Swiss runner Fabian Hertner and Swedish star Helena Jansson won the first World Cup race of the season in very detailed and sandy terrain in New Zealand. Very intricate contour details made map reading and orienteering challenging, as demonstrated below.
In the men’s event all the top 8 were Swiss and Swedish runners while the women’s top 8 list featured five different nations, albeit with 4 Swedes amongst them. The fact that the overseas nations raced well in the sand-dune terrain was expected, as particularly the Swedes and Danish have similar areas at home. The men’s favourite, Norwegian Olav Lundares, looked to be the winner in the finish shute until it was discovered that he had punched a women’s control instead of his number 16. Chris Forne’s 22nd place was the best NZ result in the men. Best Aussie Julian Dent was with the leaders in the early stages of the race but lost time later on to finish in 27thth place, with Simon Uppill in 36th. Lachy Dow made an excellent senior debut for 42nd and rookie Chris Naunton was close behind in 48th.
Swedish winner Helena Jansson told orientering.se after the race, “I was prepared for a tricky race, and therefore I was very careful in my orienteering. I did not do a technically clean race. But I am probably the one who did the least amount of mistakes, and that was rewarding.” Grace Crane was Australia’s stand- out performer, and the first “down under” finisher, with a fine 16th place. Lizzie Ingham, in 21st was the best of the Kiwi women, with 5 others in the top 30, just ahead of Kathryn Preston in 31st.
See Mick Finn’s World Cup Orienteering #1video at: http://tv.worldofo.com/?id=1215
Men 5.3 km 140 m 25 C
1 Fabian Hertner SUI 32:58
2 Johan Runesson SWE 33:55
3 Jerker Lysell SWE 34:31
4 Matthias Merz SUI 34:35
5 William Lind SWE 35:01
6 Baptiste Rollier SUI 35:13
22 Chris Forne NZL 39:12
23 Thomas Reynolds NZL 39:21
26 Ross Morrison NZL 39:31
27 Julian Dent AUS 39:37
35 Matt Ogden NZL 41:00
36 Simon Uppill AUS 41:09
41 Brent Edwards NZL 43:20
42 Lachlan Dow AUS 43:24
45 Tane Cambridge NZL 44:24
46 Gene Beveridge NZL 45:12
46 Greg Flynn NZL 45:12
48 Chris Naunton AUS 45:15
51 Matthew Crane GBR 46:47
52 Oliver Poland AUS 46:55
53 Bruce Arthur AUS 47:18
54 James Bradshaw NZL 47:25
55 Josh Blatchford AUS 49:32
56 Ian Lawford AUS 50:46
57 Rob Preston AUS 53:18
Toby Scott NZL mp
63 starters
Women 4.3 km 120 m 19 C
1 Helena Jansson SWE 33:31
2 Ida Bobach DEN 34:54
3 Tatyana Riabkina RUS 35:21
4 Tone Wigemyr NOR 35:32
5 Annika Billstam SWE 35:49
6 Venla Niemi FIN 35:55
16 Grace Crane AUS 39:12
21 Lizzie Ingham NZL 40:09
22 Rachel Smith NZL 41:10
23 Amber Morrison NZL 42:31
27 Georgia Whitla NZL 44:48
29 Jenni Adams NZL 45:56
30 Laura Robertson NZL 46:07
31 Kathryn Preston AUS 46:33
33 Lara Prince NZL 47:04
35 Rachel Effeney AUS 47:22
36 Jasmine Neve AUS 47:23
37 Tessa Ramsden NZL 48:38
40 Aislinn Prendergast AUS 50:18
41 Imogene Scott NZL 50:40
42 Felicity Brown AUS 50:43
43 Mace Neve AUS 50:58
44 Susanne Casanova AUS 53:11
47 Anna Sheldon AUS 57:02
48 Bridget Anderson AUS 63:20
Greta Knarston NZL mp
52 starters.