That was a testing one!! The courses for the orienteers, the numbers attending for the organisers and the humid weather for everyone. Can't complain about the weather given the rain for most of the early part of the day. We did hear a few comments like "That was the hardest course I've ever done" and "That was a bit much for me" so obviously the humid weather got to some!! Don't think I have ever seen so many torn shirts and sweaty, muddy bods returning from a park run as there were tonight - not sure what you all got up to out there! I do know that one person, who shall remain nameless, but who we know quite well, managed to get himself stuck in a part of the map supposed to be inaccessible, for 30 minutes, all because he was trying to do a tricky get away from Colm!!

The map says the top of Mt Eden is only 169 metres but it must be lying, all that effort to get up there and for a second time and for those on course 1 a third time surely proves it must be much higher! It was unfortunate that some of the times got so long and that a few orienteers got stranded by the control collectors (who were struggling to find the controls in the dark). Glenn was so determined to finish he decided to go on and find the control sites even if the controls were collected in. We apologise to those people. Sorry also to those who were affected by missing or moved controls. Tonight's event was the worst of the season for control tampering although none were actually lost..

We've been talking about coaching for the last few nights. Well it is on. We've organised with Darren Ashmore, a member of the NZ O team, to do some coaching at the event in the Domain in a fortnight. We have a few people registered and could take a few more. We'll sort out the exact arrangements shortly.

As we drove home from the event tonight we had the radio on the sports station and heard many comments about Peter Snell and his likelihood of winning the NZ sportsman of the century award. It was great to hear and to hear orienteering mentioned on some occasions (mostly by a fellow with peculiar ideas unfortunately). However, our summer series was graced with Peter's presence (and his wife Miki) and many of us, to whom he is a hero, were just delighted. We congratulate you Peter, and wish you all the very best for the award ceremony tomorrow. For those that don't know, Peter is one of 10 nominees for the award of NZ sportsperson of the century which will be presented on Thursday evening. He and Miki had only flown in from their home in the States this morning so we hope their trot around course 2 got rid of the jet lag.

Next Sunday there is an orienteering event you are all encouraged to go to. It is much like the park events but it is just a little more bushy to give you a taste of forest orienteering. It is not far away either. The event is at Totara Park very close to Manukau City. The starts are between 10:00am and 11:30am this Sunday, the 20th. NOTE: the original program that we put out showed a promotional event at Muriwai on March 19. The date has changed *** it is now on the 5th of March ***. The original date had a clash we didn't know about in last September when the program was prepared and it has had to shift. The Muriwai event is a special event designed to help the summer series orienteers make the transition to pine forest orienteering. There are courses for all abilities. It is a wonderful bit of forest and the beach is close by to be enjoyed afterwards. Put the new date in your diary - 5 March with 10am to 11:30 starts.

Last week we should have mentioned that Jane and Jon Counsell were over from the UK for a few days and managed to fit in a run at Ambury Park. Their big news though is that Jane is having a baby in June. We wish them well as they start their family. It was a fleeting visit to get their NZ citizenship, despite moving back to UK last year. Didn't hear about any orienteering in Britain, though. I'm sure we'll see them back in NZ at sometime in the future.

Next week the Summer Series event is on Mt Richmond with access off Great South Road between Penrose and Otahuhu. This is a tiny map and so expect some sharp turns. There will be a contours only course too. This is also a Wednesday event, the 23rd of February. The following week the orienteering is back in the Auckland Domain, still on Wednesday. For those of you who at Secondary School, the Auckland Domain event is the first of the Secondary School competition events. If your school has not mentioned it, talk to your sports coordinator and see if you can get them motivated to get a group of students together who might like to give orienteering a go. There is a series of events aimed at increasing students' expertise, leading up to the Auckland champs in June.

