Snow all week didn’t seem to deter the nearly 70 people who turned up to the rogaine on Sunday, nor did the -5 degrees at Leith Saddle around 8am.
The day prior to a rogaine might normally be spent making sure there were enough maps, organising the food (thanks Ann), checking and double checking a few things. Well that was all done and at 4pm I had to go out on the course as I knew there were going to be controls buried or at least a bit difficult to find. So knowing that I was still surprised at how different things looked when I got up on top. 51 was semi buried, 76 was now hidden by branches weighted down with wet snow. 64 was missing and new one put in place. 93 I just couldn’t find. Well who would be able to find a small hebe under a foot of snow. It was obvious when I placed it though. 92 I wasn’t even going to attempt as that would have required 1/2 hour of waist deep slogging. 103 I tried to dig out but couldn’t find the card, 78 was obvious when I placed it and was now non existent, 44 was there, 82 would have been fun. 94 was always going to be difficult as the track entrance was so obscure. I had a couple of attempts at finding it and gave up. Congrats to Greig Hamilton who did find it. I eventually got home after a stunning evening out in the hills. SAR were there as well, looking for some dickhead who was on the run from the police.
So back to the day. At the end I had a good yarn with some guys from the Outdoor Ed course at polytech. They were asking a lot of questions about the course setting. So this is how I went about it.
Hamels Haunts II
Controls – Most of the area I knew and that gave options for 3 obvious loops, each of which could be hiked in around 3 hours. Control placement was then based around a combination of areas that I think are interesting, historic and clearly related to a feature on the map. eg Corners, Buildings, Track/Creek junction etc. Then it was a matter of keeping people interested, so I try to place a control for every 10-15 minutes of my hiking/running. I also try to place some that will be more challenging to those with good skills and try to make their route choices complicated. ie So they can’t get everything.
Scoring – with 3 main loops and 5 directions of travel from the main starting point I tried to balance the scores. I placed values for one of the loops and then scored the other 3 loops relative to that one. I also tried to have the score the same for the 1st 30-60 minutes in each of the 5 directions of travel. I think I got it close to being right as the top 3 teams in the 3 hour were separated by 30 points and used 2 completely different sections of the course. The 6 hour was also very close (other than Greig) with 40 points covering 2nd-4th.
So what can I do better, well I drew a couple of the tracks in the wrong place on the Mt Cargill side of the course. The heavy blacked out section also obscured some features and I should have used the more traditional hatched lines. Greig also complained about 51 as he didn’t get it and ran by it twice. He sent me his GPS track and it runs right between the centre point and the edge of the circle. So I reckon I was right.
http://www.attackpoint.org/sessiondata.jsp?sessionid=2530917
Greigs course is a useful tool for learning and planning. It takes a generally anti clockwise loop, gaining height early and leaving a cluster of controls near the end which be collected or dropped depending on what time allows. He’s also run a few out and back sections on relatively flat and fast terrain that minimizes the amount of climbing he has to do.
Alan Grant – how can I not mention Alan. He’s one of the more experienced people around and someone whose opinion on the course I respect. Last year he pulled me up on a control that was placed incorrectly, this year Alan and his team were late, very very late. In fact prizes had already been handed out by the time they returned. It appears they got a bit lost or enjoyed the course more than they were supposed to. I look forward to seeing him back next year.
So Thanks to everyone for coming out. It’s put a solid dent in the bill for travelling to the World Championship in the Czech Republic.
Results
| Team |
Grd |
Score |
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 Hour | ||||||
| Ed’s team |
x |
850 |
Pru Renshaw | Chris Cowie | Ben Woodward | Ed Styles |
| The Dropkick |
m |
830 |
Ant Jackson | Mike Lawrence | Stephen Cooper | |
| Three Queens |
f |
820 |
Clare McDonald | Jan Johnstone | Maria Gamble | |
| GLUTEN |
m |
760 |
Jared Maclachlan | Jack Synnott | ||
| Highland Fling |
x |
710 |
Gareth Hargraves | Elaine Hargraves | ||
| Fernbrae Whanau |
f |
680 |
Karyn Becconsall | |||
| Allan Grant |
x |
680*** |
David Grant | Jenny Rhodes | Lisa Rhodes | Peter Boxham |
| Vodka and Raro |
f |
500 |
Esther Sibbald | Harriet Walsh | ||
| NIM |
x |
310 |
Carl Rathbone | Sarah Baird | ||
| Are we lost yet |
x |
0 |
Rory McLean | Natalie Soper | ||
| 6 Hour | ||||||
| Greig Hamilton |
m |
2300** |
Greig Hamilton | |||
| Twihards |
x |
1840 |
Neville Thorne | Tim Bright | ||
| R.I.P |
m |
1820** |
Robert Jarvis | |||
| Bud Law |
m |
1800 |
Charles Law | Bud Law | ||
| Keas |
x |
1490 |
Mark Chignall | Helen Chignall | ||
| speedy turtles |
x |
1480 |
Peter Blyth | Kirstin Cooper | Stephanie Freeman | |
| AAA |
f |
1470 |
Anna Heckler | Anna Roseingrave | Alice Westgarth | |
| Team Williams |
x |
1330 |
John Williams | Bruce Eyers | Vivien Eyers | Richard Willams |
| Who’s the man? |
x |
1330 |
Hayden Titchner | Julie Grant | ||
| Helen Mathias |
x |
1180 |
Scott Davis | Lorna Bain | Nicky Gibbs | Helen Mathias |
| Sally Nichol |
f |
1100 |
Rachel van Gorp | Sally Nichol | ||
| Apple Orchard |
x |
1060 |
Murry Pridham | Mike Pridham | Rick Mains | Carolyn Pridham |
| Mud Monkeys |
x |
1040 |
Tim Jowett | Jennifer Turek | Daniel Turek | |
| Northern Slopes |
x |
980 |
Penny Love | Charles McLaughlin | Bob Cunningham | |
| Mum’s on the run |
f |
430 |
Michelle Koni | Liz Sebelin | ||
| Mike Stuart |
m |
0* |
Mike Stuart |
* Mike does have a score, it will be around 1200 I think
** Greig and Robert need to have 10% dedicted for running around by themselves
*** Alan Grants team were about 20 minutes late and need to have 200 points removed.
