A record number of competitors
contested the Sprint the Bay orienteering series in Hawkes Bay New Zealand last
weekend with Australians Rachel Effeney and Matthew Parton taking out 1st
and 3rd respectively in the elite categories. The series took place
over the Waitangi long weekend with 2 sprint races each day (6 in total) with
the winners determined through cumulative time for the series.
Stage 1 was a mass start race
that took place around a school, a cemetery and some parkland and would
determine the pecking order for the weekend. The racing was fierce as it soon
became apparent that some levels of ‘physicality’ were acceptable in getting to
a punch first and those runners at the front of each field were able to put
valuable seconds between themselves and those further down in the train by
getting in early on the first few controls. Rachel Effeney was one of those to
punch first early and in a sprint finish managed to shade Lizzie Ingham by 2
seconds to gain the yellow leaders singlet for the first race. In the elite
men’s race Tim Robertson won on the line to get hold of the leaders jersey
which he would hold until Stage 5. Bryan Keely was the best of the Australian
men in the Stage placing 5th, 4 seconds behind the leaders with
Hanny Allston scraping into the top 6 in the women’s elite race.
 |
| Winners of the various jerseys |
Stages 2-4 were all urban
sprints with reverse chasing starts (leaders starting last) and the competition
through these races was super tight. Oscar McNulty scored 2 impressive stage
victories at Napier Central in Stage 2 and Frimley in Stage 4 to move into
second overall at this point, just 11 seconds behind Tim Robertson in the
competition for the outright series lead. Stage 4 also saw the only Australian
trifecta of the weekend with Matthew Parton and Lachlan Dow rounding out the
top three which enabled them to move up into 6th and 7th
overall, with Bryan Keely also running well into 5th place for the
stage. Rachel Effeney was dominant through these races placing 1st
in every one and with some big winning margins was able to take her lead to 1
minute 41 seconds by the end of Stage 4.
 |
| Bryan Keely gets air |
Stage 5 was the only forest
sprint of the series and as expected had a huge impact on the overall result.
For the first time Rachel and Tim both lost their leaders jerseys dropping back
to 2nd and 4th overall. Toby Scott won the elite men’s
race by a massive 35 seconds to leapfrog from 5th into 1st
overall and Angela Simpson moved from 2nd into 1st
overall with her stage win. Of the Australians, Matthew Parton was fortunately
placed in the start list to take advantage of Toby’s phenomenal run and after
being caught 1 minute midway through the course managed to hold on for the 3rd
fastest time of the day. Lachlan Dow’s 6th place enabled him to hold
onto 6th overall.
Stage 6 took place on the
Arataki map which comprised two schools separated by an oval with every course
having two loops each with each loop running through both schools. To make more
interesting head-to-head racing, starts were in pairs for this race with each
competitor completing one loop first and their starting partner completing the
other, before swapping. As a result of this Rachel Effeney and Angela Simpson
were the last pair to start in the women’s race and since only 9 seconds
separated them the winner of this race could well win the series. Rachel, who
needed to catch the 9 seconds, had a good race and came into the finish chute a
few seconds ahead and with a big crowd screaming it was clear it was going to
be a nail-biter. Unfortunately, as the dust settled it became apparent that
Angela had missed a control and so was marked as a miss-punch, although Rachel
had done enough to take the lead away from her anyway.
 |
| Aislinn Prendergast |
The final
standings for the elite women were: 1st Rachel Effeney, 2nd
Lizzie Ingham, 3rd Kate Morrison. The men’s race was less wide open
with big gaps separating the top 6 which meant that a mix-up in the results was
unlikely based on Stage 6 racing. Despite this Matthew Parton appeared to do
his best to cede his 3rd position and after starting the race with a
35 second buffer to Tim Robertson in 4th only held on by a meagre 6
seconds at the end of what he described as a sloppy race on tired legs. Lachlan
Dow was the best placed of the Australian men on the stage in 5th
which meant that he retained 6th place in a super competitive field.
The overall results in the elite men’s division were: 1st Toby
Scott, 2nd Tom Reynolds, 3rd Matthew Parton.
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| Women's podium- First Rachel Effeney (AUS, Queensland Cyclones), 2nd Lizzie Ingham, (NZ and Canberra Cockatoos), 3rd Kate Morrison (NZ) |
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| Men's podium- 1st Toby Scott (NZ), 2nd Tom Reynolds (NZ), 3rd Matt Parton (AUS and NSW Stingers) |
A great video teaser of what Sprint the bay is all about.
For full results and splits go
to
(Aussies in Red)
| 1 | 1:34:35 | |
| 2 | 1:35:53 | |
| 3 | 1:36:36 | |
| 4 | 1:36:42 | |
| 5 | 1:37:00 | |
| 6 | 1:37:31 | |
| 7 | 1:39:30 | |
| 8 | 1:40:00 | |
| 9 | 1:40:23 | |
| 10 | 1:40:41 | |
| 11 | 1:40:58 | |
| 12 | 1:41:34 | |
| 13 | 1:41:45 | |
| 14 | 1:42:16 | |
| 15 | 1:42:25 | |
| 16 | 1:43:49 | |
| 17 | 1:44:26 | |
| 18 | 1:47:57 | |
| 19 | 1:48:56 | |
| 20 | 1:50:22 | |
| 21 | 1:50:56 | |
| 22 | 1:51:10 | |
| 23 | 1:55:29 | |
| 24 | 1:56:21 | |
| 25 | 1:59:19 | |
| 26 | 2:02:12 | |
| 27 | 2:02:45 | |
| 28 | 2:06:44 | |
| 29 | 2:07:57 | |
| 30 | 2:11:46 | |
| 31 | 2:17:57 | |
| 32 | 2:24:27 | |
| 33 | 2:25:19 | |
| 34 | 2:29:12 | |
| 35 | 2:29:29 | |
| 1 | 1:32:56 | |
| 2 | 1:34:11 | |
| 3 | 1:38:04 | |
| 4 | 1:38:26 | |
| 5 | 1:40:06 | |
| 6 | 1:41:34 | |
| 7 | 1:42:58 | |
| 8 | 1:48:23 | |
| 9 | 1:50:28 | |
| 10 | 1:50:43 | |
| 11 | 1:52:19 | |
| 12 | 1:54:11 | |
| 12 | 1:54:11 | |
| 14 | 1:58:29 | |
| 15 | 2:00:27 | |
| 16 | 2:00:30 | |
| 17 | 2:02:15 | |
| 18 | 2:03:00 | |
| 19 | 2:03:49 | |
| 20 | 2:04:31 | |
| 21 | 2:05:21 | |
| 22 | 2:06:42 | |
| 23 | 2:11:05 | |
| 24 | 2:11:31 | |
| 25 | 2:13:11 | |
| 26 | 2:15:12 | |
| 27 | 2:20:04 | |
| 28 | 2:31:40 | |
| 29 | 2:55:28 | |
Thanks to Sprint the Bay organisers for the photos, and Matt Parton for words of wisdom
