Heat on for sparring partners

Beijing has never looked so far.
Two days spent ducking and weaving in the waves off Mount Maunganui have confirmed what New Zealand's "forgotten" 470 yachties suspected - their goal of qualifying for next year's Olympics is still an ocean away.
Geoff Woolley and Mark Overington, who have dominated national 470 racing for several years, have been in Tauranga duelling with Peter Burling and Carl Evans.
The crews are locked in a desperate battle to first qualify New Zealand in the 470 class for the Olympics, and then win the solitary spot up for grabs in Beijing.
It's a scenario akin to being bashed by your kid brother - Burling has been in a 470 for just nine months but already he and Evans have bagged 6th at the European championships.
It was a remarkable achievement, forcing Yachting New Zealand to add them to the Olympic squad and fly them to Beijing for a first-hand look at the Quingdao course.
Searching for signs of lingering resentment is fruitless but you wonder how Woolley and Overington are feeling at being ambushed by hotshot teens. It'd be easy to dismiss Burling and Evans as the pesky new kids on the block ... if they weren't so damned good.
Burling and Aucklander Evans have a big two months ahead as racing intensifies in the countdown to January's world championships in Melbourne, their last chance of qualifying the 470 for Beijing.
But Woolley and Overington have a message for the Olympic selectors ahead of the worlds - "we're not out of it yet".
"This [training in Tauranga] has been invaluable, sailing with the other top crew in New Zealand, and while it's great to see Peter and Carl developing as a 470 combination, it's slightly on the annoying side too because they're just kids and they're beating us," Overington said.
Neither crew qualified New Zealand for the Olympic 470 class at the 2007 world championships in Portugal. Burling and Evans just missed and their 23-year-old Auckland rivals were well off the pace.
"Everything for us is geared towards Melbourne right now after a disastrous world championships [where they were 54th]," Woolley, an Auckland University student, said. "It wasn't a great year, the whole European campaign just didn't feel right."
It's not as if the pair, both former youth world champions, weren't committed, spending 3 1/2 months in Europe in a campaign that cost them $60,000. Burling now gets funding support from Yachting NZ while Overington and Woolley struggle on alone.
"Everything for us has been self-funded," Overington said, "and boats are pretty expensive items to get overseas and then lug around Europe. Making that level of commitment creates pressure to have a good campaign yet it felt like a whole year's worth of work down the drain ... Our focus now is to do well at Melbourne and force our way into the Olympic squad, which should mean we're funded right through to Beijing."
Despite being overshadowed by kids who've barely begun shaving and are busy swotting for school exams, the Auckland-based sailors are far from bitter at their younger rivals' success.
"They're actually a fantastic benchmark for us and have lifted the whole level of 470 sailing in New Zealand. They're pretty fine sailors," said Woolley. "I wasn't surprised when they moved into a 470 because a 420 was almost holding them back. The 470 is more of a challenge technically and they'd have had no hope of the Olympics if they'd stayed."
Adds Overington: "What impresses me about Peter and Carl is how analytical they are about how they sail. Combine that with the great feel they have out on the water and it's a decent recipe."
Woolley and Overington have one advantage: longevity. Evans and Burling are still sprouting and have only a small window sailing in a 470 before they get too heavy and are forced to look at a bigger boat.