2004 winner Carsten Jorgensen retired from the sprint race today
on the Carrington university campus. The Danish team member who also runs for
PAPO and the Bivouac Southerly Storm team and won the last superseries ran into
a sign and sustained a nasty cut on his forehead. He walked unaided to the finish
where he received medical attention, but his prospects for the remainder of the
Oceania Carnival may be affected.
At the time the mens race was building to a climax, with Jorgensen, the last starter, having the chance to win the day. 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 couldn't match, and then Australian star Troy de Haas smashed a further 30 seconds to win in 13-40. With Jorgensen still out on the course heads craned to catch a glimpse between the buildings, but when he did appear it was at a walk with his hand on his forehead; and something had obviously happened. 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, and then no-one was surprised when many-titled Tania Robinson 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 and the traditionally weak Central Magic on 115. Results have been loaded. The series continues with a middle-distance race (winning time 30min) tomorrow 8 Jan at Stillwater on the east coast just north of Auckland.
Post-script: Jorgensen wasn't the only one to suffer injury. Although he finished the race, Australian Blair Trewin slipped on a rain-drenched pathway and damaged his arm - subsequently diagnosed as a break just above the elbow. Jorgensen was able to take the start next day, but the Trewin who appeared in the results was actually Paul Liggins; Blair will be using his talents on the PA system rather than the map for the remainder of the carnival.