The Christchurch team scored 2510 of a possible 3490, on a beautifully passable but steep area in the upper Hunter Valley, 300km northeast of Sydney. The winning team, which was a Vet Mens team containing the M35 winner of the Asia-Pacific Orienteering Champs a week earlier, scored 2900. 2nd, 3rd and 5th places were also taken by veteran men, with open men not to mention open women not getting a look in. There were 160-odd teams in the event.
Other NZers taking part were Michael Wood and Tony Gazley from Wellington, 5th with 2380; Vivienne Prince formerly of Christchurch in the top Mixed Vets team with Victorian Derek Morris, on 2300; Barry Hope and Susan King from Marlborough; and PAPO member Peter Dilks who teamed with Alan Stow, a Christchurch man transferred to Melbourne for a couple of years.
The rogaine area had very few manmade features, only a few tracks near the edges and a tranmission line crossing the map from north to south. Because of this there were only three water points (near the periphery( but the organisers made two of them into "all-night cafes" with food available as well as at the traditional Hash-House at the start-finish.
The high ground in the middle of the map rose 700m, and efficient strategies were needed to minimise climb, one team visiting the high-pointers from the top rather than repeated climbs from the bottom. Vegetation was about 20% open land, 50% sparse eucalypt forest and 30% denser trees, but hardly anything that hindered passage. A few rock outcrops on the steeper slopes were the only obstacles. The 1:25,000 map, drawn in OCAD from a topo base was easy to read.
To cap it off, the weather was fine, and frosty during the 13-hour night,
ideal rogaining conditions. Full results will presumably appear soon on the
website, which you get to via
http://rogaine.asn.auand clicking
on the state of New South Wales.
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