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Delta, the winner team of the Jukola Relay celebrating its 60th anniversary, is busy in many ways. The runner of the fourth leg Leonid Novikov, 23, hurried right after having finished his leg to his pregnant wife. The expected time of the birth giving is on Monday. Still during the winner's interview it was not known whether the information about Delta's victory had reached him.
Also the youngest runners of the team will be celebrated on other
occasions than just the surprise victory of the Jukola Relay as well.
The excellent runner of the second leg Janne Heikka celebrates his 22nd
birthday next week. The other runner who succeeded well in the relay,
Oskari Liukkonen who will be 21 years old on Tuesday, believes that
there will be enough celebrations.
The winners of the Jukola Relay sketched their courses on the maps right after the press conference.
Janne Heikka learnt quite surprisingly that he brought his team as second to the changeover.
- I didn't hear about it until at the team tent.
For the most experienced runners this was one of the latest chances to
win the Jukola Relay during their careers. Panu Piiparinen who has
lived a long time in Kangasala, in the neighbouring town of Tampere,
stated that his own performance was good senior level orienteering even
though he made a mistake at the fourth control.
- The mistake was about 1,5 minutes. I was able to pull myself
together even though there was a bunch of orienteers in front of me,
said Piiparinen who run the first leg.
The fourth leg runner Petri Noponen, 36, orienteered in a situation familiar to him a few years ago.
- It scared me a bit. I had to fight against that fear.
Olle Kärner, 30, who was born in Estonia has previously won a bronze
medal in the long course competition of the European Championships.
- My performance in the sixth leg was good. I would have never believed that I win the Jukola Relay.
The brother of the younger Novikov, Valentin Novikov, 33, was surprised of what happened during his anchoring leg.
- I did not know that I was in the lead. I started to run fast as soon as I heard about it.
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