Course Planner assisted by Jenny Visser.
Time 3hrs, 20% dark. Weather fine warm and humid with a fantastic sunset. 82 participants.
The planner comments...
A few afternoon showers gave way to a warm evening at Houghton Valley, and the sunset over a misty south coast with the South Island in the background was a real distraction to the serious business: bagging controls! Which were scattered along the row of hills that runs from South Head to Mt Victoria.
A few questions didn't match their circles, but you know what to do. Don't spend too long searching, write down something unique about the place, and come back and negotiate. Thanks to Mike Fee and Jenny Visser for the course planning, Nick for picking up the pizzas, and Michael for preparing the map. I planned to give you a looong thin map but it turned out to be slightly too wide to fit two on the A3 sheet.
Results 2-hour Event (Houghton Valey school children)
L=Late, S=Solo, M=Mapper
Course Planner and Ross Bidmead.
Time 3hrs, 45% dark. Weather cool with rain developing during the event. 92 participants.
The planner comments...
The day was looking good but the promised southerly arrived just in time to make this a more challenging evening. It didn't put many off though, with 40 teams starting. It did prompt teams to return in time, though, with only one team returning late after making a point of bagging both 100 pointers.
A number of teams bailed early and haven't given me scores. If you want a score recorded let me know and we'll get the results updated. There were also a few team reshuffles that may not be accurately recorded.
Again let me know and we'll get it updated, especially those who ended up going solo and need points deducted (yeah, right!). With a number of teams returning with mangled and barely readable control sheets I made the call to not collect and check them this time, so hopefully I've captured all the points correctly. Unfortunately it does mean I've no idea which control were popular or not. Total points available was 1530.
With the density of tracks and the winding streets, my main aim with setting this course was to create lots of navigational options and choices so hopefully there was plenty of head scratching as you worked out the best routes. This is my first attempt at rogaine course planning so any feedback would be greatly appreciated Both general impressions and specifics on controls or the map will be useful.
Thanks To Beverley Holder for helping out with registrations, Michael Wood for the map and support, and Ross Bidmead for course and control advice and assistance.
Aix and Pains route: 55-62-43-44-54-41-50-70-53-61-37-22-35-52-60-40-51-32-31-100-101-36-3A-38-24-26-71-45-25
Onslow College route: 55, 62, 44, 43, 61, 70, 53, 60, 40, 51, 32,31, 34, 50, 41, 54, 36, (it was about here we decided it was too cold so we would head back)3A, 38, 24, 26, 71, 45, 25.
Results (updated 25 Oct)
L=Late, S=Solo, M=Mapper
Course Planners and Sue Eastwood.
Time 3hrs, 90% dark. Weather fine and warm for the time of year; great views over the Hutt Valley. 82 participants.
Help...
Darryn Gordon last a black Gortex jacket in the vicinity of control 91. If anyone saw it please contact
The planners comment...
Attached is a spread sheet with the final results and the controls visited. I have not allowed any of the claimed controls as significantly more teams found them than claimed them – the worst was control 82 which 16 teams found and 5 claimed – other claims were only one or two teams at any control. I have no doubt that teams claiming the controls were in the general vicinity but as stated at the briefing it depends if other find them. Control 82 was on about the same contour as the tree which your compass should have told you, not down the bank.
I do agree that the controls were probably a bit on the hard side and will try to make them easier next time. Good to see the four hard controls were got by a few teams – there is some steep difficult country very close to suburbia. We did not have any visits to eastern most controls 36,37,101,65,49,38 & 72 – I obviously got carried away with the size of the map – these tracks were the most likely to have snow damage so you chose well. We only had one visit to control 27 which I applaud you for - it was put in as the one that wasn’t worth visiting even though it was close to the start finish.
I will leave the ribbons out for about a month if anyone wants to go for a practice – email me if you need a clue sheet.
The mapper comments...
Graeme and Sue always like to take us off track and in the wrong hands this can lead to randomness. But like Liam and Rachel at Eastbourne they marked some of the "keep out" bush that they had found. In time, we'll have light green for the really passable bush, medium green for the average and dark green for the jungle.
They made the most of the hills above Naenae, Taita and Stokes Valley, and another helpful idea was an "H" after the control number for the especially hard ones. Bill Edwards just back from an orienteering trip to Europe joined up with another couple of top M40s (Jason Markham, Mick Finn). They took the top slot 150 points clear of Richard Davies and Ben Clark. Relative newsomers Meg Shaw and Rochelle Andrew did very well to finish 4th, 20 ahead of NZ womens champions Debbie Mansfield and Julie Gordon.
Graeme and Sue have taken off the claims as every control claimed was found by at least two teams. Please claim if you don't think something is right, but essentially the rest of the teams have the last word! Did anyone else find it?
