Former World orienteering champion Carsten Joergensen (Christchurch) returned to winning form with impeccable timing at the NZ Sprint Orienteering Championships in Central Otago yesterday.
A combination of "flat out" speed and brief navigational speed checks saw Joergensen defeat in-form World Games representatives Ross Morrison and Darren Ashmore by over a minute, in the format where places are often decided by fractions of a second.
"I just tried my luck - I ran hard and stopped if I was unsure" he said, after his win. "There were a lot of places where you needed to slow down, and those rhythm changes perhaps caught a few people out. I was running pretty smoothly I guess."
The open forest covering old gold workings and gravel pits was popular with the elite and age-class orienteers alike; and was noted as "the best forest sprint area in New Zealand" by Joergensen.
With a Long distance title in hand from the 2009 Championships, ex-Dane and Christchurch based Joergensen will be deprived of a chance of holding all three National titles at one time in the Middle distance on Saturday as his role in mapping the area precludes his entry there.
Hawkes Bay's Ross Morrison took the same all-out approach too, running hard over the 3km course, but this approach backfired for him as angled off the optimum straight-line route and got caught up in some of the slower "green" forest.
Emerging at the spectator control with bloodied legs and some three or four minutes down on Joergensen, Morrison ran his heart out to make up the lost time.
While it wasn't enough for a win his efforts catapulted him into second place, some 30 seconds ahead of Darren Ashmore.
A different approach - starting cautiously and focusing on exact navigation - almost paid off for 2009 Silva Superseries champion Ashmore.
"I was a bit rough on a few" he commented. "I lost a minute through navigational errors . I should probably have put the hammer down, like Carsten!"
Ashmore heads in to the Middle distance race to defend his 2009 title with equal-favorite status alongside Morrison.
While Joergensen sits the race out, several other contenders such as Jamie Stewart, James Bradshaw, Tom Reynolds and Bryn Davies will all be pushing hard to take the title.
"It may be trickier than today though" warned Joergensen.
Runner-up Morrison is also impressed by the Juniors who ran the elite course later in the day.
"Those guys have been training extremely well and it shows" he pointed out. "Jourdan Harvey's winning time in M20 was fast enough to place second in elites, and Toby Scott would have been third."
"They'll be impressive in Denmark if they keep that up" Morrison (who will coach them at the Junior World Championships) promised.
Also showing an impressive turn of speed at just the right time was defending Sprint champion Lizzie Ingham (Wellington) who collected her second National title in as many years of elite competition, defeating Lara Prince (Christchurch) and Penny Kane (Wellington) by a minute.
"I'm stoked to get that one. I had a shaky start to the year but with some solid work behind me It's all come together" she said.
Central Magic teammate Laura Robinson's win in the W20 class helped Ingham's Silva Superseries team gather some useful points in the National series, with Kate Morrison (Hawkes Bay) and Selena Metherall (Christchurch) finishing 27 and 58 seconds behind in the junior (under 20) class.
With over 370 competitors, making it the biggest Sprint Nationals ever held in New Zealander, race director Brian Buschl was pleased with the first day.
"Everyone loved the forest - it was something a little different" he said. "They'll looking forward to the trickier stuff at Bannockburn now".
Results: 2010 National Orienteering Championships
Elite Men
- Carsten Joergensen (Cch) 14:53
- Ross Morrison (Hawkes Bay) 16:03
- Darren Ashmore (Rotorua) 16:32
Junior Men (M20)
- Jourdan Harvey (Counties-Manakau) 15:48
- Toby Scott (Auckland) 15:59
- Scott McDonald (Hawkes Bay) 16:41
Elite Women
- Lizzie Ingham (Wellington) 16:14
- Lara Prince (Christchurch) 17:14
- Penny Kane (Wellington) 17:27
Junior Women (W20)
- Laura Robinson (Hutt Valley) 19:02
- Kate Morrison (Hawkes Bay) 19:27
- Selena Metherall (Christchurch) 20:00
