Wellington MTBO Series 2005

Link here to Series Points

Event #7
Mt Victoria, 17 Sep 05

Inadvertent shoe swap: check your cycle shoes...

With Wgtn CC cautious about MTB events on the heavily used Mt Victoria, this was the first time we had used the dense network of tracks for MTBO. Jill Ford and Jenny Visser planned a score event from the ASB Hataitai netball courts, on a map which extended not only to Mt Albert but all the way to Island Bay and the base of the Tip Track.

And winner Craig Starnes got that far, scoring 770 of a possible 1230. His route choice discarded Pt Jerningham and controls on the north end of Mt Vic, where the world mountain-running championship tracks were out of bounds and it wasn't easy to find the "way in". Still, big distances were involved in his choice, and those with lower power might have found the 16 controls on the Mt Vic 1:10,000 enlargement more profitable.

Jo Forbes won the womens class with 510, beating all but four open men and two vets. This gave her four wins in the seven-event series for a perfect 100 points; but with the planners also able to claim "best other result" Jenny Visser also got 100 for a dead heat:-)) Steve Betts won the Vet Men but already had the series in the bag; Jo Holden was the best Vet Woman but Chris de Roo had that one sewn up too.

A 4hr team score event in Lower Hutt on 15 Oct replaces the Wgtn Champs this year, giving greater impetus to travel to the NZ Champs at Naseby.

PS: Blue Shimano Shoes with eggbeater cleats taken mistakedly from the event. Greg Thurlow has the "other" pair. Please contact him on 021 1490150 or 479 0091

2hr Score event for all classes

Max score 1250. "+" indicates bonus points, "-" indicates lateness penalty. Course planners Jill Ford and Jenny Visser of Orienteering Hutt Valley. Assisted on the day by Michael Wood (who as mapper took 15min shorter.) Access to Mt Vic for organised MTB events is limited, thank you to Wgtn CC; also for the use of the ASB Netball Rooms.

Event #6
St Pats Forest, 20 Aug 05

St Pats Forest offers perhaps the least scope of any of our areas for varying the courses from event to event. And yet Graeme Silcock set some excellent courses which had us scratching our helmets for most of the way.

Right from the start with a route choice from midway between the two bridges on the town side of the river, to a newly-made track in the forest directly opposite. It looked even, but realising that crossing SH2 had to be done by the culvert made the southern route better. And right to the end as well. Approaching wearily from the south, the finish was much more obvious than the final control on the riverbank just north of the Moonshine Bridge.

Graeme and his helpers had also done quite a bit of chainsaw work on the tracks - notice the fresh sawdust?

Barryn Westfield had a good win over Julian Cox appearing for the first time this year. But with he and Craig Starnes both holding three wins, the Open Mens class is going to depend on the final at Mt Vic. Stacey Price, who had previously only ridden one event in Rec, won the Open Women ahead of Jenny Visser, but Jenny keeps her position at the top of the table. With the certainty of reaching 100 points as Mt Vic course planner, her threat comes from Jo Forbes, who could also reach 100 with one more win. Forbes was third at St Pats, so the final is her last chance to topple the flying doctor.

None of the other Veteran Men can catch Steve Betts, whose win by 4min over Ant Bradshaw gives him 100 points too. Marco Renalli was a minute further back but this bunny-hopped him from fifth to third, 0.7 behind Silcock. Anything better than 21.6 from next month's final will gain him ground, whereas Silcock, who has scored in a remarkably consistent 2.1-point band all year, has to better 22.7 to advance. The final is a score event, and with a typical control values, one of the smallest controls could well make a 1-point difference in the series total!

Chris de Roo, with Veteran Womens title already secure, won course three.

Course 1 – 27.3km – 940m climb

Course 2 – 24.8km – 780m climb

Course 3 – 15.2km – 240m climb

Course 4 - 90min Score

Spot prizes donated by Hutt Valley Mountain Bike Club and subsidized by On Yer Bike. Course planner Graeme Silcock of Orienteering Hutt Valley. Assisted on the day by Graeme Campbell, Ann Silcock and Michael Wood. Forest access courtesy of St Pats College.

Event #5
Santoft Forest, 16 Jul 05

A number of riders visited all the controls and the usual method of calculating series points would give them all the same points. Series points have been calculated as if these competitors had been able to continue visiting controls until the time was up. Finish time is given in brackets. A subtraction indicates lateness penalty at 5 points/min.

2.5hr Score

2hr Score

Course planner of Red Kiwis OC. Assisted on the day by other members of RKOC.

