PAPO, Christchurch’s orienteering club, joined the clubs offering mountain bike orienteering this weekend with an event at Victoria Park.
Victoria Park is a difficult area with very steep slopes and technical singletrack. The event was made more difficult by strict limitations on the tracks that the event was allowed to use. This gave planner Claire Heppinstall the choice of using only a very small and steep area of the park, or taking courses a much longer distance to the adjacent Huntsbury Spur. She chose to use a multi-lap format to make the best use of the area, with 2 laps going as far as the Huntsbury Spur and 1 lap staying within the park. Competitors were also given a street map to offer the choice of the direct (steep and slippery) track/ path route up the spur or the longer road route.
Friday was a beautiful day for the planner setting up the courses, but by Saturday morning the rain had arrived and the tracks became increasingly slippery during the event. Times were long, tumbles were plentiful, chains were sucking, and this was reflected in the high levels of retirals. In retrospect we should have shortened the courses.
World champs squad member Andy Rhodes won the event in 2h13mins. Leading woman was potential GB MTBO world champs team member Kathryn Newbery, who had chosen to do 3 laps instead of the recommended open women’s 2 lap course and finished in 3h14mins. Winner of the 2 lap course was veteran man Martin Leslie, with foot orienteer Emily Wall winning the official open womens’ race.
Three junior men took part in the event: Duncan O’Regan attempted the 3 lap course and Conal Boland started the 2 lap race (both completed 1 lap before making the sensible call that conditions were becoming too difficult.) The events’ youngest competitor was Charlie Murray who completed the short course in 1hour 9mins (helped by Dad Keith Murray). Junior woman Erica Boland completed the first lap of the medium course.
Despite the conditions event organizers received lots of very positive feedback and would like to thank everyone who attended the event for their enthusiasm!
Full results have been posted.
PAPO is planning further MTBO events this year. Provisionally the next event will be in Bottle Lake Forest in mid July, which will be much easier and flatter than Victoria Park! On August 8th PAPO is holding its mid-winter social which will include an event with running, biking and kayaking sections around the streets, parks and waterways of Kaipoi. A Hamner weekend is planned for September 25th and 26th, which will include MTBO on either one or both days. Further details will be published on this web-site as they become available.