Bet against Hawke's Bay's Amber Morrison winning the elite women's title at this weekend's national orienteering championships in the Bay at your peril.
A two-time New Zealand senior rep at world championship level and one-time New Zealand junior world championship rep, Havelock North's Morrison will be competing in her first nationals since 2013. For this reason she isn't putting any extra pressure on herself to deliver a third overall title.
"You always race to win but I've been out of it for so long," Morrison, 30, said in an attempt to brush of the favourite's tag.
Morrison will be one of 500 starters in the four-day champs which begin with a sprint course in the Hastings central city area from 2pm today, but Morrison is only concerned with the 14 others in her division. She expects Nelson's Georgia Whitla to be her main rival.
"I had a bit of a break from orienteering because of some back surgery in 2015. I've also been doing more triathlons and last November I qualified for the world age-group triathlon championships but didn't go," said Morrison, who first competed in orienteering as a 7-year-old.