Checking out NZ at the World Games

Ross 10th. How good is that? We have to go back to 1994 when Alistair Landels won a World Cup in Auckland (NZ's first and only world level orienteering race), and before that Katie Fettes 10th at WOC in 1990ish to see a kiwi in the top ten at an international race. It has been a long time coming. I am sure we won't have as long to wait before it happens again.

Overall the team performed outstandingly. They showed maturity in running the races they were capable of. They didn't throw the dice like we are sometimes prone to doing when confronted with the worlds best, but instead did their best. Awesome!

Having had a brief chat to Lizzie it sounded like a great event and an experience she will value hugely. I'm sure we may hear more from her on this ;-). I have borrowed a map from Oystein Kvall Osterbo and as you can see the orienteering is reasonably straight forward, nothing different from what you might encounter from your local park race. But how fast can you do it?

Maybe we are seeing the democratisation of orienteering, a move away from the technical forests that advantage the few countries with large amounts of these landscapes? Up the speed and visibility, increase the tension, take away some of the technical challenge?

But yeah, check back here soon for some more inside reports...