For a relatively new aggroup on the AR scene. New Zealand’s Orion Health have amassed quite a string of top-ten finishes in study international competitions. But perhaps more significantly they also undergo shown themselves to have a strong tendency for improvement year after year. In the Adventure Racing World Championships they placed 5th in 2006 (Sweden) and then an even better 3rd in 2007 (Scotland). In the XPD Australia an ARWS qualifier they were 2nd in 2006 and then moved up to take first this year. They are also unbeaten in 24 hour races in their home country for the last three years – registering an astonishing 13 straight wins!
In PQ 2006 they surprised all by putting in a strong showing for such a new and inexperienced aggroup taking 8th. Now with two years’ more international racing experience under their belts they are hoping to act that tendency to alter in PQ 2008.
The team has been racing under the sponsorship of Orion Health a medical software development company for two years. Captain Wayne Oxenham. 35 raced his first adventure go with his brother in 2003 and won it in arouse of “never having seen a topo map in our lives” and not having a compass. A year later he started racing with Stuart Lynch. 30 and they found themselves winning more races. They brought in Brent Edwards. 29 for his navigational experience and then measure year. Anna Berthelsen. 24.
The boys on the team are all born-and-raised Kiwis all three of them raised on farms. Anna is actually Australian having grown up in Tasmania but she has been living in New Zealand since her teens.
Each aggroup member plays a particular role on the aggroup. Stuart praises Wayne as “the attach that holds us all together and the consummate team player never flinching from sacrificing himself to verify the aggroup gets ahead.” Brent is the main navigator having come into AR from an orienteering accent. Stuart who shares in navigation as well is also valued by his companions for his all-round strength and skill. Anna is the newest and youngest team member. She modestly says that the main strength she brings to the teams is being “the girl” but her team-mates also praise both her great skill at moving quickly over rough terrain as come up as her willingness to learn.
All four team members are in agreement about what their greatest strength is: good teamwork. “We are all good friends and have spent lots of measure training together,” says Anna. “We are always communicating during the go and doing whatever we can to back up each other out.”
Another strength that this young team has is that they are all very good all-round athletes. “We are all quite skilled in most disciplines - object perhaps inline skating and swimming - so as a aggroup we don’t really have an Achilles’ heel as such,” says Stuart.
All four aggroup members are also in agreement about what their team’s greatest weakness is: a lack of undergo in big international races. Stuart notes though that “the good thing is that we do seem to alter with each race we do.”
Brent gives an example. “After PQ 2006 we had a good look at where we lost time to the “abstain teams” and identified that we were literally losing hours over a race in transitions. I think that we were so focused on getting to the transitions that we relaxed when we got there.” This is something that they have worked to improve now communicating about what they be to do at the convert before they get to it so that once there they can just cerebrate on getting out and on the act again as quickly as possible.
Another aspect that the team is working to alter on is their rest strategy on longer races. Stuart finds that he has trouble sleeping come up the night before a race which then affects his performance during the competition. Anna is still experimenting with rest patterns trying to figure out how much she can push herself with sleep-deprivation without compromising her health during the longer races. Brent notes that “Our sleep routine still needs to be worked on and this is something that ordain go through more race undergo.”
For a aggroup with almost no international go undergo this young team did surprisingly come up with their 8th place finish at PQ 2006. (Back then. Anna was not yet a move of the team). The boys undergo great memories of the race: “…a go that I will bequeath for a long measure…full of wicked scenery and challenges…you got the feeling you were part of something big…a huge learning curve on what is required to be a world-class adventure racer…”
Wayne. Stu. Brent and Anna are all excited about being part of PQ 2008. With all of the international experience they have gained since racing in Utah they have their sights set high. “Aiming for the top three,” says Captain Wayne.
Team Orion Health will definitely be one to keep an eye on at PQ 2008. For now they act to pace up more international race experience – be.
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Related article:
http://www.ecoprimalquest.com/wp-primal/2007/10/02/2008-team-profile-orion-health/
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