Something the rest of the teams have also commented about is team splitting. Not usually miles apart, but the NZ/Aust rogaine rules specify all members have to approach the control within 5m simultaneously. It's not on to send one person down off the track to find the ribbon. A bit more alarming was the rumour about people crossing the railway tracks. Surely not. No-one would do that.
Finally thanks to Graeme who has learned OCAD (the mapping software) I was able to have a proper run. You too can learn it, and I'll run a training session.
Results
L=Late, S=Solo, M=Mapper
Course Planners and
Time 3hrs, 100% dark. Weather cold and misty but little wind; quite nice compared to the weather forecast! 76 participants.
The mapper comments...
Darryn and Brian did an excellent job for their first rogaine planning. The steep country towards the coast providing a thoroughly rural experience while the (slightly) less steep terrain towards the Aro Valley was just as tricky with the road/track directions rarely pointing the way you wanted to go. #82 in Central Park being an example, looks enticingly close to the road above but its a RAVINE in there!
What a great turnout after a terrible weather forecast, and great to see most people with good gear on. You will see some missing results below, let Brian (link above) know controls visited. And we have a report of a missing wallet, if anyone found it please phone 027 460 7108.
Results
L=Late, S=Solo, M=Mapper
Course Planner
Time 3hrs, 100% dark. Weather fine and brisk, pretty nice for mid-winter. 66 participants.
Rach comments...
A gorgeous night with a clear full moon in the midst of a week of storms. The course was designed to enable those less confident to stay on track and road while providing challenges to others. We think we achieved our aim, and are impressed with the number of off track ribbons that were found. We had a lot of fun setting the course and hope you enjoyed it. I tried to keep Liam from making them unnecessarily difficult, but wasn't with him when he set the 100 pointers...
We've been through the results and made some adjustments. There seems to have been a good mix of north and south, with 80 creating the most issues. 2 teams found this, 1 team found something they thought was it incorrectly and a couple claimed - given it was found we have taken the claimed points off - sorry!
Thanks to Michael for not only the mapping but managing registration as well when Liam got his timings slightly wrong :-)
A reminder to all to check back in with the organisers at the end.. we thought we'd lost a couple of school teams that hadn't told us they were back, and were just preparing a search strategy when they were located in a nearby vehicle....
And the mapper comments...
This was our first good test of a synthetic paper called "Pretex" which is used widely in the UK, and a little bit in NZ, for orienteering. But we need to see whether it will stand up to 3, 6, 12 and 24 hours. We didn't give you map-bags for this reason, and we'd like any comments you have - the usual problem is ink rubbing off on the folds. Yes writing on them in pencil isn't too good and of course ballpoint isn't going to work in the rain, but big events usually have clippers or electronic punches. If anyone who handed their map in with their answers wants it back, The ribbons are going to stay until the end of July; its an excellent training opportunity, let me know if you want a map.
Results
I=Incorrect or disallowed claim L=Late, S=Solo, M=Mapper
Course Planner and Julie Gordon.
Time 3hrs, 100% dark. Weather warm, a few spits at the end. 43 participants.
Julie comments...
Low turn out tonight due to an accident on the motorway. Most teams were away by just after 6pm, late comers by 6.15. Good weather conditons although tracks were muddy and there were lots of stream travel options. (The map was called: Dry Creek, Wet Feet!) Rain held off till the finish.
The controls were spread from Boulder Hill, across the "Dry Creek Loop" to SH58, into Keith George Memorial Park behind the substation where there's current track building, and over SH2 to the riverbank. Crossing of SH2 was only allowed via subways and culverts. Though there were some obvious loops, there were plenty of off-track controls - this was a real bush rogaine.
Top score went to Jean and Michael Beaumont who collected 1100, but the rest of the regulars weren't far behind. Apparently an area around Control 82 was fenced off due to work being carried out, but otherwise no problems finding controls. Ribbons will remain out there for anyone who wants a run. Contact Debbie Mansfield for a map and question sheet. Thanks to those who entered.
Results
L=Late, S=Solo, M=Mapper
Course Planner and Jo Mckenzie
Time 3hrs, 100% dark. Weather warm windy (on top) and misty. 69 participants.
The webmaster comments...
Winner Jamie Stewart who has organised many off-the-beaten-track events himself, said "a very well-planned event." There were controls both sides of Karori from the Skyline to Wrights Hill (and down by the Sanctuary entrance); and in the other direction from Otari Plant Museum to Makara Peak. Yes right on top! Plus a selection of other tracks including the "falls" of Trickle Falls, and the corkscrew bridge on Vertigo.
