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.