Going into Round 3, as at 14 Mar 05

Full Entry List

The Easter races which will take the 2005 series to the half-way point include:

• Sprint distance, 25 Mar in the grounds of the 150-year-old Te Aute college, which has produced many of NZ's maori leaders. Te Aute is on SH2, 30km south of Hastings.
• Long distance, 26 Mar at Whanawhana, a new area 50km west of Hastings containing rocks and small cliffs, intricate detail created by land slumping, farmland with extensive areas of kanuka - the taller cousin of the native manuka.
• Middle distance, 27 Mar on the Springvale end of the huge Smedley map with its totara and beech-spotted farmland interspersed with bush-filled gorges. Smedley is 50km SW of Hastings.

The womens series is shaping up to be a clash between evergreen Tania Robinson from Counties Manukau and Rachel Smith of Peninsula and Plains. Though Robinson leads at prese nt, Smith who has spent a year in Sweden missed the first round, and is scoring at roughly the same rate - they both have two wins to their credit.

But both could be upstaged by Juliette Soulard from France, who has a world ranking of 62. Robinson is currently 81 and Smith 83 (which indicates how closely these two are matched:-)) Another possible entrant who could upset the Hawkes Bay apple-cart is Yvette Baker, Britain's first World Champs gold medallist. Baker has just moved to Wellington, but does not appear in the entry list.

Others to look for: Claire Paterson (Red Kiwis), Rebecca Smith (Taupo) and Sara Wallen (Peninsula and Plains) have placed well; Paterson is currently lying third. Marquita Gelderman will score well in the sprit and middle, but is running W35 at Whanawhana. Romana Kalenska from Czech has a world ranking ID number but no current (last 12 months) ranking results.

We had hoped the mens series would pit last year's winner Carsten Jorgensen (world ranking 38=) against current leader Chris Forne (both PAPO); but there's no entry yet from the Danish star. Forne has been running extremely well over all distances, including a win in the NZ Rogaine Championship two weeks ago - over 24 hours! His closeest rival in the series is Karl Dravitzki (Egmont) who beat him in Round 1 but fell behind during the Oceania Carnival. The only other kiwi to beat the world-ranked #110 in this series is Taupo's Darren Ashmore, who is technically very sure and believed to be working hard on his fitness ahead of selection trials for the World Champs in Japan.

But keep an eye out for national squad member Alistair Landels, who isn't seen much here as he lives in Sweden. Landels is the only kiwi to have won a World Cup - the 1994 event held in Woodhill Forest. The "second level" of resident kiwis is bound to produce some surprises - Neil Kerrison, Mark Lawson, Aaron Prince, Rob Jessop, Brent Edwards. Jan Mrazek from Czech only has two world ranking scores where four are counted; but they are good ones. If he could repeat those two performances he would rank just behind Darren Ashmore. Martin Larbo from Sweden who was here in the summer of 2003/4 has a ranking ID number but no current results; he ran very well in the complex gold-mining terrain at Naseby.

Christison (who won the Coast to Coast in 2004) and Morrisey aren't likely to figure in the placings but represent the increasing interest in mapsport by endurance athletes. Hawkes Bay adventure racer Darryl Taylor who was the last-placed finisher in the 2004 long and middle championships went on to represent NZ at the World MTBO Champs; and he's back for another go in 2005.

The teams competition will be dominated by the attempt of Bivouac Southerly Storm, who got off the blocks last, to chase down leaders MacNut Northerners. The 46-point lead is roughly the number of points scored in each event, so with 7 events to go they'll have to do about 15% better on average. With Smith (Bivouac) up against Robinson (MacNut), and Forne (Bivouac) up against Ashmore (MacNut) the second level will be important as well; and even the traditionally-weak Central Magic (Dravitzki and Paterson) will influence the battle-front. Roll on Easter.