Sprint the Bay Update

Current Men's Elite Leader,
Tim Robertson NZL

Tonight at 21.30 (CET), the first start Stage 5 of Sprint the Bay 2012 will be streaming live webcam and results from New Zealand (this page). There were unfortunately some technical issues with sound and live results in the first 2 stages, but things are working well now (although Stage 5 could be problematic with internet reception due to geographical location - we have to wait and see). There have been some impressive and surprising results at this year's Sprint the Bay, especially from the younger generations. Tim Robertson (NZL) and Rachel Effeney (AUS) are the current leaders after Stage 4 at Frimley. The very unique sprint terrain at Stage 5's Sleeping Giant map on Te Mata Peak in Havelock North could see some interesting changes in the overall leads and sub-competitions. See maps from the first 4 Stages here. See the terrain for Stage 5 here:

Oscar McNulty (AUS)
2nd overall, current
White Singlet Wearer

Tane Camebridge (NZL)
3rd overall in Men's
Elite Competition

NZ M20 sprint champion Tim Robertson has unleashed his super-form on the NZ elites and has dominated STB 2012 so far, by holding onto the Yellow Singlet for the whole competition. However, some mistakes in Stage 4 has seen him fall to an 11 second overall lead from Australian junior runner Oscar McNulty, the current White Singlet wearer. Top NZ sprinter Tane Camebridge has also been showing he has what it takes for the overall win, by drawing for first equal with Tim on both Stage 1 and Stage 3. The Green 'Sprint Leg' Singlet and Polka Dot 'Hill Climb' Singlet are being directly targeted by the current wearers Ryan Batin and Paul Jensen respectively.

Current Women's Elite
leader Rachel Effeney (AUS)

In the Women's competition, one runner in particular has completely outshone the entire field. Rachel Effeney from Australia has shown that she's been training very hard since her WOC debut in the sprint in France last year (35th place), by winning outright on all 4 stages so far! The next closest contenders are NZ's National team members Angela Simpson, 1min 40sec behind overall, and  Lizzie Ingham, 2min 14sec down. Lizzie and Angela have both been waiting for Stage 5 to make their big move, and they are confident that the massive hills and technical courses will give them the chance they need to get to the top of the leader-board. Rachel has shown great speed so far, winning the majority of the splits (see links to all winsplits here) but does she have the legs for the big hills of the Sleeping Giant?
See total standings in all competitions after Stage 4 here.

Below is a short clip from the livestream at the business end of Stage 4 at Frimley:

After Sleeping Giant, the STB competitors will duel it out in the final stage at the brand new Arataki map. Stage 6 will be streaming live at 2.00am (CET) on Monday morning. See a terrain sample here:

Live Streaming Mass Start sprints this Friday (3rd Feb) from 22.30 (CET)

There will be live video, commentary and results at this year's Dirty D Sprint the Bay in New Zealand. The first Stage of the 6 sprint races over the weekend will be the first ever mass start sprint race on such a scale in New Zealand. There will be 60 starters in the Men's Elite grade. This is perfect for spectators (both at the event and on the web in our LIVE CENTRE), since the winning times for each of the four courses are 12-16min. Viewers can enjoy a presentation that is jam-packed with sprint orienteering action.


This year's STB is part of the 2012 New Zealand Elite series.

Hanny Allston, WOC 2006

Lizzie Ingham, WOC 2011

Angela Simpson, JWOC 2011

Carsten Jørgensen, WOC 2006

In the Women's Elite competition we have a stunning field. Hanny Allston (WOC Sprint gold-medallist, 2006) is back from a long break in competitive orienteering, but rumour has it she is still as fast as ever. Our home-grown Kiwi stars will be challenging her for the Yellow Singlet (yes that's right! - Our event mimics the Tour de France system for added entertainment - with yellow, green, polka-dot and white singlet's for various sub-competitions leaders in the elite classes). Lizzie Ingham displayed her super-from at WOC last year in France. She was 11th in the Sprint, 13th in the Long and 18th in the Middle, all extremely good results from a physically and technically demanding week! The other major contender for the Yellow Singlet STB 2011 winner Angela Simpson. Angela has produced some amazing results in the last years, she was 6th place in the WUOC sprint in Borlänge, Sweden in 2010 and an outstanding 6th place in the JWOC Sprint in Poland last year.

