Some of the American juniors, specifically Thomas, Kai, Peter, Diana, and Turner, headed out to Europe a tad early this year to compete at Jukola over the weekend! We were joined by orienteers from around the world to make up quite an international team, featuring kiwi Katie Cory-Wright, maple-syrup-lover Emma, and Regina of the Emerald Isle on our Venla team, along with Old Gregg, Spanish superstar Violeta, and once again the ever-present Emma to round out our Jukola team. We all absolutely loved inhaling dust all night, my favourite part was definitely showering and coughing up questionable black substances.
The night was full of sleep for some of us, but for others it was rather lacking. Coach Greg most likely picked up the most strenuous workload, running second leg for the DVOA club team, sleeping for half an hour, and churning through our sixth leg. Everyone put in a shift though, and we’re quite exhausted. We got a few days rest before flying to Denmark and beginning our training camp for JWOC 2019, which is bound to start extremely soon.
Although the arena was flowered in dust and breathing became a bit of a bacterial misadventure, the night had many memorable moments that made Jukola, as always, completely worth it. Watching the masterclass orienteering unfold between Koovee and IFK Göteborg in the final legs was a sight to behold, and the third place spot was up for grabs for several teams coming into the final leg. I managed to stay away from the shops this year (other than food), but some stalwarts went the night without spending a dime on food. Good on you, Katie! The showers were divine. I can’t say I’ve ever wondered what it’s like for a snake to shed its skin, but I choose to believe that it was pretty dang close to that. Of course, it didn’t matter much because we were bequeathed with more layers of dust upon returning to the arena and my socks, after washing, still look like they’ve been dipped in a flowerpot. I guess that adds character to them? No one will want to steal them, if that can be taken as a positive.
It’s been two days since the conclusion of the Jukola relay, and we’ve mostly recovered from our severe lack of sleep. We’re joined by Julia, Sarah Petersen, Aidan, and Adrian Vartia, making up a total of nine orienteers who will be learning a lot about Denmark. We’ll be sure to tell you about it soon.
USA Junior Orienteering 