The event was on a score basis for everyone, with Steve Meeres giving the usual course 1 riders 3 hours, course 2, 2.5hrs and course 3, 2 hours. All courses were timed to finish at 2pm, but with an unusual twist. A relatively "soft landing" was provided with only 2pts/min penalty for the first 10 minutes late, giving the chance to "trade off" a little lateness for a control; and there was a 30-pointer barely 300m from the finish! A tougher 5pts/min applied after the first 10.
As usual the veteran men provided close results, with Dirk Naish scoring his first win by just 10 points, the size of the smallest control, and he moves into the series lead. Graeme Silcock and Mike Fee were just behind with Silcock given the runner-up position by virtue of an earlier finish, while Michael Wood, on a mapper's 15min penalty was another 10 points back. Chris de Roo won the vet womens class, but series juniors were absent due to a clash with the national secondary schools MTB champs at Levin. However a number of younger juniors enjoyed the recreational course of 90 minutes.
In marked contrast to last year the valley was toothachingly beautiful, and tracks that were soggy were now firm and fast. The hills didn't seemed to lose their steepness though, and a 50-pointer on a loop with a 360m climb got only three visits. The women and vets headed either north along the ridge among young pines or south into native bush towards Titi on the Karapoti circuit. Westfield managed to take in a fair bit of both areas.
The next event in the Wellington series will be at Long Gully beyond Wellington's windmill on 21 May. Steve Betts and Mike Dalton are planning "reverse score" courses for which you must visit enough control points (in any order) to achieve a given score.