Training Log Archive: shanel

Event: World Rogaine Championships
 

Hills, mist, fog, rain, mud, wind, cold.

... to elaborate ...

Bit of very light rain before the start to wet things up a bit.

Looked like everyone decided to head east at the start, with a big crowd to wait to punch at the first control. First few controls were pretty straight forward. Although when we got to 75 it did start to seem that some controls would be somewhat bingo like. Then we had a bit of an issue on the way down to shag rock for 105.

Took the wrong spur/fenceline upto 83 and wasted over an hour, before spotting the radio antennae the second time up past where we thought the control was (it hadn't been visible the first time we went up due to the fog rolling in over the hill top). Then had to cross a very steep scree gully/watercourse to get over to the right spur.

Then a very steep decent down a slope over a watercourse and up a track towards 102.

Bit of fun canyoning down to 70. Missed 23 on the first pass so got the water drop before going back for it and eventually found "A disused building" which I thought would of been better described as "An old dunny pushed down the side of the hill into the bushes".

Got 85 then dropped 44 and 89 because we thought it was time to leave the hilly NE section and get into the flatter NW area of the map.

Eventually got dark, rain set in heavier, had to break out my unused Gortex jacket, couldn't find the railway crossing between 68 and 91 so continued upto the road crossing.

Missed 26 "25m W of the watercourse bend", then had a step slippery slope down to the road to relocate.

Then had a few controls following along just below a ridge line, should of got on the ridge to make better speed, but it was more out of the freezing wind down to the side, and we thought we'd be able to keep better track of where we were.

Came across tRicky and Wil a bit after daylight, with Wil getting stuck in a fence for a while before eventually catching up, after getting 52 we turned for home, whilst tRicky and Wil doubled back to head for 72 and certain doom.

Good fun crossing deer fences to get into and out of 100.

Got to 87 with enough time to head in the longer way and pick up a couple more controls.

One last effort to climb up to 37, then a fast walk in along the road with a few minutes to spare

C • Very thorough description..... 2

Rest day before the Rogaine, headed into Cheviot for registration towards the end of the day.

After meeting up with Wil and Andre we headed out to the airport to meet Ann, then headed out towards the model course, stopping for supplies on the way only to find we'd already missed any opportunity to get Gatorade powder and contact.

Eventually got out to the model course and wandered around for a couple of hours. Great view over a carpet of clouds out over the coast, with a few mountains sticking out off on the horizon.

Then headed off to our base for the next few days.

Quick walk to look at Tasman glacier, came back past the supposedly blue but actually skanky green lakes.

Hike up to Hooker Lake for a good view of Mt Cook, went out at a pretty good pace and jogged most of the way back, with lots of tourists to pass. Very windy, just about being blown off, crossing a bridge across a gorge.

Got back to the van than had a 4.5 hour drive back to Christchurch to meet up with Andre and Wil. Only to find out the the backpackers they were staying at was full, so we had to find somewhere else (and Andre was off mountain biking with Fully). And then find somewhere to eat getting close to 9pm.

Borrowed some really crappy bikes from the rafting lodge and took a ride down towards the river before rafting time. Stopped just short of the riverdue to a closed gate, but ended up pretty close to the rafting get out point. tRicky's bike must have been heaps crapper than mine cause he couldn't keep up.

Rangitata Rafting - a couple of nice grade "5" rapids along the way, bit of swimming down some grade 1 ish stuff, jump off a 10m cliff (which a certain man of steel abstained from) and plenty of getting really wet up the front and nearly losing contact lenses. And a relaxing swim/drift down to the get out point.

After flying into Christchurch, meeting up with tRicky who had camped out at the airport most of the night, picking up a hire car and heading south straight out of town. We eventually tried to come up with a plan, so headed to Geraldine which was near the place we wanted to go rafting at. Eventually found the information place and they pointed us to the rafting company office which was right next door. Since we hadn't worked out where we were staying yet, the rafting folks said we could stay up at the rafting lodge for free and then we'd go rafting the next day.

So we bought some supplies before leaving town and headed to Little Mt Peel on the way to the rafting lodge.

Looking at the map at the start of the trail it looked like the loop would be 12-15km, and it was nearly 3pm already. So we had some sandwiches and headed off (since we didn't have any water in the van it didn't seem any point taking anything else either).

Nice waterfall, creek, native? forest and up onto a ridgeline. After an hour we were probably less than a quarter of the way round, and the top was clouded in, so we decided to be sensible and head back the way we came, after taking in the views from up on a knoll.