Ann and Jo have listed the top two routes, something we could do more of. Jamie and Bryn Davies, both top orienteers, ran 10-62-52-49-80-56-46-60-90-55-40-54-42-72-64-34 (prob 39) -20-38-41-37-53-81-61-24-43-44-91-70-45-26-33-35-11. If you haven't got your map handy this led SW thru Karori and up onto the skyline north of Karori Park. Then along the skyline past the brick fireplace before dropping into Wilton Bush to sweep up everything there. Out into Wilton itself and parallelling the Kaiwharawhara stream to the Sanctuary and wright to the top of the hill. Ahem. Back into the bush at the road hairpin and down out of the mist and a bit of maze-counting and praying on the way home; but the College of Ed was passed up, time must have been getting short.
The second team 100 points behind but 230 ahead of third, comprised Nick Hann and Tim Robertson (NZ team for junior world orienteering later this year) and Jamie Brigham-Watson (reserve for last year). Need I say more. Their route was 21-46-60-90-55-40-64-39-20-41-38-54-72-42-23-24-81-61-44-91-70-51-32-63-49-80-52-26-10-11. Although it has some common bits it is fairly different. Straight up Johnsons Hill and along past the fireplace. SOME of the Wilton bush controls, out into Wilton, and back in at the cemetery to get the rest. Through the streets to the Sanctuary and up the perimeter fence to the top. Peeling off at the hairpin like the others, they came down at Karori Park and up the other side, then back through the 10-pointers and home.
Neither dipped into the MTB park, and it would be interesting to know how many did. But planner Jo said she might have favoured Wilton Bush in the scoring because its so nice. Neither called at #22 either for the lollies in the letterbox! A nice touch.
I still have a beany and a pencil container from the Kaukau event. Contact me, address at the bottom of this page. The next rogaine promises to be a beauty as well - the western hills of Lower Hutt starting at Dry Creek (Haywards). You'll have to register earlier than usual as the maps will have to be ordered before QB weekend. Any probs with the online registration let me know.
Results
L=Late, S=Solo, M=Mapper
Course Planner and Hannah McGregor.
Time 3hrs, 85% dark. Weather fine and crisp (post southerly). 71 participants (probably)
The mapper comments
An excellent course which belied the initial description "Ngaio-Johnsonville" by going right over Kaukau to Rifle Range Road and along the back of the Skyline. Plenty of off-track possibilities (as well as on-track for the less experienced). I think it was Jackie and Hannah's first planning, well done!
The world rogaine championship 2nd mixed placegetters matched up again to win, taking along Yvette's brother Paul visiting from the UK. Greg Thurlow and Magnus Bengtsson was the only other team over 1000 with a 200 point gap back to the rest of us. Though Jamie Stewart and Penny Kane did a "short run" and still managed to get over Kaukau and back!
They had to take the planner's draft map as we ran out even with some rationing towards the end. The message: pre-register before the maps are printed (48hrs prior). Next time we'll be using the online form that we developed for P-Max.
The other great result was that of Brian, Jess and Elina Astridge, Elina 23 days old! Brian writes, "She loves swashing around in the sling, she's a veteran on the Tinakori trails already and it's really secure and great for offroad. We even did a couple of offroad controls before it got a bit dark, lasted 1:45 until she wanted a feed!"
We need to thank Liam and Rachel Drew for resurrecting the ribbons at #91 and 100 which had been blown off. If you had trouble finding these and didn't count them in your total give us a yell. The norm is don't spend too long if you're convinced you're in the right place. In rural areas there's not much else to write down so just write "claim", and if there are enough claimants you'll be credited.
If anyone wants to go out to controls they missed, we can send you the questions as an Excel file. Note that private land beyond the skyline walkway was available only for the event, and ribbons have been brought in. Others will stay until the May afterwork rogaine. Contact me, address at the botom of this page.
The webmaster comments
There are a fair few loose ends in these results, perhaps some of the cards have snuck under the seats in my car! Some aren't named either. While I'm sure the planners reconciled all departures with returns, I think it's essential for safety and of course results that you write your FULL names on your card so that it can be matched with the rego list.
Someone left behind a beany and a pencil container. Contact me, address at the bottom of this page.
Results (updated 8 Apr)
L=Late, S=Solo, M=Mapper
Course Planner
Time 3hrs, 30% dark. Weather fine and warm. 28 participants.
The course planner comments:
A perfect summer evening for a revisit to Porirua, including Elsdon Bush on one side of the valley and Waitangirua/Aotea on the other. A clear choice of bush vs suburbia well-supplied with walkways and green areas. Bill Edwards top-scored but was taken down by his solo penalty, so the old firm of Andy Foster and Greg Thurlow ended up winners. A tie for third was resolved in favour of Glen Warner and Mary McBride who came in 3min earlier than new pair Scott Taylor and Vincent Zintzen.
Someone left behind an LED Lenser headtorch, please contact me.
The mapper comments:
Results (updated after checking 4 Mar)
L=Late, S=Solo, M=Mapper
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