2011 Silva Superseries leaders

With four days remaining the multitude of blogs and posts making up the predictive octopus have yet to come up with a definitive conclusion. But there is one certainty; those leading the Superseries points table have the most to lose and are likely to be extremely motivated to perform in the tricky flatlands of Woodhill Forest. Where the long (14km!) courses are set. And just as motivated in the tricky up-and-down lands of Woodhill, where the shorter courses are hoisted.

The current series leaders are, in the elite men, 2010 champion Ross Morrison (58 pts) and Karl Dravitzki (58) followed by 2009 Champion Darren Ashmore (45), who between them have won 15 National titles. The women are led by Piret Klade (56pts), with Amber Morrison (55) and defending champion Angela Simpson (55) just one point in arrears.

Two strong contenders are however out of the picture; 2009 champion Lizzie Ingham (studying in Australia) and former World Champion Carsten Joergensen (house-building in Christchurch). It's the younger challengers in the picture that will make a big impact. JWOC team-mates Matt Ogden (31) and Toby Scott (38) have current and past form, after being best-performed Kiwis each day at last years Queens Birthday races (and trans-Tasman Test Match). As did JWOC'er Angela Simpson on the first day of the same event (Toby won two days, and Matt was best Kiwi on the second).

So while the series leaders have plenty of motivation, the juniors who won last year, hitting top form immediately prior to JWOC, have just as much motivation to run at their best, with the added bonus of taking elite scalps from both sides of the Tasman. Seven races score points, from ten in the series, and four races count at QB weekend at 15 points each for a win. None of the leaders are safe at the top.

Can the juniors beat the elites - again? What about the host of other challengers from Auckland and further afield, and the Australian Bushrangers team? Find out this weekend in the final Silva Superseries races.

And get some of the latest predictions in detail at  Tom Reynolds  or the forum at Maptalk - and check out another new blog at Kate Morrison

Australian WOC team

The Australian team named to contest the 2011 World Orienteering Championships at Savoie Grand Revard, in France, from August 10^th-20^th, is as follows (in alphabetical order):

Women:

Grace Crane (Tas, based in UK) – sprint, middle, relay
Rachel Effeney (Qld) – sprint
Jasmine Neve (Vic) – middle, long, relay
Mace Neve (ACT) – sprint, relay reserve
Aislinn Prendergast (Vic) – long
Vanessa Round (SA) – middle, long, relay

Men:

Julian Dent (NSW) – sprint, middle, long, relay
Rob Preston (NSW) – middle, long, relay
Simon Uppill (SA) – sprint, middle, relay

Round 1 photo gallery

Ross Morrison, one of the organisers of the brilliant Sprint The Bay weekend (and 2010 Silva Superseries champion) has put together a great gallery of pics from this years STB, which doubled as the first of the three Silva Superseries rounds.

Check out the gallery

And also hot off the press...Sprint The Bay 2012 is confirmed to take place next year. As it has in the past two years, it is likely to be the first round of the Silva Superseries, the official confirmation of that, and the date, will happen later this year.

Countdown to the final races

With just eight days to go until the final Silva Superseries races, and 38 days until JWOC, some of the top juniors and elites in NZ are hitting high speed right about now. Over the weekend, Angela Simpson, 2010 series champion ran a 79 minute PB for a half-marathon; 2009 champion Lizzie Ingham picked up a 1st, 3rd and 6th place at the Australian WOC Selection races; Bryn Davies and Piret Klade placed top10 in the  Vosseler Shield x/c, and Gene Beveridge finished a solid week of training with a 5.4 hour day of circuits, running, cycling and orienteering. Will we see him riding off to the gym in the sunset after competing in the QB races, of which there are now confirmed to be two more, a sprint and a two-person relay, all part of the Silva Superseries?

More about the added races at info and entry .

Teams for Aus-NZ Test Match at QB weekend Silva Superseries final round

In conjunction with the final Silva Superseries racing at Woodhill, June 4-6, the first round of the 2011 Bushrangers V Pinestars Challenge will take place. Teams are as follows:

Oz Women's Team

Bridget Anderson (QLD)
Rachel Effeney (QLD)
Belinda Lawford (ACT)
Mace Neve (ACT)
Aislinn Prendergast (VIC)
Anna Sheldon (QLD)

NZ Women's Team

Amber Morrison Hawke’s Bay
Kate Morrison Hawke’s Bay
Laura Robertson O Hutt Valley
Angela Simpson OBay of Plenty
Rebecca Smith O Bay of Plenty
Georgia Whitla Peninsula & Plains

Oz Men's Team

Evan Barr (VIC)
Joshua Blatchford (NSW)
Lachlan Dow (ACT)
Rob Preston (NSW)
Murray Scown (ACT)
Simon Uppill (SA)
Reserve: Ben Rattray (SA)

NZ Men's Team

Michael Adams Peninsula & Plains
Darren Ashmore O Bay of Plenty
Ross Morrison Hawke’s Bay
Mathew Ogden North West
Thomas Reynolds North West
Toby Scott Auckland

Predictions: With 5 of the 6 NZ men living and training in Auckland, and 4 of the 6 selected for the JWOC and WOC teams this year, it looks highly likely that the men will prevail and repeat last years strong win. Although Oceania Champion Simon Uppill is keen to improve on his one win in the three races at last years Challenge it will be tough to manage even one win given the recent form of Toby Scott and Ross Morrison in particular, and the depth of the rest of the team, any of whom could win on their day. To have a better chance, Australia need to have sent their in-form number one Julian Dent to give the team much more depth to pick up points.

The women are facing a tougher challenge and it will be a closer match, as it was last year. The presence of three speedy juniors hitting top form before JWOC (Simpson, Robertson, Kate Morrison) should ensure a win or two, with the more experienced elites adding more wins and depth - but the Australian team has a similar feel about it (although the WOC team is yet to be announced) with the youngsters in particular a possibility to get close to a win.

