...looks likely to become a regular haunt for a Lactic Turkey rogaine.

The Lactic Turkey Boys put a bit of work into the map, adding all the new MTB single tracks that weren't on the original Terralink map (gratuitous sponsor plug!) and this created a venue that offered something for everyone.

The new rogainers could use the valley, filled with a dense track network and the more experienced and faster could go deep into the Hunua Ranges and test their navigation skills on some more indistinct tracks. The race briefing was filled with cautions for people not to attempt these indistinct tracks unless experienced navigators, but lots of teams had a crack, not put off by these warnings. Some succeeded and others realising they need to brush up on their navigation...or listening skills.

Around 320 people turned up despite the bad weather leading up to the event and were greeted with a cold but clear Hunua Ranges. The weather cleared up just before registration opened and started raining again (heavily) during the prize giving.

The 6 hour event started off with 26 teams heading in different directions with the obvious pre-race favourites Team Orion leading right from the start. Team Orion has recently returned from their 3rd place in the World Adventure Racing champs in Scotland. With team Captain Wayne Oxenham still recovering from a busted ankle (he sill did the 6 hour event with his wife), a ring-in was called into the regular team of Stuart Lynch, Anna Berthelsen and Brent Edwards.

Lynch's girlfriend Fiona McBryde was this ring-in and she doubted this decision straight away, when the team headed straight for the biggest hill in the ranges at speed! Team Orion managed to finish with 40 minutes to spare and got all but three checkpoints. Not a bad effort given what the team has been through in the last couple of months! Second was the always strong veteran team "Totally Random" (Guy Cory-Wright and Dave Crofts) who are regulars at the rogaines and took a very similar route to Orion but didn't have time to get as many checkpoints as Orion. Full credit to them though, as they only missed 2 more than Orion and scored a total of 1780 points versus Orion's 1870.  Third was the open mens team "Gee Gees" (Greg Marchant and Grant Burke) with 1650 points.

90 teams started the 3 hour rogaine using the same map as the 6 hour event but obviously collecting the closer checkpoints to ensure they got back in time (teams lost 10 points per minute there were late). Mixed team "Bay Bushbashers" (Barry Brown, Dan Jones, Geoff Parkin and Anne Mortimer) took line honours with 970 points just 20 points ahead of "Team Sky" (Nick Drew, Louis Niven and Matt Mattler). "Team Tonoto" (Nicholas Falconer and Mark Thomson) were third with 930 points.

All three of these teams took a similar route but the Bushbashers managed to pick up an extra checkpoint and finished with just 3 minutes to spare.

St Cuthberts School were there in force again, after their first outing at the Piha Rogaine in June. The girls were all fired up to have another run in the bush with their newfound skills. Two of the teams finished with good points of 620 and 540. However one of the school's teams misjudged the time back to the event centre and finished 34 minutes late, but well before the search party was even thinking about them!

In the junior boys it was the Thames High School team of Matt Donnelly and John White who won with a very reasonable 800 points.

There were three teams from Sportzdating.co.nz using the rogaine as an outing. The event organisers forgot to include the condoms in these team's race packs but it proved a popular outing none the less. We look forward to the wedding invites as credit for the introductions! >>"Totally Random" Guy Cory-Wright and Dave Crofts 2nd >>>

The Lactic Turkey team were very pleased to have their first dress up team turn up at registration. The mixed team "Pirates" ( Sarah MavAvoy, Melissa Barrack, Adrian Sandberg and Brenda Williams) did the course dressed as pirates and were heard to give out many "arrrrgh me hearties"as they made their way around the course.

So another successful Lactic Turkey Rogaine series. Next up for the Lactic Turkey team are the Night Bush Fun Runs in July/August and the P6 adventure race in late October. There's also a new off-road run in the pipeline.

Photos - Click Here and step through them