Consistent feedback has been that this rogaine was a challenging event, with many competitors’ planned routes being drastically revised as the hours wore on. After a week of fine weather since the event it is now hard to believe that so many competitors had trouble moving over the paddocks and so on – the whole area has dried out considerably and if anything it is looking more beautiful than it did over 6/7 March!
Putting the unplanned (very) wet weather prior to event aside, these Champs were designed to be a challenge worthy of a national championships. The large area was selected and the course set on the basis that competitors would be forced to forego large areas of the map – i.e. would be unable to complete a large “loop” taking in the majority of the high-scoring controls. In my view, NZ rogaines have over the years become a bit predictable in this “large loop” regard. NZ rogainers have also been slow to appreciate the significance of the Hash-House, and the course was also planned to drive teams through the Hash-House at some point. True to form, this didn’t quite eventuate, with only about 20 teams visiting the Hash-House at some point.
Nevertheless, most competitors appeared to enjoy the rogaine, and every team will have its own memories and war stories. Phil Novis and Chris Forne were deserving champions, completing an excellent route (see AOC website for details) through the most spectacular parts of the map. With the exception of Greg Barbour, Chris has been NZ’s top rogainer for several years now and Phil must be congratulated on complimenting Chris well. Another notable performance was that of current world rogaining champion Greg Barbour and Shaun Collins (of Lactic Turkey fame) who, despite having a 6-hour sleep during the rogaine, still managed an incredible 2140 points, in 4th place overall! I also take my hat off to the 16-hour competitors who braved the night navigation without having any chance to get used to the map – even I felt nervous watching them head off down the road singing to themselves.
Placement of 7 of the controls were protested and 6 of these have been upheld. The reasons for these errors were varied and complex, and will be the subject of a separate report to the NZOF and NZRA. Lady luck played its part with at least one control being misappropriated (and still missing!). However, one missing or misplaced control in a championships rogaine event is one too many, and I apologise to all competitors for these errors. If nothing else, future NZ rogaines will benefit from these issues arising now.
A huge thank-you is due to the AOC team of Craig Pearce, Alistair and Johanna Stewart, Raewyn Bennett, Nicola Kinzett, John Powell and (from the Northwest Club) Bert Chapman and Peter Godfrey who between them put in hours and hours of effort. Special thanks also to Aidan Nelson of the Counties-Manakau club who, at short notice, gave up over 3 days of his working week to assist the AOC team.
Many thanks also to Rob Vanstam and the team at Green Coast for sponsoring the event and providing the excellent prizes. I encourage all competitors to recognise Green Coast’s active support of rogaining by choosing to purchase outdoors gear through Rob.
Approximately 60 teams entered the GreenCoast 2004 NZ Rogaining Championships, which was somewhat short of expectations. While every effort was made well ahead to avoid major clashes, unfortunate clashes with other multisport events (and, surprisingly, other rogaines!) did occur and competitor numbers were affected as a result. The clubs of the NZOF, NZRA and other key event organisers must work more closely in future to give the National Rogaining Championships the status it deserves, or it may not survive in current form. This may mean holding the championships later in the year, not during the Jan-April period which is now overcrowded with multisports events.
Thank you to all competitors for participating. I hope to see you all again sometime in the future, hopefully during the night while traversing pristine dry pastures to a strobe-lit and high-scoring control!!
Finally, I wish all relevant competitors the very best for the World Rogaining Championships in Arizona in May – hopefully the trials of Wairamarama will stand you in good stead for excellent results there.
This page written by Mark Copeland, installed on 16 Mar 04.