Possibly the tightest racing of the weekend will be between the two juniors, Ogden &  Scott, who won two races of three last year, and the WOC reps Morrison, Adams who won't be hitting peak form for a month or so later.

But never, never write off an Australian team in any sport. And perhaps significantly, most Woodhill training sessions for the Aucklanders of late have been in the dark...

In any case, it will be a hugely valuable competition for the JWOC team-members prior to heading to Poland, regardless of terrain-type, with three days of intense competition. And for all elites entered. 

Getting to the top - novel trainings #1 and #2

Orienteering has changed a lot in the past twenty years. From a two-race World Champs - the Classic and the Relay - to the current four race format: Short, Middle and Long distance, and the Relay. Other formats have even been trialled, in the interests of media and spectators, but haven't stuck around.
There's one thing that hasn't changed much over those 20 years: training methods. The old mantra of spending as much time training 'specifically' in the forest with a map still holds, coupled with getting as much quality competition in your major race buildup. For elites in NZ, away from the Scandinavian strongholds of orienteering, it's always been a struggle to get in large volumes of specific training while studying or working, as well as saving to get across to Europe for the Worlds. It's no surprise that the top Worlds performances for a Kiwi male over all three distances have come from someone living in Europe full-time - Chris Forne.

But the current NZ-based elites are changing the training methods in their quest for the top. Look no further than Gene Beveridge and his Sprint Auckland Day for an example (#1) of revolutionary training. "Fit as many sprint races on different maps in one day as possible" turned out to be 15 maps/courses, some as little as 400m with 8 controls.
It was no coincidence that winner Toby Scott, holding off fast finishes from Duncan Morrison, Michael Adams and Matt Ogden, went on to take the National Sprint title a week later and qualify for the NZ team while still a junior.
This concept could be taken further - in fact the Sprint the Bay weekends of 2010 and 2011 have led the way. But imagine a Sprint Day during the school term where a school gets a visit from the top Kiwi elites - they say hi, run a course, and head off to the next school/race, and the school kids get to try and best the elite times...Schools get a map and a course, kids get to see the elites in action, our guys get a super-specific session, and two weeks later one of the elites wins at JWOC or WOC!

#2 on our list of innovations is the night-training, brainchild of Ross Morrison. With 4 days of Uni, and 3 days of work, he got a powerful headlamp and started some major-navigation training sessions at night, his only spare time. Watch for some sterling performances by Ross and other members of the dedicated group, in similar terrain but broad daylight, at the finale of the Silva Superseries over QB weekend!

And, if this innovative trend keeps up, it may be that these guys and girls are on the verge of dismantling the traditional barrier of distance away from the European stronghold, by getting as good a preparation forworld-class competition as is possible anywhere. Lets hope so!

The Sprint Auckland crew at the finish in Western Springs, pic courtesy of Tom Reynolds.

Orienteers who write...

It goes without saying that orienteers are pretty happy, and pretty good, at thinking hard, often while in severe oxygen debt. But there is also  a subset of deep-thinking fast-running orienteers who put pen to paper, whether its writing magazine stories or online blogs. If you want to read some of their in-depth race or training analyses, here are a few NZ links to get you started. Then there are the European links, and Attackpoint logs as well, but that's another post.


Junior Worlds representatives Duncan Morrison and Matt Ogden write a joint blog - "We hope to inform you of how our training is going, how we perform in races, what activities we are getting up to as well as sharing maps and photos from our "O" experiences."   the O-Men New Zealand

Former NZ Sprint champion, 2010 WOC representative and Long distance runner-up in 2010 and 2011 Nationals - Tom Reynolds - writes great detailed race analyses of his orienteering, running and mtb'ing adventures, and as a trainee doctor is also a keen sports scientist. Check out Tom Reynolds

Current Middle and Long distance National champion Ross Morrison has been blogging since he based himself in Europe for training. He hit form to win the JK sprint and the Danish park Tour series before appendicitis just before the Worlds curtailed his chances for a big result. He's now fitter than ever, in scintillating form with a map, and a pen...Ross Morrison Orienteering Blog

The National Squad blog has a lot of posts from National Sprint/Long distance champion Lizzie Ingham, and Tane Cambridge (although Lizzie's move to Canberra to do her PhD may mean less posts) NZ Orienteering Squad

Final races coming up...and more

The final SILVA Superseries races of 2011 will be happening over the Queens Birthday weekend in the steep, contour-rich sandhills of Woodhill forest. But in addition to the usual three days of superb racing put on by NorthWest and Auckland Orienteers, there are two more cool events in the planning.
"The Auckland JWOC’ers have decided to add a bit of spice to the QB program with a couple of afternoon events. These are planned to be part of the SuperSeries and the testMatch, but this is yet to be confirmed.

Saturday 4th – Sprint Race at Massey West, 3 courses. Men elite run course 1, Women elite course 2.
Sunday 5th – Mixed Two Person Relay at Mushroom rd, 2 courses, Mens and Womens. For teams to be entered in the official superseries grade they will need to have one male and one female. Otherwise there will be an unofficial grade for unmixed teams, and another unofficial grade for non-relay runners (they will run the womens course). Women will mass start and 5 mins after unofficial mass start. Men 4.3km, Women 3.3km." Link to the Royal Orienteering Carnival website  for more info

Introducing the SILVA Superseries blog...

New Zealand Orienteerings' top-level competition, the SILVA Superseries, features the best, smartest and fittest orienteers in New Zealand. On these pages we plan to bring you some of their stories, their setbacks and their successes, as each years series plays out. And, of course, results, maps, and photos from the events.