For a relatively new team on the AR scene, New Zealand’s Orion Health have amassed quite a string of top-ten finishes in major international competitions. But, perhaps more significantly, they also have 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 team, taking 8th. Now, with two years’ more international racing experience under their belts, they are hoping to continue that tendency to improve 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 race with his brother in 2003, and won it, in spite 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, last 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 team member plays a particular role on the team. Stuart praises Wayne as “the glue that holds us all together, and the consummate team player, never flinching from sacrificing himself to ensure the team gets ahead.” Brent is the main navigator, having come into AR from an orienteering background. 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 well 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 time training together,” says Anna. “We are always communicating during the race, and doing whatever we can to help 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 - except perhaps inline skating and swimming - so as a team we don’t really have an Achilles’ heel as such,” says Stuart.

All four team members are also in agreement about what their team’s greatest weakness is: a lack of experience in big international races. Stuart notes, though, that “the good thing is that we do seem to improve with each race we do.”

Brent gives an example. “After PQ 2006, we had a good look at where we lost time to the “fast 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 need to do at the transition before they get to it so that, once there, they can just focus on getting out and on the move again as quickly as possible.

Another aspect that the team is working to improve on is their sleep strategy on longer races. Stuart finds that he has trouble sleeping well the night before a race, which then affects his performance during the competition. Anna is still experimenting with sleep 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 will come through more race experience.”

For a team with almost no international race experience, this young team did surprisingly well with their 8th place finish at PQ 2006. (Back then, Anna was not yet a part of the team). The boys have great memories of the race: “…a race that I will remember for a long time…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.

“We are a much improved team from PQ 2006,” adds Brent.

Team Orion Health will definitely be one to keep an eye on at PQ 2008. For now, they continue to rack up more international race experience – look out for them at ARWS Championship race Ecomotion Pro in Brazil this month, and at the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge in December.

Photo provided by Team Orion Health

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 6:39 pm and is filed under Interview, News, Teams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.