Joanna & Alistair Stewart
5755695

Course 1         8.3 kms 1 Darren Ashmore 0:59:38 2 Mark Lawson 1:05:15 3 Peter Andersson 1:12:08 4 Douglas Kwan 1:14:39 5 Jeff Greenwood 1:19:30 6 Dave Crofts 1:20:10 7 Rob Pols 1:23:00 8 Adrian Skinner 1:24:00 9 Malcolm Stoney 1:24:11 10 S Lynch 1:25:35 11 Guy Cory-Wright 1:27:02 12 Pam James 1:32:34 13 Rudy Hlawatsch 1:33:00 14 Paul Gilkison 1:34:53 15 Tim Wright 1:40:40 16 Craig Whyte 1:50:10 17 David Stewart 1:54:38 18 Craig Pearce 1:59:30 19 Martin Barber 2:03:30 Alistair Cory-Wright DNF Colm Rothery DNF Up to the Top Course 2         5 kms 1 Ross Hargraves 0:46:00 2 Fraser Empson 0:48:00 3 Geoff Mead 0:50:42 4 Andrew Bell 0:51:56 5 Roger Bengtsson 0:52:30 6 Andrew Foulkes 0:55:40 7 Duggie Gillespie 1:01:07 8 Jonathan Fraser 1:05:00 9 Allan Janes 1:06:34 10 Phillippa Poole 1:06:49 11 Lisa Mead 1:07:43 12 Mark & Howard 1:08:00 13 Mark Hodgson 1:08:20 14 Tim Renton 1:08:32 15 Jamie Monro 1:08:43 16 Debi Pyle 1:09:00 17 Norm Jager 1:09:06 18 Daniel Martin 1:11:40 19 Sarah Pilgrim 1:12:12 20 Billy Rodenburg 1:13:00 21 Brian Johnston 1:13:41 22 Alan Verry 1:16:05 23 Peter Snell 1:18:18 24 Dwayne Smith 1:20:40 25 Christina Renhart 1:22:00 26 Russell Howard 1:25:41 27 Dave & Janie 1:27:00 28 John Scott 1:30:30 29 Simon Kirk 1:34:00 30 D & S O'Shea 1:36:15 31 David Hamilton 1:37:00 32 Bert Chapman 1:41:20 33 Chris Grove 1:42:48 34 The pink fluffy elephants 1:48:00 35 Miki Snell 1:55:41 36 Cheryl Lyou 2:16:11 Mark Roberts DNF Philip Barber DNF Raywynne Bennett DNF Hilary Weeks Had a great walk Up to the Top Course 3         2.3 kms 1 Jasley McSaveney 0:31:01 2 Calvin Rainey 0:35:00 3 Keith Adams 0:35:30 4 Jonathan Henry 0:35:44 5 Lorna Brant & Michael-John Parkin 0:36:00 6 Chris Woodward 0:36:00 7 James Herbert 0:36:35 8 Matthews Andrews 0:37:31 9 Simon Coverdale 0:37:38 10 Kirsten Henry 0:39:20 11 Bruce & Moz Cassey 0:40:10 12 Simon Jager 0:41:00 13 Jane Adams 0:41:00 14 Chris Yager 0:42:27 15 Sue Kirk 0:44:00 16 Michael Yager 0:45:22 17 Darren Cooper & Alex Hooper 0:50:00 18 Lesley Fotherby 0:55:17 19 Paul & Sebastian Olsen 0:56:00 20 Alison Batty 0:56:10 21 Bruce Keegan 0:59:00 22 Charles Wood 1:07:00 23 K Tate 1:09:00 24 Peeters Family 1:09:00 Up to the Top Course 4         1.8 kms 1 David Mortimer 0:19:30 2 Dominic Scheirlinck 0:22:00 3 Brad Stephen 0:22:00 4 Luka Dog 0:25:00 5 NR Ashby 0:26:00 6 James Recordan 0:26:00 7 Paul & Sebastian Olsen 0:26:00 8 Bhavic Bhana 0:31:00 9 Nick Mead 0:32:38 10 Emma Webb 0:37:00 11 Victoria Bell 0:46:34 12 Sarah Gilkinson 0:48:04 13 Renny Wharemate 0:49:00 14 Roseanne & Lucy 0:50:00 15 Girls Brigade 0:53:00 16 Daniel Sam 1:00:00 17 Bren 1:00:00 Up to the Top