunta just 1.55min off the lead. all the big names were still in the hunt though.

Halden SK took the lead after the 2nd leg with a fine run from Jarkko Huovila opening up a 47sec gap from Jamie Stevensons new club Farum-Tisvilde OK in 2nd. 'Old man' Palmer continues to show he just can't get enough of orienteering bringing Malungs OK Skogsmårdarnaback in 21st.

The lead kept on changing every leg, this time going to the revitalised Vaajakosken Terä club as Jani Lakanen blasted around over 2mins quicker than anybody else. Kalevan Rasti & Halden SK were still keeping in touch though lying in 3rd & 4th respectively.

Tore Sandvik took a leaf out of Jani Lakanens book on the next leg, taking 1.30mins out of everybody else to regain 1st position for Halden.

But it was on the 5th Leg that things started to spread out as Antti Harju & Erik Axelsson went out within 30secs of each other, 1.30mins ahead on Vaajakosken Teräs Heikki Nousiainen, with Malungs OK Skogsmårdarna back a further 1.40mins.

It was a two horse race. Mats Haldin Managed to set up the final leg for a nail-biting finish as he came in just 1sec ahead of Rasti's Simo Martomaa sending out Emil Wingstedt & Thierry 'Terro' Gueorgiou head-to-head. Thierry obviously had other ideas as he flew round taking 3.24mins out of Emil by the 1st radio control! The frenchman sustained this advantage for the rest of the course, retaining the Jukola title for Kalevan Rasti. Halden SK claimed 2nd with Vehkalahden Veikot in 3rd ovr 4mins down.

There were more good british runs on last leg. Jamie Stevenson gained 6 places bringing Farum-Tisvilde OK back as the highest placed Danish team in 10th. Matt Crane brought Espoon Suunta back into 39th and Scott fraser came 44th for Sävedalens AIK.

For a detailed unfolding of the event, visit the interactive results page

Results in brief:

1) Kalevan Rasti, FIN, 7:41:17
1-Harri Romppanen
2-Mikael Boström 3-Tommi Tölkkö 4-Hannu Airila
5-Antti Harju
6-Simo Martomaa
7-Thierry Gueorgiou

2) Halden SK, NOR, 7:44:59
3) Vehkalahden Veikot, FIN, 7:47:21
4) Vaajakosken Terä, FIN, 7:47:34
5) Malungs OK Skogsmårdarna, SWE, 7:53:00
2-Stephen Palmer
6) Turun Metsänkävijät, FIN, 7:5:37
7) OK Ravinen, SWE, 7:53:47
8) Farum-Tisvilde OK, DEN, 7:56:03
7-Jamie Stevenson
9) Paimion Rasti, FIN, 7:56:06
10) Angelniemen Ankkuri, FIN, 7:56:11

11) Stora Tun IK, SWE, 7:56:12
1-Kiril Nikolov

35) OK Tisaren, SWE, 8:18:10
1-Matt Speake

39) Espoon Suunta, FIN, 8:23:16
1-Oli Johnson
7-Matt Crane

45) Sävedalens AIK, SWE, 8:29:07
7-Scott Fraser

46) IL Tyrving, NOR, 8:29:10
6-Nick Morgan

67) Halden SK 3, NOR, 8:42:58
4-Dicky Jones
6-Little Slave

89) Østmarka OK, NOR, 8:54:23
6-Murray Strain

153) FK Friskus Varberg 2, SWE, 9:29:35
1-Stefan Andersson

495) Jesus OK, GBR, 11:33:35
1-Jon Cross
2-Stephen Wilson
3-John Emeleus
4-Jon Marsden
5-Peter Huzan
6-Philip Marsland
7-David Currie

947) London OK, GBR, 13:59:21
1-Ian Searle
2-Ronan Cleary
3-David Saunders
4-Steve Bingham
5-Julie Cleary
6-John McCullough
7-Mark Adams

For full Jukola information visit www.jukola.com