City Safari Rides Again

Urban Rogaine with Public Transport - Lower Hutt, 6 Aug

Orienteering Hutt Valley, pioneer of rogaining in NZ, has scheduled the second "City Safari" for 6 Aug.

STOP PRESS 23 JUN

Entry form now available.

The 6 and 3hr rogaine starting in downtown Lower Hutt will have all the challenge of a rural event - the area extends to Wainuiomata and Eastbourne, including the bushclad eastern hills rising to Mt Lowry (373m). As well as beating the bush tracks for 90-pointers and ducking through urban alleyways (probably 10 points!) competitors can also use the buses and trains, with their discrete timetables and routes.

These can be helpful or unforgiving, as a team found last year when they missed a train at Manor Park. "There's not just one deadline at the end, there are deadlines all over the place," said a rueful Chris Tait afterwards. The successful teams used public transport up to 7 times during last year's event (story and pictures).

Lower Hutt has a rail service through the middle and an excellent bus network; even on Saturdays there are lots of routes with 15min frequency, and others on 30 and 60min. With a bit of thought, a rogaine team can get themselves taken up hills, or out to the edge of suburbia and closer to such landmarks as Korokoro Dam or Lowry trig. A travel pass is part of the entry, but route and timetable information is up to competitors: its available from many sources including the web.

The event will run over 6 hours, with a 3-hour option. Controls will be set so that physical endurance will be called on, the public transport part will only be 10-20% of the time of a 6-hr team, but its effect on the route planning strategy could be much more! New this year will be a 15-min prologue, in effect a "sprint rogaine" around the city centre. It's keenly supported by Greater Wellington (the regional council), Hutt City Council, Cityline and Tranz Metro. Entry forms will be available in early June. Enquiries to Michael Wood Ph 04 566 2645.


This page written by Michael Wood, and installed on 5 Apr 05; updated 23 Jun.