New for 2012 - ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE

Never short of good ideas, for 2012 we’re joining our old mates Orienteering Hutt Valley to celebrate the birth of rogaining in New Zealand. 21 years ago they ran the first one, and they’re having a whole weekend of rogaines. Its a long weekend at that - Waitangi Weekend 4-6 February. It’s called ’Waitangi21’ and they are putting on five rogaines adding up to 21 hours!

Two of these are MTB-friendly (with a twist). There’s a 6-hour rogaine at Battle Hill on Sunday 5th. You can also do a 4-hour option, as usual. And on Monday 6th there’s a 4-hour rogaine where the first one was held 21 years ago - Belmont Regional Park. You’ll go faster than the footies here, so you’re going to be given 3 hours. You can one of these rogaines or you can do both.

Now the twist (heh heh!) Some of the controls will be off-track. The normal requirement to take your bike to each control will not be there, and you’ve got several options. Choose controls that ARE on tracks. You can ALWAYS choose controls that suit your strengths! Or you can ride close, drop your bike, and walk. And thirdly you could ride to a strategic base and do a whole loop on foot. Or a mixture of all three. It’s a whole different ball-game!

To find out more, visit the website http://waitangi21.ohv.org.nz

Read about the whole weekend, and download an entry form. The form has options for MTB entries at Battle Hill (6/4 hours) and at Belmont (3hrs). Check them out. Normal entries close on 25 Jan.

Alternatively you can phone HVMBC member Michael Wood at 04 566 2645. He’s one of the course planners. In fact he planned that original rogaine. Which makes him just a tad over 21...

Plenty. Take the Hutt Valley. The valley that sits astride the Wellington fault. The start point (Dry Creek at Haywards) obviously indicated Belmont Regional Park, with Belmont Trig at 457m and Boulder Hill at 442. Drawing a circle round Dry Creek includes some other high points: Mt Cecil (417m) on the west; on the east Fitzherbert (377m) and Ken (390m); and an un-named 441 above Stokes Valley. Throw into the mix a river flowing at 9 cumecs. A fair bit of pine forest. Plenty of native regrowth. Logging and pylon roads. Farm tracks. Mountainbike tracks. Walking tracks. Mix thoroughly, and stir.

Right from the start there was plenty of choice for the 81 riders. There was the low-value control up the waterfall track. There were the two ends of the Dry Creek loop, leading to Boulder Hill or specially-arranged farmland on SH58. Or out of the gate and through a culvert under SH2 leading to the Hutt river (knee deep). Or down the riverbank towards Belmont. Or through the Manor Park pedestrian subway and into the bush behind the Haywards substation.

Top 8-hour scorers headed north over the farmland towards SH58 (”the Haywards road”) through a stock underpass and up a gruelling climb to Mt Cecil. This led into St Pats Forest west of Upper Hutt, pine forest above Pinehaven, and Lower Hutt’s Eastern Hills. Intentions included a selection of Belmont Regional Park. But even riders of the calibre of two-time winners Simon Kennett and John Randal can’t always achieve the plan, and they found themselves shortcutting through Kelson. They did pull off Boulder Hill to get all three 100-pointers, and the win by 150 from adventure racers Liam Drew and Rachel Ockelford. Ian Paintin (another previous winner) riding with Ant Bradshaw was next, to be the top vets.

The 4-hour riders had more choice. Top result was posted by father and son John and Tim Robertson, by concentrating on the farmland and bunkers of the regional park, where there were controls as far as Stratton St. They were an extraordinary 230 points ahead of Trevor Robinson and Tamsyn Rouse, and 240 ahead of Ramash and Jo Swamy on a tandem. That 10-point difference might have been down to the struggle getting the tandem through the formidable anti-tank gate at the Summit Rd firebreak!

Tussles and if-only’s continued right down through the field, to the ”Rockin Robbins” who lost half their points with a lateness penalty. The event’s biggest drama was caused not by the terrain but the weather. A brilliantly sunny day encouraged a Transpower maintenance crew to attempt a cable-stringing operation across part of the course, and riders had to be prepared for barriers to go up while the helicopter was operating. Rising wind speeds put paid to that, with bells on. Wind speeds on top of the hills were so strong that they tore off control cards and swept Simon Kennett’s map off his map-holder. The winning pair completed the course with a single map!  

Ya shoulda been here yesterday was the call in the Maungakotukutuku Valley on Sunday (31 Jan). Gusty winds and ongoing drizzle replaced the 30-degree scorcher for the fifth Akatarawa Attack, the MTB challenge in rugged bush between Upper Hutt and Kapiti.

 8 hours or 4 hours to visit as many control points as you can – or as you wish. Native bush. Pine plantation. 4WD “roads”. Some more like mudbaths. Quad bike trails. Single track. Even some off-track through passable forest.

 But the cooler temperatures may have been better, as Simon Kennett and John Randal powered up Campbells Mill Road and into the heart of the event, a complex of little-known tracks called “The Seven Brothers”. Down the slower ones, climb on the better ones was the philosophy, through Hydro Valley to the west, and east as far as the Karapoti River crossing at the bottom of the Rock Garden. Up the Devil’s Staircase, down the “Three Sisters”, and there was just time for some close controls in the picturesque valley near the finish. Narrowly beaten last year, the Makara Peak Mudslingers were over 300 points clear this time; in fact they left only 5 controls unvisited. 1740 points out of a possible 2010. Total time 7hrs59. Distance 67km. Average speed 8kmh.

In an incredible performance the first mixed team was Jackson and Rose Green from Palmerston North - on a tandem – in sixth. Vet mixed Barryn Westfield and Vicki Robertson were just behind. Rachel Ockelford and Irishwoman Jackie O’Hagan were the top women and eleventh overall.

Just over half the field chose the “sensible” 4-hour option, but this still put the Brothers and  Sisters within reach, as well as the off-track controls in “Havoc Forest”. Marty Dinniss, Dave Howard and Tristan Kramers did their climb on Perhams Road the main 4WD access to the western Aka’s. They put their own score at risk by helping another team with chain trouble; but the grateful recipients asked the organisers to recognise this and the resulting adjustment put them in the lead. Still, the next two teams were mixed vets and in fourth place two vet women! They were the Karori Klingons, Power Up (Tauranga), and the Flying Takahes Wgtn South). Age or feminine wiles, you decide.

Run by the Hutt Valley Mountainbike and Orienteering clubs, the Attack has consistently put new routes on the map, the best available. We predict riders will be “dining out” on these for many months to come. But a health and safety warning – this is tough country! Go in a group. Go prepared.