The sprint was run on Aramiro, used last year for the CD Champs (and Round 1 of this Superseries). In the afternoon for the middle distance the troop moved just round the corner to Old Mountain Road, which was the CD Champs in 2000. On that occasion the club and Technical Committee agreed to call the event "B-level" in recognition of the extremely steep terrain, and like the infamous next-door Kapamahanga it hasn't been used for a major event since. However the Japanese are believed to be serving up extremely steep terrain for the World Champs, and this was deemed to be relevant. Course climbs were 8%, twice the normally accepted maximum. The two were combined for one superseries result by adding twice the sprint time to the middle.
Chris Forne won both races, but Rachel Smith's sprint let her down. Although she won
the middle race Tania Robinson took the day as a whole by 39 seconds. Darren Ashmore
having sat out Easter and Canterbury was a minute behind Forne. After that though
came three within a minute on combined times: Neil Kerrison, Jamie Stewart and Brent
Edwards. The series no. 2 Karl Dravitzki was unusually back in 7th spot.
It was going to be an interesting weekend.
Next day a long-distance course had been set on Weiti, NE of Auckland. The various
lengths were supposed to allow specialisation, but the results were remarkably
similar to the day before. Behind Forne and Ashmore, and covering less than a two-minute
span, were Stewart, Dravitzki, Kerrison and Edwards. Seen those names before?
Three seconds after Edwards came an excellent result from James Bradshaw. Another who
performed above expectation was JWOC team member Ross Morrison. Still suffering from an
unknown ailment which limits his training, the 20-year-old placed 9th both days.
Rachel Smith won the womens race to return to the series lead
But it wasn't Tania Robinson next, but twin sister Rebecca Smith. Another run out
of the box came from young Lizzie Ingham, another JWOC rep using the weekend as a
yardstick. The first-year W18 placed 6th.
Although the location favoured a strong MacNut turnout, the Northerners made only 6 points over the Storm on the Saturday, and lost 2 on the Sunday. The southern team's margin of 37 should be easily enough to survive the final round at Queen's Birthday, even given its Auckland location. Forne cannot be beaten now, but QB will be crucial for the women's crown, for the two third placings, and could even (should anything prevent Karl Dravitzki running) affect the mens runner-up!