Marquita Gelderman, set a 107-point tally to chase by the departing Rachel Smith,
made it in the final race of the superseries on Sunday. With Carsten Jorgensen
and Chris Forne already secure at the top of the mens competition, attention there shifted to
third slot, where Neil Kerrison narrowly held off a dual threat from Karl Dravitzki
and Mark Lawson.
Points were harder to earn in the final round at Queens Birthday Weekend near Auckland, with the events also serving as an Australia-New Zealand Elite Test Match. The six Australian men and six women were to markedly influence the superseries, although after an almost even result on the first day the kiwis won the test. But with all entrants counted in the superseries the top visitors were able to push NZ runners down the order, even though the times were astonishingly close.
The effect was most dramatic on the long-distance event on Saturday at Kelland Road near Waiuku: farmland with intricate sand-dune shapes on the hill-tops, and sloping increasingly steeply towards the sea. The coastal part is dissected by quite large valleys across which long route-choice legs are usually set, with short tricky legs using the detail once the legs and brain have been suitably tired out. Though the kiwi men were dominant (filling all of the top 10 except for third place) the Australian women took four of the top six placings headed by outstanding teenager Hanny Allston from Tasmania. Tania Robinson who was not in contention for a superseries place was third, and Marquita Gelderman's fifth was not enough to reach the front of the superseries. The mens race won by Chris Forne could not affect the leading pair, but Mark Lawson and Karl Dravitzki moved in on Neil Kerrison's third-place score.
The weather also added to the runners' difficulties, with cold squalls sweeping across the exposed hills. The rain affected the organisers' computers, which had suffered a wetting at a club event a week earlier. But backup procedures swung into action and orienteers logging onto the website early next morning were able to inspect the results.
The Sunday event was a middle distance in Woodhill Forest. While the entire forest is based on coastal sand-dunes, the narrow strip between the last road and the beach has a character of its own. The pines there are not managed for timber and have been allowed to grow old and develop a deep carpet of needles as in a fairy-tale; there are open dunes with a covering of tussock and toitoi, and snaking between them is a dense border of trees battered into the sand by the wind, so that crossing needs to be chosen with some care. And of course the ground shape has also been formed by the wind, with intricate contours (mapped at 2.5m) and many small knolls and depresssions. Ideal for the technical demands of the middle distance, with elite winning targets of 35 minutes.
This time the kiwi women, led by Robinson and Gelderman, were dominant with six out of the top
seven. The standout run came from NZ's 18-year-old Amber Morrison who was third, and again from
Allston two seconds behind. At last Gelderman gained the points she needed to overtake Rachel
Smith; Jenni Adams who has just departed overseas was untouchable in third;
and Robinson leapfrogged not only Claire Paterson (in Sweden preparing for JWOC) but also
Rebecca Smith.
Nothing could change the top two placings of Jorgensen and Forne. Perhaps sensing that,
Forne cruised round for seventh place. The winner was in fact
Australian Robbie Preston, ahead of Darren Ashmore and Lawson. It
was thus Lawson not Dravitzki who would threaten Kerrison,
but the latter's 8th was enough to hold his third slot in the series.
Bivouac Southerly Storm has been secure for the team competition since before the Easter events in the Manawatu. However the combind effect of the departure of Jorgensen, Adams and Smith and the distance to Auckland has weakened the team, and on each day the order coincided with latitude from top to bottom of the country. This has narrowed the huge lead held by Bivouac Southerly Storm, leaving the Knights in second and Raiders third.
Finally, the northern team chose the weekend to unveil their new strip: they will now be known as the "MacNut Northeners" after the Macadamia Nut orchard north of Helensville and adjacent to Woodhill Forest. The team turned out on Sunday in uniform o-tops carrying their new name. On paper it now looks the strongest team, but as they say "six months is a long time in politics - and sport." The next series is expected to start in spring, include some events from the Oceania Carnival in January (Auckland again) and conclude by mid 2005.
The weekend results are now on the Auckland OC website. The full points table is available on this website.