Waioneke Forest, Auckland 15 Jan 05
Event 5 of the Orienteering Superseries was a relook at the challenging Waioneke map first used for the Oceania Champs on Thursday. The closely-planted pine trees, steep slopes and patches of intricate contours on the hilltops took their toll again, and only the best emerged without large time penalties.
Visiting Swede Anders Axenborg led last series' titleholder Carsten Jorgensen by a minute, with Chris Forne and Mark Lawson a couple of minutes behind. Top Australians Dave Shepherd and Rob Walter, two more Scandinavians, and reliable Karl Dravitzki and Bill Edwards both from Central Magic filled out the top ten.
Rachel Smith won the womens race by 5sec from evergreen Tania Robinson. The rest of the top ten contained five more kiwi women and two further Aussies, with nine of them within 10min of the leaders. Tania Robinson and Chris Forne remain in the lead, threatened by Rachel Smith and Karl Dravitzki , especially after the lowest three scores are discounted. Bivouac Southerly Storm had a great day picking up as many points as the other two regions combined, and has overtaken Central Magic; but MacNut Northerners is still in the lead. Results have been loaded.
The next round of the series will be contested at the national championship in Hawkes Bay at Easter.
Oceania Carnival website and more information here
Reporting Michael Wood, NZOF
Stillwater, Auckland 7 Jan 05
Australian men dominated in soggy conditions today, but the kiwi women were on top in a Middle Distance event at Stillwater today which was a World Ranking event as well as event 4 of the Superseries.
Dave Shepherd was followed by fellow-Australian Eric Morris and Scandinavian Anders Axenborg, with the top kiwi man Chris Forne in 4th. Then came three more Australians and Dane Carsten Jorgensen, sporting a neat patch on his forehead covering stitches from yesterday's injury at Carrington. Two more kiwis filled out the top 10 of the quality field of 40, 24 of whom were within 10min of the winner. On the other hand Tania Robinson won the womens race, albeit by a single second from Canberra's Jo Allison. But then followed twins Rachel and Rebecca Smith, and also in the top 10 were three more kiwi women and Central Magic, temporary kiwi Piret Klade, from Estonia.
Tania Robinson now has a lead of 17 points over Rachel Smith, while Chris Forne has overtaken Karl Dravitzki from Central Magic and is 5 points ahead. MacNut Northerners gained the highest team score of 34 and is still in the lead, but Bivouac Southerly Storm (32) gained some ground on Central Magic (15). Results have been loaded. The series continues with a multiday-distance race (winning time 70-90min) next Saturday at Waioneke in Woodhill Forest.
Carrington, Auckland 7 Jan 05
Early leaders on the 3km course were Michael Glowacki, who has returned to NZ from his base in Oslo for the carnival, Sydney's Robbie Preston, and then for quite a while Brent Edwards, who has increased his fitness considerably while taking a break from the NZ Police. Edwards took the fastest time down to 15-17, where it stayed until bettered by over half a minute by Rune Olsen, a Scandinavian living in Australia.
Last year's runner-up Chris Forne improved it to 14-10 which superseries leader Karl Dravitzki from Central Magic couldn't match, and then Australian star Troy de Haas smashed a further 30 seconds to win in 13-40. The final order was de Haas, Forne and Dravitzki.
In the womens race Jenni Adams passed the two in front of her to establish the early lead of 19-09. This was then broken by nearly a minute by first-year senior Claire Paterson from Central Magic, and then no-one was surprised when many-titled Tania Robinson from Northern Knights went out and took a further 25sec off. However the last starter was Rachel Smith, who missed out on the Superseries title last year when she took off for Sweden and missed the last round. The experience (including the World Champs at Vasteras) has clearly benefitted her, as she outran Robinson by 23sec. The final result: Smith, Robinson, Paterson.
Though furthest from home, Bivouac Southerly gained the highest team score of 40 (top two women and top four men), ahead of MacNut Northerners (30) and Central Magic on 28. However after a dismal start in Round 1 they are still very much in arrears, with MacNut leading on 139 with Central Magic on 115.
Reporting Michael Wood, NZOF
