Waitangi Day Rogaine
06 February 2014
An impressive turnout of Canterbury Rogainers was witnessed at Taylor's Mistake on Waitangi Day for a second instalment of the Canterbury Rogaine Series, organised by local adventure racing team Next Generation. Over 200 participants came took part in the 3-hr and 90-min events well over four times the number of online entries and causing slight havoc with map and clue-sheet supplies. Weather was superb, allowing teams great conditions for navigating the challenging open country with intricate rocky outcrops and a complex trail network. The exposed coastal terrain was put to use with some control points located on the rocky shoreline. Godley Head’s historic military area concealed one clue in an underground bunker.
The atmosphere of the late-afternoon finish was fantastic with the BBQ on full blast feeding the crowds of happy rogainers, as well as other Cantabrians enjoying New Zealand’s national day at the beach. With plenty of checkpoints on offer, no team managed to clear the course but local rogainer Robert Jarvis came close with the top overall score of 1790 in Open Men, closely followed by Tim & Sarah Wright in the Open Mixed with a score of 1740 points. Anna Lindgren & Sylvia Maclaren took the Open Women’s title, Dave Buter and Levi Herbet were top in the Junior division, and Martin & Rupert Shepherd claimed the Family title.
Thank you to all who took part including the many first-time family groups who took part in the 3hr event. Thank you to also to webmaster extraordinaire Katie Bolt, and Bivouac Outdoor for their fantastic support. See you all next time!
About the organisers: Team Next Generation
Team Next Generation is an up-coming group of young adventure racers preparing to take on the next chapter of GODZone - Kaikoura this March. Tim Farrant, an experienced rogaine and orienteering athlete, is leading the team and hopes to improve on previous 11th place finishes in GODZone '12 and '13, to send Next Generation into the Top 5 at this year's event. Emily Wilson is a strong multisport athlete, with impressive Coast to Coast Longest Day and adventure race performances. Elisha Nuttall has been the youngest GODZone competitor in the past two chapters, and brings exacting navigation and rafting skills to the team. Alastair McDowell is an all-round adventurer who has recently completed a 33-day transalpine traverse of the Southern Alps (Arthurs Pass - Mt Cook), and enjoys long days on a mountain bike or surf-ski.