Forssa Games takes place on the eastern side of the village Porras in Tammela on a terrain with a lot of rigdes and depressions. In the beginning of 1970’s, I was making a map on the same terrain for the Jukola relay in 1973. The event centre was supposed to situate on the nearby Räyskälä airport. However, the relay had to be transferred to Hämeenlinna due to a strike on the printing houses. I returned partly to the same area 36 years later. The terrain had changed a lot. Wonderful pine forest had been logged, and the terrain was not as suitable for orienteering as it used to be. However, there was a better area on the western end, and more on Tammela's side, and the new map was made there. There are large and small depressions between the ridges, and there are fast and slow areas. There are also height differences; the difference between the highest and lowest place is 50 metres. However, the courses don’t reach the hilliest area.
In 2009-2010 I made a map over 9.5 km square kilometers for this competition. The event centre was placed on the only field on the map. However, orienteers were not allowed to go too close to the nearby summer houses, and therefore the area close to the event centre could not be used. The planned children’s routes had to be set on another area, and the end the parts of other routes became easier than planned. However, I tried to select the best areas for orienteering. Therefore, the distances to the starts are longer than usually in the Forssa Games. Forestry operations were carried out on the terrain during the whole mapping period – the latest just before the map was printed. The courses were changed even this spring to avoid the most difficult thinning areas.
More than half of the control points are depressions. This describes the characteristics of the terrain. Controls are situated close to each other but they are still distinctive features. Anyway, remember to check the code before punching.
I wish nice orienteering experiences to all participants!
Antero Niemi
Course setter and map maker
©2010 Lounais-Hämeen Rasti
9 June 2010