By Neil Hawthorne
The event will be remembered as cold and wet! There was damp but comfortable weather for the 6-hour event but that was quickly followed by dark bitter rain during the extended 12-hour event. Sodden teams found relief in finishing and thankfully all were rewarded with generous portions of hot food. The Mushroom Risotto was particularly good. The weather worsened through Sunday morning for all the “happy campers”.
Ninety-eight keen Rogainers posted hard earned scores. There were 22 teams in the 6-hour and 21 teams in the 12-hour. 2,960 points across 54 controls were up for grabs. No one cleared the course but anyone scoring around 2,500 points had travelled near 50km in 12 hours. Everyone seemed to like the course layout as evidenced by Rogainers scuttling off in all directions. Thereafter a calm descended on the Hash House as the support team waited for the 6:00pm returns.
The area just North of the Hash House was the most popular being relatively flat with controls located close together. Despite the climb to a high 500 metres ASL (Above Sea Level) almost everyone visited the “Beehive” cairn atop Mount Spode (90). Had it been warmer Rogainers might have been bothered by live beehive activity as experienced by the vetting team.
One of more controversial controls (83) was situated adjacent this tranquil pond. What this view (see below) fails to show is the condition of the shortest access route. This was a steep loose rock embankment immediately behind the control on the East side. A good deal of cursing was reported. The North and South sides are impassable cliffs. No surprise then that the low Western end was the exit of choice.
This water feature is a former quarry used in the construction of the nearby Meadowbank dam.
The least popular location was control 80 buried deep down in Whites Valley.
The most scenic control may have been the elevated view of the Derwent from control 68 looking North to the valley beyond. The distant bushy spur meets the Derwent at a low 50m ASL near a rock outcrop (92) from which you can see back up to aforementioned high view point (68). A bit hilly but worth every vertical metre!
6-Hour Winners
| Mens | 1300 Richard Corry & James Horne |
| Mixed | 1170 Nicola Marshall & David Marshall |
| Womens | 930 Janet Hancock & Sue Hancock |
12-Hour Winners
| Mens | 2490 Darryl Smith, David Cole |
| Mixed | 1910 Bernard Walker, Sara Brain |
| Womens | 1690 Karen Wild-Allen, Meisha Austin |
A big thank you to all those that contributed: Gary Carroll, Andrew Koolhof, Peter Cusick, John Dawson, Vince Harding, Rod Bilson, Nick Bowden, Nicole Carpenter, Liz Canning plus Darryn Cubit and Christine Fox our caterers. Jeff Dunn, Darryl Smith, Bernard Walker, Sara Brain and Sally Wayte returned to the event site after the event to collect controls and the dried tents.
A special thank you to the property owners that granted us special access to this stunning country side.