Kerkelä took part in the first European orienteering championships in 1962 and was fifth in the women's individual race. Four years later, she participated in the first world championships in her home country. There she was third in the individual race behind the Swede Ulla Lindkvist and the Swiss Katharina Perch-Nielsen . The Finnish women's relay , in which Kerkelä ran with Anja Meldo and Pirjo Ruotsalainen , took second place behind the Swedish relay. At the second World Championships in 1968 she was fifth in the individual run and third with the relay.
In Finland, Raila Kerkelä won the Finnish individual championship twice. She started for the clubs Haminan Tarmo , XYZ , Kajaanin Suunnistajat and Kymin Suunnistajat . In 1963 and 1966 she won the Venla run . Her sisters Tuula Hovi and Reetta Väänänen were also active as orienteers.
