Going hard paid off for Matt Farrar, Tom Murphy and Al Quinn, who despite having a twenty five point penalty for arriving late finished with 305 points at the end of the first day, pipping last years winners John Knight, Hadyn Key and Mark Williams of Queenstown at the post by just three points.
Julian Cox and Jonathan Coakley came in third, further back on 280 after a costly navigation error saw them having to negotiate around an extensive bluff to get a control that was readily accessible by farm track.
Despite riding with a cold, Craig Starnes and partner Tony Lines also put in a strong first day to end up leading the Vet Mens section by ten points.
Ironically for Cox and Coakley their weaker performance on day one meant they were able to pick up more points the second day where conditions were less favourable. Low cloud made navigation tricky on the peaks with many teams including Knight, Key and Williams, making serious errors due to the poor visibility. This allowed Cox and Coakley to pick up second place which another solid performance from Farrar, Murphy and Quinn kept them firmly in first place.
Starnes and Lines also maintained an excellent pace, seeing them once again finish with the highest day total for Vet section and taking first place thirty points ahead of second place getters Desmond O'Regan, Stephen Mark and Tony Page.
Having a strong local Mountain Bike Orienteering scene and lots of hill work really paid off for the Wellington group according to Cox. "At the end of the day it all came down to training. We go out riding most lunchtimes and because it's Wellington a hill is always involved. We also made sure we did some longer rides that matched the amount of climbing we knew we would do in the event. And we got that crucial route choice and navigation experience, thanks to the efforts of Michael Wood and Brent Hoy, who have done a lot to make the Wellington mountain bike orienteering scene one of the strongest in the country. This really paid off on the second day."
Attracting around 300 people each year the Cyclic Saga is New Zealand's most
popular Mountain Bike Orienteering event. The two-day event is held on
Banks Peninsula east of Christchurch and is done in the Rogaine style
requiring navigation and route selection along with some serious hill work.
Full results including pictures can be found at:
www.cyclicsaga.co.nz
Written by Julian Cox
and installed on 14 Apr 02.