Jukola Relay 2026

The Jukola Relay will be held for the 77th time on Sat–Sun 13.-14.6.2026 in Kotka 🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ This is a relay orienteering event in which seven team members take turns navigating a predetermined forest course. Jukola is Finland’s largest adult sports event and the world’s largest relay orienteering event, attracting up to 20 000 participants over the weekend. Participating teams range from top athletes to groups of coworkers ⚡️

Anyone with reasonably good physical fitness can sign up – all relay legs in Jukola exceed 7 km, and this year many are significantly longer. Having an orienteering background certainly helps, but it is by no means a requirement. General map-reading skills, a sense of direction, and visiting the checkpoints as part of a group will go a long way! 🧭 (Some people even consider Jukola more of a relaxed trail-running event.)

There are both short and long relay legs, run during both daytime and nighttime. This means we do need at least a couple of more experienced orienteers in the team, but the exact allocation of legs will be determined later. However, please let us know which legs might interest you—if any: more information about the legs and their distances can be found here 🗺 (Note that the time estimates are calculated for experienced athletes, and in practice, our guild’s teams will likely only run a couple of legs in the dark.)

The guild is prepared to assemble two Jukola teams. We'll travel by shared bus with other Otaniemi guilds on Saturday morning and return on Sunday after the competition 🚌

There is a dedicated Telegram group for the guild’s teams, which both interested and registered participants can join, even just to ask more questions!

The guild will cover about half of the participation fee and travel costs – participants themselves will pay at most around 50€ each 🤝🏻

The exact distribution of the relay legs will be decided later. Registration is binding. We will form 7-person Jukola Relay teams from those who sign up. Remember to join the Telegram chat at the latest when you register 🐦‍🔥

TL;DR
WHAT: Jukola Relay 2026
WHERE: Lentokentäntie 246, 48720 Kotka
WHEN: Sat 13.6. at 14:00 – Sun 14.6. at 20:00
WHY: An incredible experience
PRICE: Max 50€

Questions? Contact @EppuRuotsalainen