Robertson Gets First Win

Tim Roberston has claimed his first STB 2014 win and in turn the yellow singlet at Stage 3 - Sacred Girls. In the terrain that Matt Ogden labelled as the best in NZ, Roberston held off all other challenges with an 18 second win over Ogden. This means that Robertson now has an 11 second lead in the overall competition. 

In the women's competition Greta Knarston showed her class again with an one minute plus victory over Alice Tilley. Kayla Fairburn rounded out the top 3.

Expect faster running at Stage 4 Hereworth this afternoon but mistakes still will be made and time will be lost. 

Knarston and Ogden win Stage 1

Yellow goes to Matt Ogden and Greta Knartson after Stage One at EIT. Both competitors had a great start to stb with fairly clean runs in the technically demanding terrain. This will be the first time either wear an STB yellow singlet. Second spot in the men's race went to Tim Robertson only 2 seconds behind Ogden with Jula McMillan taking second place in the women's 1.01 behind Knarston. Winsplits will be up shortly.

Ogden Does It Again

Matt Ogden is now two from two after another strong performance to win the Sprint the Bay knock out stage. Ogden once again was closely followed by Tim Robertson, just 5 seconds behind. Robertson and Ogden lead out early establishing a half minute lead before the first knock out section. Both runners showed that they were the all-round sprint orienteering package, mastering the fast open sections as well as the technical building areas.Third place was taken by Ogden's club mate Gene Beveridge with a well paced race to finish strongly, picking up two places in the last three controls. The women's field was spiced up a tad with the late inclusion of Amber Morrison to give this mornings winner Greta Knarston a work out. Knarston and Morrison, much like Ogden and Robertson, ran the most part of the course together until taking separate route choices on the second last control. Morrison picked the quicker route and powered home for a 5 second win over Knarston. Third spot was brought home by Czech runner Vendula Horicickova who adds another podium finish to her tally for the weekend, albeit 1.27 off the winning time. Tomorrow mornings racing sees competitors put to the test on the tricky school campuses of Napier Girls High School and Sacred Heart College. This will be a test for all runners, where a totally clean run will be a great achievement.

Sprint The Bay 2014 - O-Lynx Live TV with Results

O-Lynx and STB are stepping it up once again this year. Our live-stream from each stage will consist of 2-3 TV cameras from out in the terrain with an overlay of competitors times as they punch coupled with event commentary. This will provide extra spectator value with our big-screen's at the event and for online followers who didn't manage to make it to STB this year, via live-stream.

So if you want a bit of free orienteering entertainment - tune in!

Event times in Eastern Standard Time (note: NZ is 18 hours ahead of EST):
6th February (7th in NZ)
Stage 1 - EIT: 4.30pm (EST)
Stage 2 - Tamatea: 11.30pm
7th February (8th in NZ)
Stage 3 - Sacred Girls: 3.30pm
Stage 4 - Hereworth: 11.00pm
8th February (9th in NZ)
Stage 5 - Hikanui: 3.00pm
Stage 6 - Kopanga Ride: 8.00pm

Separate live results at http://o-lynxlive.com/

See our website for more info:
www.sprintthebay.org

Final Bulletin Out Now! Still Time to Order.

The bulletin has been released on the website. Just go to the home page and click the 2014 Bulletin link. If you like the look of it and want a commercially printed bulletin there is still time to order one (before midday today). Just fill out the order form here.

Start List Out Now

The start list for Stage 1 EIT is now available right here. The bulletin for all stages will be released some time later today so stay tuned for that update! It's still not too late to order a bulletin, just go to this order form before midnight.

Model Event and Registration

Once again STB will be holding a model event the night before competition proper begins. This year the registration and model event will be based from Icons Restaurant in Havelock North (same location as Stage 6, 2013). Here you can enjoy a free model map, order dinner or a drink in the garden bar, fix any entry issues and get in that most important pre race banter with other competitors. The model and registration will be open 6pm-8pm on Thursday 6th February 2014.

Duelling Dual, Knock Out, Reverse and Chasing Starts!

If you were after variation look no further than STB 2014. We are mixing up the way we arrange the start draw this year to keep things fresh. Here is a quick overview of how things will work, with more details to come in the bulletin. 

Stage 1- EIT "Duelling Dual": this start will involve two people from the same grade starting together. The course will be a pivot based loops race with a common last loop. 

Stage 2 - Tamatea "Knock Out": After all other grades have finished get ready to see some fast and furious elite orienteering action! For elite grades only, we will be holding STB's first knock out race! It will work a little different to the usual knock out races due to time constraints. Competitors will be mass started from the event centre. After around 8 minutes of racing the field will come through the event centre for a map change. At this point the first half of the field will get there second map. If you aren't fast enough to make the cut then unfortunately your race ends there! Then, after a further 4-5 minutes there will be another map change and another cull of the field. Once again you need to make sure you are in the right half of the field if you want to win the stage! From there its just 3-4 minutes back to the finish. All competitors will get an official time for this stage. Runners who make the final cut will get their actual time and those in the second and third cuts will be given a time relative to their deficit when they are knocked out. For example: A.Runner is knocked out in the second cut. He was 32 seconds behind making the final loop. His time is then calculated as the last place in the final plus 32 seconds. 

Stage 5 - Hikanui "Reverse Start": Usual STB stages start with the leader of each grade starting last. For this stage though we will mix it up - The leader of each grade will start first. This will also be one of the toughest STB stages so watch out for some big changes in the results! 

Stage 6 - Kopanga Ride "Chasing Start": For elite grades only we will have a chasing start based off the overall standings. The bulletin will be released on Tuesday 4th February with key race information within.