With McLeod off on honeymoon there was nothing that could stop Carsten
Jorgensen from dominating the remainder of the third round of the Orienteering
Superseries in Southland last weekend. Rachel Smith continued her winning form which
includes the last five events in a row! These two, and the Southerly Storm to
which they both belong, are now in an extremely strong position to withstand the
competition at Easter and Queens Birthday.
Event 6 took place on Saturday near Waikaia in native beech forest that is unusual for New Zealand. Most native vegetation on gentle slopes has long ago been cleared for farming, and what remains is thick, steep, or far from population, and often all three! Waikaia is two and a half hours from both Invercargill and Dunedin and the last 10km of the road is not easy, but the reward is a beautiful forest with no man-made features apart from the road!
Swede Johan Lindahl was the closest to the galloping Dane, with Chris Forne in third place. But a surprise fourth ten seconds behind Forne was Australian William Hawkins. Not a regular across the Tasman, Hawkins is studying economics in Boston, and perhaps honing his skills on Surebridge Mountain where the 93 Worlds were held!
Marquita Gelderman held Rachel Smith to a 1.5-minute win, and is tenaciously hanging on to the series lead by consistently placing in the top three. Rebecca Smith showed that her Naseby placing was no fluke by finishing third, ahead of the top visitor Emma Dahlstedt.
The forest for Event 7 on Sunday was also unusual - plantation eucalypts, destined for pulp production. The area is in the Hokonui Hills near Gore, reputed to be the scene of illicit whisky production during the prohibition era. Jorgensen won again, but Hawkins and Karl Dravitzki raised their game to push Forne into fourth. Seline Stalder and Jenni Adams finished behind Smith and Gelderman in the womens race.
The consequence for the series is that Jorgensen, who will miss the last two events at
Queens Birthday, has a buffer of 24 points over Chris Forne. Assuming Jorgensen wins the
three events at Easter, Forne will have to average better than second place at both
Easter and QB to capitalise on the Dane's absence. Neil Kerrison who is
continuing the good form he brought back from his 2003 overseas trip is in third place,
and actually won a non-series event last Thursday. He could more likely threaten Forne.
Mark Lawson, Karl Dravitzki and Alistair Cory-Wright form the next echelon.
The women's table is closer with Smith closing on Gelderman, and Jenni Adams in the wings.
A long-distance championship like 2003 could wreak havoc with predictions, and all that
can be said is that the winner will be one of the three. Fourth-placed Seline Stalder
is about to return to Switzerland, and Claire Paterson and Rebecca Smith (5th and 6th)
have too much to make up.
However there is no doubt at all that the team competition will go to Southerly Storm. Best-organised in terms of selecting a team name, first off the block with a team o-suit, and almost twice the score of the other teams already. The teams question is not whether Northern Knights can come back against Storm, but whether it can stay ahead of Central Raiders. The two were tied after Naseby; Knights now has a slender 7-point lead.
Round four will consist of the sprint, long and middle NZ Championships at Easter in the Manawatu; while two events near Auckland at Queens Birthday will wrap up the series.