A third top 20 placing for Wellingtonian Lizzie Ingham at the World Orienteering Championships - in the middle distance - makes her the best performed New Zealander at a World Championships.
Lizzie's 18th place in the Montagne de Lachat map near La Féclaz in France was a hard-fought effort on a course designed to test the world best to the limits, with all expected to make some mistakes in the rocky and intricate forests in sight of Mont Blanc.
The ultimate winners Thierry Gueorgiou (France) and Helena Jansson (Sweden) made the smallest of mistakes and recovered within seconds.
Ingham was one of just two women (Helena Jansson the other) competing in all three finals after three successful qualifications, and was orienteering fantastically through the forest, with minimal mistakes and staving off weariness almost to the end.
But it was the last of the tricky controls in the forest that cost her a top ten placing as she overshot it, relocating on the clearing past it and returned having lost 3 minutes of crucial time.
The three individual placings of Ingham - 11th, 18th and 13th - have been slightly bettered in single instances by Katie Fettes (10th in long) and Tania Robinson (16th in the middle), but none have put together such a comprehensive week of world-class performances.
Chris Forne, who has in the past reached the top twenty twice in a Worlds week was also in good form and closed out his week with a second top 30 placing.
After his gruelling 5.4km race, Forne as first starter was cautiously optimistic of a good performance: "It was real tricky, and hot too. I'm pleased with my run but a minute lost on finding the last forested control might cost me a few places."
After 80 minutes of waiting all the results were up and Chris's 28th was the third in the top 30 for the men in the week with Ross Morrison 25th in the sprint and Chris 25th in the long.
Along with Lizzie Inghams 3 top 20 places and the excellent middle distance qualification races of Penny Kane and Amber Morrison the 2011 team have put together a superb week in challenging terrain.
And more is to come - the team relays - with high hopes for both mens and womens teams who have raced themselves into top form.
The relays commence at 2:00pm (12:00am NZ time) and 2:30pm (12:30am NZ time), and comprise teams of three men and three women.
Results: World Orienteering Championships - Middle Distance
Savoie Grand Revard, France
La Féclaz, August 17
Women (3.8km)
1 JANSSON Helena SWE 33:10
2 BOBACH Ida DEN 34:26
3 WYDER Judith SUI 35:11
4 KAUPPI Minna FIN 35:19
5 VINOGRADOVA Natalia RUS 35:28
6 ALM Maja DEN 35:31
7 ANDERSEN Marianne NOR 35:49
8 RANTANEN Merja FIN 36:32
9 BILLSTAM Annika SWE 36:42
10 CHATAING Amélie FRA 36:59
[...]
18 INGHAM Lizzie NZL 39:08
38 MORRISON Amber NZL 47:30
40 KANE Penny NZL 47:51
Men (5.4km)
1 GUEORGIOU Thierry FRA 34:38
2 ÖBERG Peter SWE 36:59
3 LUNDANES Olav NOR 37:01
4 KRATOV Oleksandr UKR 37:30
5 VYTAUTAS GVILDYS Jonas LTU 37:45
6 GONON François FRA 37:46
7 LASSEN Tue DEN 38:26
8 MUELLER Matthias SUI 38:40
9 ADAMSKI Philippe FRA 38:43
10 ROLLIER Baptiste SUI 38:55
[...]
29 FORNE Chris NZL 43:31
