80 mountainbikers attacked the Akatarawas on Saturday, armed only with a map. And 78 emerged more or less unscathed, close to the 4 or 8 hours each team had chosen for their battle with the rugged bush area between Upper Hutt and Kapiti. The final team of 2 pulled into the base at the end of Bulls Run Road three and a half hours late - battered but unbowed.

The Akatarawa Attack was a MTB rogaine, in which teams visit as many control points as they can in a fixed time. There were 40 points between Battle Hill and the Akatarawa Valley, and from Orange Hut in the north to Cannon Point above Upper Hutt. They carried scores between 10 and 90, giving a target of 1760. But at the briefing, course setter Graeme Silcock pointed out that four people, with vehicle assistance, had taken all the previous day to place the markers, climbing 4000m in the process. He thought they might have made it too tough!

And tough it was. Adventure racers Colin Slater and Barryn Westfield won the 8hr category with a score of 1120. Paul Chaplow (4th in the Southern Traverse) and Paul Kelly scored 1010, and dedicated mountainbikers Dirk Naish and Michael Beaumont were 30 points behind.

Slater commented, "Great event - all the MTBO events have been excellent but this one had some wicked tracks and scenery in there (the single track down to 91 off Dopers was lovely !) and the area is just huuuuge. For the record we did 68km and climbed 2966m..." Their route went west almost to Battle Hill; then north-east to meet Hydro Road over the highest part of the course at 560m. Joining the Karapoti Classic route at the bottom of Big-Ring Boulevard, they climbed the Pram Track ("only" 520m) and peeled off at McGhie's Road into Valley View. They returned to the finish through the maze of 4WD challenges in "Rallywoods".

The 4hr event was won by Simon and Paul Kennett and John Randal, riding as "Makara Peak Mudslingers". John wrote, "What a great event, and what a wonderful way to explore in that area. We spent (only) about 500m on the Karapoti course - between 2 turnoffs on the flat bit before the Dopers climb. The countryside between there and the base camp at the end of Bulls Run Rd (off Moonshine) was spectacular, and not as steep as the hills on Karapoti so a bit more relaxing to ride on. We had some funky singletrack though native bush, and got around to Battle Hill as well with its wonderful views. Would have had a great map of the area to take home too, but it blew off the bike at Battle Hill..."

Team-mate Simon Kennett said, "In 4hrs we covered 41 km - so average speed wasn't that flash, but we got to chew the fat a fair bit and enjoy some awesome scenery. It's bloody exciting to be picking your own route and trying to get as many points as possible. About 90% of it was on tracks I'd never ridden before, and the organisation was very slick. I'd have to say I had more fun than at Karapoti (and I love that event). Will be back next year for sure." The Mudslingers headed north via Rimu Road to touch the Karapoti course, then towards Battle Hill in the opposite direction to the 8hr winners. They bagged some big-pointers there, but had to bypass some smaller controls just off Puketiro Road in order to get back in time.

Other teams chose differing routes according to their abilities - in fact all but two of the 40 controls were visited. The wallflowers were both on the Karapoti Epic track; a downer for planner Stephen Betts who did a lot of track clearing in this area. Almost all of the teams finished within their chosen times and enjoyed bangers and watermelon at base - the site of a former logging camp now just a large flat open area. Apart from aches and pains everyone was pretty happy - even the latecomers who were pulled off-course by an unmarked side track (there are millions of them) and continued into the jungle rather than back to where they had come from.

The organisers from the Hutt Valley MBC and Orienteering Hutt Valley have long had in mind a 2-day event like the Cyclic Saga - but the quality of the track network on the topo map was simply not up to it. Last year five groups coordinated by orienteering mapper Michael Wood spent many hours checking tracks, and a completely new map was drawn. The 100 sq.km result is hugely better, and there is more to come! Andrew Jones (4th in the 8hr) summed it up with his posting on Vorb: "It was great to ride some new tracks - the entry was worth it for the map alone."

Check out the results and winners' routes.