Jukola’s message: A tough trick from a Swede

Andersson, 35, navigated all seven legs alone in 12 hours and 16 minutes. The length of the ideal route was about 82 kilometers. There were more than 150 ticks.

Andersson’s one-man team finished 371st. He left behind more than 1,200 teams with a full seven participants.

Andersson received a special permit from the organizer for the seizure.

In addition to him, Andersson’s friend completed the seven-section sabota alone Emil Åberg. Åberg, 30, took 14 hours and 32 minutes. Åberg was 813th.

Andersson says in Swedish The orienteermagazine, that the friends got their wild idea at a board game night. They were interested in whether the “ultra-Jukola” would even be possible, or whether the mammoth challenge would destroy their bodies.

Andersson is the top orienteer of the Swedish OK Linné club, who at his best has been fourth in Jukola with his team. In recent years, he has dabbled in trail and ultra running. In this year’s Jukola, he was able to combine his passions.

Andersson and Åberg were helped in the changing area by their friends Johannes Ridefeltwho provided the athletes with a new shirt for each round, with a pre-attached number tag, as well as an Emit competition card and a sports drink. The drivers made a pit stop just like in formulas.

The Swedes had developed a reward system for themselves. Most of the energy came from the sports drink, whose powder consumed 1.5 kilos. After each stage, you also got something good. A teddy bear was waiting at the first exchange. Then the ear tree. Later they got meat broth, morning coffee, chips, cook and pickles.

Of everything despite that, the strain of the trip became hard. The third part was already felt in the bones and core – after all, there were more than 20 kilometers behind.

Andersson drew strength from the Finnish beer brand’s advertising slogan “follow yourself”.

The hardest part was when the morning dawned.

“The trip felt like it was going slowly, and I was hurting. Still, there was still a lot of heaven left,” Åberg said in a Swedish newspaper.

The steep downhills were particularly challenging.

“My muscles weren’t working anymore. I had to hold on to the trees and lower myself down the slope,” says Åberg.

Unbelievably, both athletes made it to the last stage before the change boom closed and the restart started.

At the finish, the overriding feeling was relief.

However, there was still one more tricky tick ahead. We had to make it to the Swedish ship from the scenery of Kymi airport. Åberg was at the port 10 minutes before the end of boarding.

Finnish top orienteer Tuomas Heikkilä only heard about the capture of the Swedes a couple of weeks after Jukola.

“It sounds drastic,” says Heikkilä.

He has no personal experience of ultra travel. The longest run he has run is 25 kilometers.

Heikkilä calculates the total distance run by the Swedes. Jukola’s length as the crow flies was 82 kilometers. Curves on the route and the stress of the terrain came to the fore. According to Heikkilä, running in the terrain is at least 50 percent more challenging than running on the plain.

“If you compare it to the distance traveled on the plain, the Swedes have probably run about 120-130 kilometers,” says Heikkilä.

Andersson estimated in the Orienteraren magazine that he would have lost only five minutes due to the bombs. It is not surprising from Heikkila.

“It’s a hard performance, but the low number of bombs is explained by the fact that he couldn’t keep up the speed on the pin. The progress has been quite calm. When there is more time to do orientation work, there are not so many mistakes,” says Heikkilä.

Heikkilä, 28, anchored Helsingin Suunnitajat in second place in Jukola. The Swedish Stora Tuna OK took the win. Andersson lost to the winning team by about 4.5 hours.

Heikkilä will participate in the WC sprint orienteering in Genoa, Italy, next week. He is one of the favorites to become world champion.