| Orienteering Superseries: Prospects for 2004 | |
| Series Manager, MAPsport Services, 5 Atahu Gr, Lower Hutt, NZ Ph (04) 566 2645 | |
The absence of the five top-ranked NZ women, including the three placegetters from
the last Superseries, leaves the field wide open for the first round at Smedley Station
in Southern Hawkes Bay. Any one of three women could come out on top: Marquita Gelderman
and Rebecca Smith, who shared the honours last weekend, and Jenni Adams
who will return from Europe just in time. We pick the experience of Gelderman to hold
sway.
Of the missing five, Robinson's work and family make her selective about the events she attends, Rachel Smith is job-hunting, Danielsson has returned to Sweden, and Kane and Prince are in the thick of university exams.
In contrast, three of the five top-ranked men will take to the totaras of Smedley,
headed by Carsten Jorgensen. Even if Rob Jessop (Superseries titleholder) and Jason
Markham (2003 final-event winner) had not been absent, Jorgensen the fourth placegetter in the
World Champs long distance event would dominate the field.
But there will be plenty of interest further down, with five runners capable of taking
second place in either the long-distance race on the Saturday or the middle-distance on the Sunday.
Darren Ashmore is the third-ranked kiwi, fresh from winning the Central Districts
Championship. This in spite of stopping to check on a runner with a
broken leg! Karl Dravitzki who was unplaced last series and unranked due to leg surgery
showed last weekend that he is on the comeback trail. Dravitzki won the inaugural
Superseries in 2002. Chris Forne thoroughly justified
his WOC selection from outside the squad, and we can no longer use terms such as
"surprise performance", "out of left feild", etc. Neil Kerrison was beaten only
by Jorgensen at the Auckland Champs a fortnight ago. And Mark Lawson's legendary strength
could be just what is required to climb out of the deep gorges which slice through
the Smedley terrain.
In the teams competition minnow Central Raiders has an outside chance for an early lead on home terrain. With last series' winner Southerly Storm below strength it will be Raiders vs Northern Knights. The men are well-balanced, Dravitzki and Kerrison stacking up against Ashmore and Lawson, so that the lower placings will be vital. However Raiders has only one woman, the up-and-coming junior Claire Paterson, and that would be telling even without the experience of Knights' Gelderman and Smith.
So the liklihood is a win to Northern Knights, which it needs ahead of the following two rounds in the South Island. There the pendulum will swing the other way, with the exciting possibility of a Knights comeback at Queens Birthday in Woodhill.