Following the success of its 4-race series last year, Hutt Valley OC (and supporters in the neighbouring clubs) have assembled a bigger and brighter season of mountain-bike orienteering for 2001! We'll have you in great shape for the world championships in Oz in 2004!
The first thing to look for is foot-orienteering events nominated as bikable. You'll probably get a choice of just one course but if you want a shorter ride it can usually be short-cut. The first of these is at Tunnel Gully on 11 March, but HVOC's street events later in the year (19 Aug, 9 Sep, 7 Oct) will also be bikable. Look at the events page regularly to see what other orienteering clubs are offering.
But the ideal is an area and courses chosen specifically for biking! Last year's series of 4 events will be repeated, with revisits to three of the areas (plus extensions!) and an event at Makara Peak Bike Park. These will be on the last Saturday of the month, in April, May, July and August.
The first of these events will be at Waitarere Forest on 28 April, and will incorporate some navigation training for bikers beforehand. So be prepared to get up there a little earlier as this will start at 11am with a briefing. There will be a couple of exercises to apply some important techniques; they'll be done in a very small area so as not to tire you out, and it will be over by noon.
Plus instead of having the Wellington Championship part of the series, this has been pulled out to its own special day, 30 June. This is also the last Saturday of the month to keep the pattern. It will be in Belmont Regional Park.
But wait, there's more! HVOC has put in an application for the New Zealand MTBO Championships, with a date of the last weekend in September. The location will not be revealed yet, and when it is, riding there will be embargoed in the interest of fairness to those from other regions.
We hope to better the 71 riders from the inaugural NZ Champs at Hanmer last year (which by the way was the same number at the Oz MTBO Champs. Lets top them in 2001!) The event format will be a classic distance (slightly longer courses in line with the latest international guidelines) and a score event which will also have NZ Champs status.
More details are on the events page which you should add to your favourites so you can quickly check for any additions.
See you in the forest!
This page was written by Michael Wood and installed on 6 Mar 01.
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