King Corporaal favoured to retain title

With less than four weeks until the annual Norske Skog Tasman Kawerau King of the Mountain Race, predictions are starting to firm up in favour of Galatea farmer Sjors Corporaal retaining the title he won for the first time last year.
The race course on 820m Mt Putauaki in the Eastern Bay of Plenty averages a 33% incline with scree and volcanic pumice making the ascent arduous even for tough guys while the descent often proves the adage "fortune favours the brave".
In successive attempts Corporaal has shown he's happy to throw caution to the wind on the downhill and in last year's winning run was able to extend his lead over Whakatane junior Daniel Jones on his way to the finish line.
With Jones now in the USA on a running scholarship, 2009 is shaping up as another race where a promising junior tries to topple an established king.
For several years that was the case with Jones and six-times winner Chris Morrissey who, by not defending his crown, installed his young adversary as the title favourite in 2008.
Corporaal's bursting into the limelight therefore caught most pundits by surprise and many are looking to Whakatane schoolboy Shay Williamson for the upset this time round.
Williamson ran to third outright in his debut on Putauaki last year - a result that left Australia's King of Pomona Neil Labinsky gasping; not only for breath.
While Williamson has been performing strongly in club harrier events, Corporaal has kept mostly below the radar of the Eastern Bay clubs but has certainly been doing the work.
Not generally renowned for his outright speed - instead being a master of gruelling races across difficult terrain (he's a two-times Goat winner) - Corporaal nonetheless recorded the second fastest 5km time during last month's Red Stag relays in Rotorua coming in ahead of the likes of Tauranga's Ben Ruthe, and the MacDonald twins, Ian and Kyle.
It's a fair bet he's also been putting in the hill work to go with it.
Other pretenders have also been showing good form. Labinsky simply owned Pomona in July with a record run on the Queensland hill, but that won't count for much on the NZ mountain.
With the crown all but on the king, other classes also look to have solid favourites.
Rotorua's Colin Earwaker and Oksana Isvanina took the veterans and women's titles respectively at their first attempt in 2008 and both are expected to return. Williamson is at the shortest of odds to take the junior crown.
Spectators and wannabe champions will all know how it pans out shortly before 1pm on October 31 when the 2009 winner hits the finish line.
Entries are now being taken. Details at www.kawerauharrierclub.co.nz