Chris Forne, WOC 2010

The Men's Elite field will also show some very tight competition. New Zealand's star male orienteer Chris Forne has finally returned to New Zealand after living in Trondheim for the last few years. Chris has  had several top 20 results at WOC in recent years. World famous 'old man', Carsten Jørgensen has entered for STB this year. Carsten has had several top results in his long and illustrious career as an elite orienteer including an individual WOC bronze in Germany in 1995, and a WOC gold in the Danish relay team in Norway, 1997. Carsten is a famed runner in Denmark (and Europe in general), and despite his 'special running style' and 'inevitable ageing defect' he still puts 99% of NZ elite orienteers to shame with his super-steam-train-speed. Many up and coming NZ juniors and first year seniors are extremely stirred by Chris Forne's return, and will be chomping at the bit to show him what's changed in NZ orienteering since his absence, and take him down. There will be a large Australian presence at STB 2012 who will no-doubt be top Yellow Singlet contenders, and also entrants from as far as Switzerland and Finland!

So, make sure you get in on the action - if you're in Europe enjoying the long winter, watching STB 2012 is bound keep your orienteering hunger at bay for a little while longer :)

Watch the races here:  http://www.sprintthebay.org/live/livecentreinfo.html 

The times for Live-Streaming of the races in the LIVE CENTRE of our event website for different time zones are as follows:

STAGE	Stockholm (CET)	Helsinki (EET)	Los Angeles (PST)	Melbourne (EDT)	Auckland (NZDT)
Stage 1 Course 4 Course 3 Course 2 Course 1	3rd Feb 10.30pm 10.40pm 11.00pm 11.30pm	3rd Feb 11.30pm 11.40 pm 12.00am 12.30am	3rd Feb 1.30pm 1.40pm 2.00pm 2.30pm	4th Feb 8.30am 8.40am 9.00am 9.30am	4th Feb 10.30am 10.40am 11.00am 11.30am
Stage 2 First Start	4th Feb 5.30am	4th Feb 6.30am	3rd Feb 8.30pm	4th Feb 3.30pm	4th Feb 5.30pm
Stage 3 First Start	4th Feb 9.30pm	4th Feb 10.30pm	4th Feb 12.30pm	5th Feb 7.30am	5th Feb 9.30am
Stage 4 First Start	5th Feb 5.00am	5th Feb 6.00am	4th Feb 8.00pm	5th Feb 3.00pm	5th Feb 5.00pm
Stage 5 First Start	5th Feb 9.30pm	5th Feb 10.30pm	5th Feb 12.30pm	6th Feb 7.30am	6th Feb 9.30am
Stage 6 First Start	6th Feb 2.00am	6th Feb 3.00am	5th Feb 5.00pm	6th Feb 12.00pm	6th Feb 2.00pm

There will be 6 sprint races over 3 days in sunny Hawkes Bay's sweltering New Zealand summer. The tour singlets for the elite classes which are decided after the first stage and can change after each new stage are as follows:

Dirty D Yellow Singlet: For the overall leader - based on combined times for all Stages.


O-LYNX White Singlet:  For the overall leader that is a junior runner running in the elite competition - based on combined times for all Stages. 


Copy Plus Green Singlet: Worn by the leader of the 'Sprint-Leg' points table. There are 1 to many designated Sprint Leg's assigned to each course (marked on control descriptions and in the terrain), the times for each leg are ranked and given a set of points.

Noel Leeming Polka-Dot Singlet:  Worn by the leader of the 'Hill-Climb Leg' points table. There are 0 to many designated Sprint Leg's assigned to each course (marked on control descriptions and in the terrain), the times for each leg are ranked and given a set of points. The points allocated for the hill climb leg differ depending on it's physical difficulty.

Here are some map snippets for each stage:

 For further STB details, download the event programme or check out our event website.


Sprint the Bay in 2013 will be held in January directly after the last World Cup race in New Zealand. We expect a big turn out with a lot of international stars. We plan to try and bring an amateur TV production with HD coverage of the events live to the internet.

Please like our Sprint the Bay Facebook page.