On the 29th of May 2010, four Tai Poutini Polytechnic Leadership and Guiding students Chris Reid (Team Leader), Matt Hern, James Saddler and Michael Collett embarked on a 24 hour orienteering race or Rogaine called TWALK (Twenty four hour walk) TWALK takes place every year at a secret location and is organized by the Canterbury University Tramping Club. This year’s event took place in the Cragieburn/Flock hill area and involved 46 teams and over two hundred competitors.
The race is broken down into a series of legs (5 legs in total) with each leg being 15-20km long the objective being to collect as many markers or controls as possible. The controls are words written on the back of a piece of plastic and hidden on features on the map. The controls are marked roughly on the map and a clue sheet is given with cryptic clues to find the controls. Eg Matt and Gary on the point. The clue was hidden on a piece of matagauri bush on the point of a ridge
The first leg is compulsory for the whole team, as it leads from where you are dropped off to the Hash House. From there, competitors choose how many people in the team participate in as many or few legs as they choose, leaving when they like (there is a compulsory 30 minute break between legs). Legs two - five form loops which end up back at the Hash House, and can be cut short if required.
The race started at 10:50 at the cave stream entrance, 7 and a half hours later we rolled into Flock hill lodge with wet feet and sore legs. After scoffing down some chicken wraps and a 30 minute break Matt, Mike and Chris headed out for the second leg. This leg was in complete darkness and 10cm of fresh snow. Note; white markers in the snow at night do not make for easy finding. We arrived back at the hut tired and demoralized, Chris headed off for a 10 minute snooze while Matt and Mike prepared James and Chris’s maps for leg three.
Leg three began in darkness with a bush bash through thick scrub to follow round the edge of Lake Pearson. The markers proved difficult to find and after spending almost five hours and only finding three markers, we returned disappointed to the hash hut to prepare for the next leg.
Leg four was by far the nicest of all the legs as it was mainly on flat farmland and by now the sun was up which made the markers easier to find. After a final sprint to the finish to return to the hut within the time limit.
All in all it was an amazing learning experience which tested us to our limits both mentally and physically and showed us how far we can truly push ourselves. Although we gave it our all it was not the youngest and fittest teams that won but the older and wisest teams (team name youth is no substutite for wisdom) who used their grit and cunning to conserve rtheir energy with the winning team having an 80 year old competing.
We would like to thank Tai Poutini Polytechnic for providing us the opportunity to compete in this event and to practice the skills that we have learnt in a competition environment.
TPP TWALK TEAM.
Statement of Needs, Gaps and Priorities for Consultation
