| Orienteering Superseries: Prospects for 2004 | |
| Series Manager, MAPsport Services, 5 Atahu Gr, Lower Hutt, NZ Ph (04) 566 2645 | |
With the titleholder and NZ No. 2 Rachel Smith making a start,
and Round 1 winner Marquita Gelderman confirming an entry, Round 2 of the 2004 Superseries
is in for a good battle. Placegetters at Smedley last weekend Claire Paterson and Jenni
Adams will also be travelling south to Otago for the round, which includes the South
Island Champs and an event in the SI Challenge series.
Significant absences are Tania Robinson who must choose her events carefully, and Penny Kane and Lara Prince who may still be involved with university exams. We think Smith will have the upper hand over Gelderman in the steep pine forest of coastal Otago through which the Southern Traverse has just passed; and among the thousands of rocky tors which pepper the farmland of Mt Ross near Middlemarch. The mapper estimates Mt Ross has 750 rock features for every square kilometre, on average that's one for every 37X37m square!
In the mens contest Carsten Jorgensen must be the favourite,
although the "short" race last weekend shows that the Danish orienteer can
be beaten! However the winner on that occasion Chris Forne is running only on the
second day, and with low climb and technical difficulty at Mt Ross it is unthinkable that
he could outrun someone with European track credentials!
The others who will come close are the Egmont club duo of Karl Dravitzki and Neil
Kerrison, and Mark Lawson. Dravitzki has a considerable running pedigree and is back in
training after surgery early this year; Kerrison is on a new level since his overseas
experience; and Lawson can be relied on to finish between 3rd and 6th.
Another whose form has not been tested much recently is Greg Flynn, who could surprise
if he actually takes the start; he has been cautious about resuming since injury but
won the 21-Short class by a mile last weekend.
Aside from the absence of Forne on the first day we won't see top-ranked Rob Jessop or the injured Jason Markham; and Darren Ashmore and Stu Barr who impressed last weekend are also not in the list.
This round is an opportunity for Southerly Storm to build up points against their main rival Northern Knights, who will be able to marshall more resources towards the end of the series. It has a 14-point deficit to catch up from Round 1, which it should easily do on the Saturday; and with Forne arriving on Sunday they will be well over 20 points ahead by the end of the weekend.
But the dark horse of the round is the Central Raiders. Although currently in the South Island Rachel Smith is a member of Wellington OC, and with Paterson running well the Raiders may have the best womens team this time. If Dravitzki and Kerrison run as well as expected, Raiders will actually take the lead on Saturday, before Southern inches past on Sunday. Being anywhere near the front was unthinkable last series, and puts a new excitement into the contest.