Spoils shared at Nationals

Spoils Shared at Orienteering Nationals

The titles were shared around somewhat at the orienteering nationals this year with the retirement of Tania Robinson opening up opportunities in the womens class and Chris Fornes and Ross Morrisons scrap for supremacy headlining some close competition in the mens.

The four day event incorporating sprint, middle, long and relay races was this year held in the Wairarapa by the Wellington orienteering club, and was attended by over 400 competitors from throughout the country with a field of over 30 in the mens elites class and 20 in the womens.

Sprint

The sprint distance, only officially introduced to the programme this century has become the "prologue" of the orienteering world. A time for the speed racers to shine in the spectator friendly conditions. This race was held on the parkland of Henley Lakes, and it soon became apparent the lakes were a crucial part of the course, with several routes requiring some explosive running in the water. Of all the races the sprint had the clearest favourites: Greta Knarston is the current Oceania champion, will Ross Morrison was a World Champs finalist last year .

However it was not to be their day. Knarston clawed back an early 10 second deficit to a flying Tineke Berthelson to control the middle stages of her race, however came badly unstuck in the lakes area handing the lead to veteran Jenni Adams. Adams was never going to be able to match the speed of the younger athletes though and Knarston regained the lead on the flat running legs towards the end, but cracked again, perhaps a bit of brain fade, allowing Estonian Piret Klade to slip past her for the title. Morrison didn't even last that long, he was quick out of the blocks but was soon overtaken by firing Dane Carsten Jorgenson. At control 11 the lead slipped briefly to visiting Austrian Jan Zazgornik before the pieces were picked up by outstanding junior Thomas Reynolds. Reynolds who proved his ability to win an elite sprint at the Massey-Albany campus last year, repeated the dosage in a fine display of aggressive, controlled orienteering and just breaking the 15min mark, three seconds clear of Jorgenson.

Middle

Onto the middle distance in the clean open forests of Te Wharau, and it was Forne, with a dsq in the sprint, who was keen to make amends. Again it was Morrison quick silver at the start, 30 seconds clear of the field at control 4 (less than 10 minutes into the race) but this evaporated in a flash with a senseless error at 5 and Forne powered past, never to be caught and indeed extending his margin into the finish. A highlight of this race was the seriously brutal run-in in front of the spectators, a good opportunity to see who was really in shape and who was just hiding behind a bit of experience and cunning. It was a similar story in the womens race with Klade acquiring the lead relatively early and never been seriously challenged. In one of those funny coincidences, over 2 minutes behind Klade it was the Smith twins, Rachel and Rebecca tied in second place, 33.48 a piece.

Long

Onto the long distance then and there was a fear that Klade might come up with the first clean sweep of the womens grades by a foreigner. However in the slightly tougher, more extreme terrain there were a few worthy challenges. Penny Kane had been there done that with two previous long distance titles and Rachel Smith and Lizzie Ingham were waiting in the wings. However after an initial settling in process the race found a familar pattern, Klade out in front building a minute lead by control 6. However Kane wasn't in the mood to continue the cycle and went hard in the middle stages of the race, building a solid lead over Klade which she extended to 6 minutes at the end regaining some honour for the locals. Surprise 3rd place in a course that accounted for many was recent Mum Sara Wallen, receiving reward through technique.

With Forne making an severe early error of over 6 minutes, the door was opened for Morrison to take his 2nd consecutive long distance title, which he managed eventually. Pushing hard early was the wild man from Waitomo, Neil Kerrison, consist through the rough first part of the course to have the lead after 40minutes. With Kerrison tiring Morrison assumed the lead but was being chased hard by Southerly Storm flyers Carsten Jorgenson and Michael Adams (the latter lifting his game to a new level on this weekend). He held Jorgenson out but only just, under a minute after over 90 minutes of racing.

Last but not least was the relay, featuring a mass start of the elite men, followed by top age-groupers then brought home by the elite women and veterans. The first two men home were speed merchants Morrison and Reynolds, several minutes clear after the field splintered early. Their strong teams, from Hawkes Bay and Auckland respectively didn't need this headstart, but they used it wisely. Duncan Morrison (Ross's little brother) demolishing the second leg to give Rachel Smith a good lead, who was only bested by Reynolds team mate 42 year old veteran Mark Lawson, still among the fastest in elite, bringing his team home.

A fantastic weekend of high quality performances and races, showcasing the current strength and depth of New Zealand orienteering.