As well as the Canterbury team, Tony Gazley and Chris Tait (Wellington) and Mike Sheridan and Allan Stowell (Hutt Valley) finished in the top 30 overall, out of 200 teams. And former Hutt Valley orienteer Ted van Geldermalsen who has a rogaining experience going back to the Most Awesome Rogaine in Alberta in 1990 including all the world events, placed 7th with Australian partner Derek Morris. Van Geldermalsen moved to Melbourne two years ago.
The 24 hour event was held in the Namadgi National Park, an area of native bush at the relatively high altitude of 1000m to 1500m. On first appearances the area looked similar to the Kaimanawas; Bush covered hills with tussock filled valleys. Once you got into the bush however you realised things were quite different - the wildlife for a start with kangaroos bouncing about all over the place, birds screeching, and wombats scuttling into their burrows. Travel through the bush was very easy compared to NZ; underneath the gums and eucalpyts it was pretty open, with occasional belts of scrub slowing you down. And not as steep as say the Eastbourne hills.
Sheridan reports that conditions on the day were chilly with an overnight frost of minus 5, freezing his drink system and shoe laces. The full moon and clear skies helped at night with no need for torches in the open valleys. Not being used to the conditions the two Wellington teams developed a conservative approach to their navigation, attacking the northern half of the map to start off with. In this section the climbs were harder and correspondingly the geographical features more definitive. Unusually the two teams came across each other four times in the night (a long twelve hours from 6pm to 6am) and encouraged each other on.
Both Wellington teams reported that it took a couple of hours to settle into the map. The map was 1:25,000 with a 10 metre contour interval. Marked streams were usually a slight depression with some dampness that would eventually turn into the occasional puddle, with the two major streams in the centre of the map actually flowing. Mike and Allan said, “The night section went smoothly for us - we navigated very well and scored at a fairly steady rate, missing only one control.” Mike puts their success down to teaching at a local rogaine coaching session - practising what he preached - and also a night practise session on the Eastbourne Rogaine course just before leaving for Canberra.
The event was won by Nigel Aylott and Kevin Humphrey with a score of 3260, with three other teams scoring over 3000. The top kiwi score came from Gazley and Tait on 2350 giving them 21st position overall and 8th vet. But the most impressive result was from the Chrstchurch team of Bill and Anne Kennedy and Peter Squires. Their 2260 points won not just their own mixed super-vets (55+) grade but also the mixed vets grade (over 40). This is the third year in a row they have achieved this in Australia. Their overall position was 23rd. Sheridan and Stowell scored 2200 for 27th overall. 200 teams competed.
Mike says this was a great event put on by the Australians in a beautiful area ideally
suited to rogaining - but not a unique event with most of the States running a
rogaine every month or two with over a hundred teams competing at each event. The
experience and capabilities of the Aussies is a direct result of this intensive
competition. On the Wellington scene the pair have both come back enthused to continue
the tradition of running local rogaines with plans on the drawing board for the next
couple of events. Watch this space.
Written by Mike Sheridan
and installed on 1 May 02.