The 2nd Bushrangers-Pinestars Test was held today near Auckland, and Team Coach Tom Quayle reports on the action.

The day’s racing included two Middle distance races, with the 2nd a chasing start – only the first race counted as a Test match.

Orla Murray was impressive today, orienteering well in very difficult terrain to take a deserved 3rd this morning and 2nd place overall. Kathryn Ewels (8th) has been very consistent over all the races so far and seeems to have her head in gear. Kirsten Fairfax (12th) has been solid, but has struggled a little in the more  difficult terrain. Briohny Davey has had some good results this weekend but was disappointed with herself to make a big error this morning and finished 15th. She came back well with a good run in the afternoon to come 13th overall.

Bruce Arthur (9th this morning) handled the difficult terrain very well. Rob Preston has been running well but made a mistake in the second race today and was  a little disappointed to finish a bit down – although he ran well in the morning (4th) which was the one that counted. Peter Preston (18th this morning) has had problems with a recurring shin injury, while Dave Meyer took the wrong map and so was disqualified.

Full results for today and previous days can be found here.

All maps have been very good, with the warm-up “zoo sprint” on friday the standout area. The team is a little bit tired, but looking forward to the challenge of tomorrow’s classic race in what’s going to be some pretty tough terrain.

Tom Quayle
Bushranger’s Coach