Entries Flow In for World Championship

Entries from NZ, Australia (of course), Hong Kong, USA, Finland

With six months to go and four months to entry close, strong entries have been received for the 4th World Rogaining Championship to be held in Canterbury, NZ. A particular note for NZers is that there is a limit of 400 people and if it looks like this will be reached then local competitors will be put on a waiting list.

Some remarks about the entrants so far, bearing in mind that only the "contact person" is in the list and so other team members are not known at this stage, quite possibly they haven't even been declared to the organisers!

• Neil Phillips from Victoria is the President of the International Rogaining Federation, the body which has sanctioned this event. Neil was among the founders of rogaining. He'll be in the Mens Vet class.
• Owen Evans from Hong Kong is actually a kiwi from Canterbury and will be returning "home" for the event. Open men.
• Tony Le Sueur (with probably brother Warren) are experienced climbers and mountain runners, and with a couple of 12-hour events under their belt will make a mark. From Blenheim in the SI, Open men.
• Phil Wood, an elite orienteer from Auckland, distinguished himself by partnering Greg Barbour in NZ's last mountain marathon, and lived to tell the tale. This puts him in the same fairly exclusive club as David Rowlands, who came 2nd with Barbour at WRC3. Open men.
• Keith Murray. Multisport athlete from Canterbury, Coast to Coast record-holder, 99 Cyclic Saga winner, etc etc. Open men (what else?)
• Russell Prince. Another Canterbury multisport athlete, father of NZ's best runner at JWOC this year. Maybe his partner will be Aaron?? Open men.
• Mark Lawson, Auckland. Rose into the elite orienteering ranks in his 30s, will be a force to be reckoned with in rogaining. His regular partner is fellow elite Rob Jessop, who did the "Most Awesome Rogaine" in Alberta in 1990, which kicked off rogaining in NZ. Open men.
• Sharon Crawford, USA. World Veterans orienteering winner three times in a row! Controversially disqualified in WRC3, then reinstated. Womens Supervets.
• Bill Kennedy, Canterbury. Half of the current Mens Supervets titleholders, will probably partner his sister Ann. They'll beat most of the field. Mixed Supervets.
• Lisa and Geoff Mead, Auckland. This couple were the mixed team to beat in mountain marathons 15 years ago, they are both top orienteers, watch their score! Mixed Vets.