The Wellington MTB-Orienteering Series kicks off Saturday 28 April with an event at Waitarere Forest near Levin. The event will be preceded by a short navigation session for those who are new to orienteering.
"Sandy Trax" is NZ's first purpose-made MTBO map, and last year it was the scene of the inaugural Wellington Championship. Course lengths will be similar to the champs, in which Ramon Mira took 90min to win the open mens and Gillian Ingham took the womens title, also in 90min. From a start at the old forest HQ area the two longer courses will visit the south block, but instead of using the horse trail area the courses will finish in the maze of tracks just north of the village. There will also be a shorter course in the north block.
As last year registration is from 12-1 with start times from 1-2. Entry will be $15 ($10 for juniors) with a discount for orienteering club members in recognition of the equipment and mapping expertise which comes from orienteering. The host club Hutt Valley OC has an attractive introductory offer which will make it very easy to join up, and other orienteering clubs may do the same.
The training session will happen between 11 and 12 at the same place. A
special map
at a larger scale has been prepared and groups will explore the first block of the
forest on foot, with an experienced navigator. The charge of $2 is designed only to
cover the map printing.