Nopesport

On Saturday's sunny afternoon 841 women headed out on the first leg of the 27th Venla relay.

The Venla is always a good fore-runner to Jukola and this year it did not disappoint. The Dominating force of womens relays over the last few years, Ulricehamns OK, were again victors but it wasn't until Jenny Johansson's fine 3 leg before they knew they could secure it this time round.

Julia Novikova of Delta led a pack of 30 teams in within a minute of each other including Södertälje Jo Stevenson in a superb 12th and Jenny Whitehead in a solid 29th for Västerås SOK.

The pack didn't get much smaller after the 2nd leg, this time Lene Moe Nydalens SK led some 24 teams all within a minute. A 2nd best leg time from Ulricehamns Stina Grenholm pulled them up into touching distance of the lead. That left the small matter of Jenny Johanson & Simone Niggli Luder for them to bring the title home. Heli Jukkola of Rastikarhut came 2nd with Stora Tuna IK's Emma Engstrand taking 3rd. Two strong runs on the 3rd and 4th leg by Hanna Staff & Anne Margrethe Hausken pulled Baekkelagets Sk from 63rd to 4th place.

There were some quality runs from the brits too including the oxford duo of Becky Carl & Cerys Manning dragging their respective teams up by over a 100 places! Helen Winskill brought Vasteras SOK back in 53rd gaining 18 places for the swedish team.

For a most excellent results service, which shows the full unfolding of the event visit the Venla results page.

Results in brief:

1) Ulricehamns OK, SWE, 2:37:36
Alexandra Vejedal
Stina Grenholm
Jenny Johansson
Simone Niggli-Luder

2) Rastikarhut, FIN, 2:39:21
3) Stora Tuna IK, SWE, 2:40:17
4) Baekkelagets SK, NOR, 2:40:19
5) Domnarvets GoIF, SWE, 2:40:25
6) Nydalens SK, NOR, 2:40:34
7) Asikkalan Raikas, FIN, 2:41:21
8) Tampereen Pyrintö, FIN, 2:41:30
9) IK Hakarpspojkarna, SWE, 2:41:57
10) Turun Suunnistajat, SWE, 2:44:08

50) OK Ravinen, SWE, 3:01:00
3-Helen Palmer

53)Västerås SOK, SWE, 3:01:19
1-Jenny Whitehead
4-Helen Winskill

203) Jesus OK, GBR, 3:34:00
1-Alice Bedwell
2-Eleanor West
3-Nina Phillips
4-Becky Carlisle

255) OK Hällen 2, SWE, 3:39:40
3-Cerys Manning

For full information on the Venla relay visit www.jukola.com