Finish Team win the Jukola Relay
The Finish club Delta have won the 60th event of the Jukola.
The races, taking place outside Tampere were very tricky at night but also quite fast in places, according to the commentators.
The race was won in a time of 8h18m04s by their Russian anchor man Valentin Novikov. With 2 members of the 7-man team under 22, the race has gone down as one of the youngest teams ever to win the Jukola relay.
Lynx and OK Linne were the leaders going into the last leg, but Valentin managed to turn it around at the 8.9km mark and pulled away from there onwards.
The lead at the finish was just over 1 minute and 30 seconds from Mattias Millinger, who used to race for Västerås SOK, Sverige.
Västerås SOK themselves managed to finish in the top 100 teams with British World Champs Team member Oli Johnson on last leg. He sped through the terrain in the 23rd fastest time, catching up 27 places on their way to overall 74th.
The Delta team was as follows, Panu Piiparinen, Janne Heikka, Leonid Novikov, Petri Noponen, Oskari Liukkonen, Olle Kärner and Valentin Novikov.
Thierry Gueorgiou couldn't get his team Kalevan Rasti back to the top (winners in 2007) on last leg but posted the second fastest time, only a second down on Novikov!
Top 10 teams and their last leg runners and splits:
| 1 | 7 | Delta | FIN | 8:18:04 | Valentin Novikov | 1:19:50 | |
| 2 | 11 | OK Linne | SWE | +1:32 | Mattias Millinger | 1:22:37 | |
| 3 | 3 | Vehkalahden Veikot | FIN | +1:38 | Tero Föhr | 1:21:24 | |
| 4 | 40 | Lynx | FIN | +2:03 | Mårten Boström | 1:24:11 | |
| 5 | 2 | Halden SK | NOR | +2:42 | Anders Nordberg | 1:23:46 | |
| 6 | 1 | Kalevan Rasti | FIN | +3:50 | Thierry Gueorgiou | 1:19:51 | |
| 7 | 8 | Vaajakosken Terä | FIN | +9:14 | Pasi Ikonen | 1:22:29 | |
| 8 | 16 | Turun Metsänkävijät | FIN | +10:46 | Edgars Bertuks | 1:30:23 | |
| 9 | 22 | IFK Moras OK | SWE | +12:12 | Martin Johansson | 1:25:45 | |
| 10 | 5 | Södertälje Nykvarn Orienter | SWE | +12:26 | Mattias Muller | 1:23:37 |