IT Consultancy and Adventure Racing

link:http://www.mapsport.co.nz/hvoc/awsummer07res.html

The 2nd event in the hutt valley orienteering club's after work series was based out of the main car park at Otari Wilton's bush, and for some stupid reason I had agreed to team up with local councillor and rogaining machine Andy Foster. Turning up a little late we didn't have long to go over the map, but had a quick look and decided on a basic strategy in between people throwing me pitying looks for the pain I was about to endure.

The gun went off and we headed into the park, almost immediately making a right turn where most headed left, but after a bit of fretting, we arrived in the lead at our first control point, and headed off towards our 2nd as others started arriving.

Our 2nd cp was in a stream, which we then headed down towards our first 60 pointer. The map said this stream was slow going, which, given the amount of wind fall in there, it turned out to be!

Still we were soon at the cp, and then donning head torches for the trip through the tunnel, where I was thankful for the slight protection of my cap as I slammed my head into the rock ;-(

Andy then showed me the benefits of a 10kg or so weight advantage as he powered off up the hills into Wadestone, and we dropped into a step count, we're not sure if it was 185 or 188, but we ended up a lot lower than we started! Obviously it was then up hill again to get the next cps, before finding our next track blocked by a huge fallen tree. There was evidence of scrambling around the tree, so we carried on and then went straight up the side of the hill to the ridge track.

After counting the number of bits of wood that made up the bench (cps are a mix of questions and tags put out by the organisers), it was decision time. We decided to keep to the hill for a while, and grab some high points before dropping back to the tar seal.

Reminding me of a recent training run up here, Andy disappeared ahead while I dragged my sorry arse after him all the way up to the crest.

We dropped down into the botanic gardens where we saw a couple of others who had just picked up the answer we were looking for, but declined the offer to provide us with it. We then grabbed a 10 pointer that we later decided was a bit of a waste, and headed up into Northland, where Andy knew where we were going and I was thankful for the brain rest as my body screamed at me to stop trying to keep up with this super fit madman!

Through Northland we decided to head for some big points on the ridgeline, which nearly brought our game to an end as my right ankle collapsed walking across the bmx track ... double bugger!

After 30 seconds or so of cursing we walked up the hill into the cemetery, in search of a grave, and then the path onto the ridge. We duly found both and headed up towards the ridge, with Andy telling me to let him know if I wanted to go faster, and my, walking, frame unable to respond as I was on my straps.

Now I know how Barry and Shane feel when we're racing!

We grabbed another couple of cps and decided to try for the next in the trees. Dropping into the forestry, I recognised the track as one that is difficult to follow in the day, and suggested bypassing this cp as the light was fading. We headed back out and, unfortunately, up, Andy once more showing me a clean pair of heels.

Spotting Chris and Jo walking up from the bush we spent a couple of minutes finding the possum track we had to follow, the torches came back out and we quickly dropped.

Reaching a height that looked good for the cp, there was a faint side track, and another map check led us to follow it to the ribbon.

The next cp was due north, so we started heading bush, but turned back on seeing the size of the next gully, taking about 5 mins to refind the main track ;-(

With about 20 mins left, we dropped into a stream in search of a fence across it, but on reaching a waterfall with another team there looking concerned, we cut our losses and headed out at full pace.

Andy's local knowledge meant that I just had to run in his wake, which was great as I don't think the oxygen deprivation from thinking would have allowed me to keep up and allow us to finish with the 40 seconds to spare that we did! 890 points was good enough for 2nd place missing out on the win by 10 points ;-(

Well, the intention this year is to hurt myself a bit more in the name of improvement, so after this serious pain, hopefully there will be some big gain before GORAR!