The main objective of the visit was to spread rogaining by demonstrating that entry-level events are easy to organise. The pair chose a well-known recreational area, putting out honey-pottle-lid "controls" with code letters between 3pm and 7pm on the day before. The track network allowed many of the sites to be visited by car or mountain-bike. Allocating scores for the 17 controls was done during the evening and the control description/answer sheet printed onto the back of the map, a 1:25,000 enlargement of the topo.
Winners on the day were Sarah (17yrs) and Carol with a score of 290, after Wayne Henessey who has done several events while in the Hutt Valley came in six minutes over time. But Alison and Gordon ran them close with 280. John and Pamela, two mountain-bikers who confused the days, rode the course, much of which was biker-friendly, for fourth place.
There is plenty more scope for 3-hour "shoestring" rogaines close to Nelson, and the Moutere Hills just half an hour away could provide for longer events.
This page was written by Michael Wood and installed on 24 Mar 03.