The final race of the New Zealand World Cup program saw Swedish star Tove Alexandersson start first in the chasing start and successfully defend her lead to win by 83 seconds.  This was Tove’s second gold medal of the carnival, as she was victorious in the sprint also.   Anne-Margre Hausken Nordberg (Norway) started in third position but managed to pass Minna Kauppi, who held on for third.   Minna had been unable to race the earlier events due to flu and this open hilly farmland terrain was especially difficult physically.

Grace Crane was the best Aussie today, finishing 18^th.   This gave Grace three top twenty results, with her 16^thand 18^th in the other races.   Kathryn Preston had her best race of the carnival moving through the field to finish 28^th overall.   Felicity Brown, who is now based in Sweden, placed 30^th today to complement her excellent 28^th in the sprint.  World Cup points go to the top 40 placegetters, so it was tremendous to see Aislinn Prendergast (32^nd) and Anna Sheldon (35^th) make it 5 of the Aussie women on the scoreboard.   Kiwi Lizzie Ingham continued her good form to place 8^th.

The men’s race saw more changes in places during the event.    Jerker Lysell (Sweden) and Olav Lundares (Norway) started in 4^th and 3^rd respectively and passed those ahead of them mid race.  Jerker was confident that he could win a sprint and so it was – he took the lead at the last control to win by 5 seconds.  Peter Oberg, after going out first, had to settle for the bronze medal.

Julian Dent had placed a disappointing 53^rd in the prologue, and given that the afternoon race was only 6 kilometres it was going to be difficult for him to place highly.  However he gave it a great shot passing 17 runners on course and moved up to 36^th at the finish.   Simon Uppill maintained his 38^thplace from the morning, thus giving us two men in the World Cup points.  Rob Preston was the other Aussie who made up ground in the afternoon race, going from 60^th to 52^nd, to be the third Aussie home.

That concludes the World Cup and Oceania Carnival – a huge undertaking completed successfully by the Kiwi organisers.  Some of the runners will still remain in New Zealand to run in the Sprint the Bay 5 race program near Hawke’s Bay.

Pos         Pace      Name                    Country                Time      Difference    Prologue

1              7.86        Tove Alexandersson       SWE       37:09     +0:00                     1

2              8.16        A-M Hausken Nordberg        NOR       38:32     +1:23                     3

3              8.23        Minna Kauppi                    FIN         38:52     +1:43                     2

4              8.32        Tatyana Riabkina              RUS        39:18     +2:09                     8

5              8.36        Lena Eliasson                     SWE       39:29     +2:20                     4

6              8.52        Ida Bobach                          DEN       40:16     +3:07                     5

8              8.83        Lizzie Ingham                     NZL        41:43     +4:34                     6

18           9.82        Grace Crane                       AUS       46:24     +9:15                     13

25           10.77     Amber Morrison              NZL        50:54     +13:45                   27

27           10.90     Lara Prince                          NZL        51:30     +14:21                   28

28           11.15     Kathryn Preston               AUS       52:42     +15:33                   33

29           11.19     Rachel Smith                      NZL        52:53     +15:44

30           11.21     Felicity Brown                   AUS       52:59     +15:50                   26

32           11.58     Aislinn Prendergast        AUS       54:43     +17:34                   32

35           11.89     Anna Sheldon                   AUS       56:10     +19:01                   37

36           12.22     Laura Robertson               NZL        57:43     +20:34

38           12.55     Imogene Scott                  NZL        59:17     +22:08

40           12.81     Greta Knarston                 NZL        60:32     +23:23

41           12.99     Jasmine Neve                   AUS       61:22     +24:13                   40          

42           13.79     Mace Neve                         AUS       65:10     +28:01                   44

43           13.94     Susanne Casanova          AUS       65:52     +28:43                   50

44           14.35     Heather Muir                    AUS       67:48     +30:39                   47

45           14.47     Georgia Whitla                  NZL        68:22     +31:13

46           15.10     Bridget Anderson            AUS       71:20     +34:11                   51

47           15.86     Cosette Saville                  NZL        74:56     +37:47

48           16.06     Tessa Ramsden                 NZL        75:53     +38:44

Pos         Pace      Name                           Country         Time      Difference          Prologue

1              6.67        Jerker Lysell                       SWE       40:33     +0:00                     4

2              6.69        Olav Lundanes                  NOR       40:38     +0:05                     3

3              6.79        Peter Oberg                       SWE       41:14     +0:41                     1

4              7.21        Matthias Merz                  SUI         43:49     +3:16                     5

5              7.23        Fabian Hertner                  SUI         43:54     +3:21                     2

6              7.24        Gernot Kerschbaumer   AUT       43:59     +3:26                     27

27           7.95        Matthew Crane                   GBR       48:19     +7:46                     16

31           8.07        Tim Robertson                  NZL        49:03     +8:30                     22

32           8.09        Tane Cambridge               NZL        49:08     +8:35

34           8.23        Ross Morrison                   NZL        50:01     +9:28

36           8.32        Julian Dent                         AUS       50:31     +9:58                     53

38           8.46        Simon Uppill                     AUS       51:23     +10:50                   38

43           8.85        Gene Beveridge                 NZL        53:46     +13:13

45           9.24        Thomas Reynolds            NZL        56:07     +15:34

46           9.25        Matt Ogden                       NZL        56:11     +15:38

47           9.26        Bryn Davies                        NZL        56:14     +15:41

49           9.36        Toby Scott                           NZL        56:53     +16:20

50           9.63        James Bradshaw              NZL        58:30     +17:57

52           9.77        Rob Preston                       AUS       59:22     +18:49                   60

53           9.99        Oliver Poland                    AUS       60:43     +20:10                  47

55           10.25     Christopher Naunton     AUS       62:16     +21:43                  61

56           10.61     Ian Lawford                        AUS       64:28     +23:55                  58

57           10.76     Joshua Blatchford            AUS       65:22     +24:49                  62

58           10.88     Lachlan Dow                      AUS       66:04     +25:31                  48

59           11.26     Bruce Arthur                      AUS       68:25     +27:52                  63

0              DNF       Oscar McNulty                  AUS