Event #4
Belmont Regional Park, 18 Jun 05

Course 1

Course 2

Course 3

Course 4, 90min Score

Course planner of Orienteering Hutt Valley. Assisted on the day by Giselle Clarkson and Michael Wood. Access and the warm dry building by kind permission of the Greater Wellington Regional Council; further access courtesy of Andrew Fisher and Chris Clifton.

Event #3
Long Gully 21 May 05

Course 1 3hr Score

Course 2, 2.5hr score

Course 3, 2hr score event

Course 4, 90min Score

Course planner and Mike Dalton of Orienteering Hutt Valley and HVMBC. Assisted on the day by Matt Betts and Michael Wood. Tent (the nice one!) and finish banner by HVMBC, control pickup by various, thank you. Access by kind permission of Steve Watson of Long Gully Farm.

Event #2
Maungakotukutuku Muster, 16 Apr 05

Planner's Pontification

A remarkably even distribution of visits, the most popular being #12 and #16 with 16 visits each; and the least popular #1 with 2. The last-minute outing of the track west of #10 (serious tree-felling) really dealt to that whole loop. The next unpopular was #31 (3 visits). I reckon it takes an hour to do the whole 31-22 loop, with its 360m climb. There were better places to get 80 points!

There was a fairly even split between those who went north and south, for example #30 the biggie in the south had 11 visits and #32 at the NW corner had 8. #23 was easy money, 30 points only 300m from the start, but only 12 took it up. Yes it's tricky in there with tracks going everywhere, but what's wrong with a bit of trial and error? (But if you left it for the end only if there was time, that's a good strategy too...)

Here's the popularity stakes, visits in brackets after the control number:
1(2) 2(9) 3(15) 4(12) 5(13) 6(9) 7(5) 8(11) 9(10) Average visits 10-pointers 9.5
10(4) 11(6) 12(16) 13(12) 14(8) 15(11) 16(16) 17(4) 18(12) 19(8) Average visits 20-pointers 9.7
20(13) 21(15) 22(8) 23(12) 24(14) 25(6) 26(9) 27(11) 28(12) 29(9) Average visits 30-pointers 10.9
30(11) 31(3) 32(8) Average visits 50-pointers 7.3

Winning 3-hr course was "up the downs and down the ups. 25 6 27 18 19 28 29 30 9 8 16 24 20 21 12 4 Ended up at 9,8 as had planned to come out through 26 and 7 but got sick of that quadmire in the middle (4 wheel drive) and worried about time I had been on that side of the course. Only hiccup in the day was looking for 3 on the way in, hence my tardiness."
Winning mens 2.5hr course. "Basically along the ridge, I thought it was easier riding along up there in the sunshine and enjoying the views." 16 24 20 12 21 32 14 15 22 13 5 3 23
Winning womens 2.5hr course (not in visit order. Jenny?) 3 5 12 13 14 15 16 20 21 24 32

Course 1 3hr Score

Course 2, 2.5hr score

Course 3, 2hr score event

Course 4, 90min Score

Course planner of Orienteering Hutt Valley and HVMBC. Assisted on the day by Mat Meeres, Janice Meeres and Graeme Campbell. Tent (the nice one!) and finish banner by HVMBC, control pickup by Mike Dalton, Graeme Campbell, Janice Meeres, Michael Wood and some others I'll acknowledge shortly. Quad bike kindly supplied by Dusty of Four X 4 Adventures made control placement very much easier. Prizes by HVMBC, On Yer Bike and Janice Meeres - thank you. Access by kind permission of Greater Wellington Regional Council, and about eight other landowners.

Event #1
Tunnel Gully, 19 Mar 05

Course Planner's Remarks

Interesting how we can always learn something new. There was more difficulty in the SW corner than previously. Perhaps growth is obscuring tracks, but the lesson for me is that (a) unless there is a definite boundary the map needs to extend further beyond where we expect people to go and (b) the large hilltop area shown with the brown paved symbol needs to be defined in the legend since I intended it to be passable.

At the finish we saw several people riding north who must have ignored the one-way arrow on the sealed road from the lower reserve to the railway alignment. We were too busy to identify all of them so haven't reflected this in the results yet but I invite you to own up. I'm afraid its going to be a no-result for you, forbidden routes and one-way sections are part of the rules, were described on the map and event notice, and may be vital for landowner relations and safety.

Course 1 21km, 720m climb

Course 2, 15km, 560m climb

Course 3, 8km, 200m

Course 4, 90min Score

Course planner of Orienteering Hutt Valley. Assisted on the day by Matthew Cornwall and Luke Cornwall. Emergency vehicle availability by Bill Brierley, tent (the nice one!) by HVMBC, control pickup by Steve Betts and Graeme Silcock. Access by kind permission of Greater Wellington, Gliding Hutt Valley, John Gabites, and Margaret Brockhouse.

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