That was a bit different!! The change from 1:5000 map to a 1:15000 map caused a few headaches and a bit of thrashing around in the bushes quite some distance from the control. On a 1:15000 map there is quite a lot of detail on the ground that is not shown on the map. All these differences all at once in a summer series made life a bit interesting. Still, we only heard positive comments and we are delighted about that. Our prime purpose was to let you see a bit of Auckland that you might never have seen before and to let you enjoy the beauty of the Tamaki estuary with the tide reasonably well in. So well in that I had to wade out to the island to retrieve the control on top of it. The southern most control on the map that kept being stolen or shifted was still in the area when I went to collect it so we didn't loose any, which was unexpected. (There are still two controls out; one because it was put in so hard I couldn't pull it out and the other (the well known SU on the stream junction) because it gets darker earlier in there and I just couldn't see it in the dark - no I wasn't looking in the flaxes.)

We realise that course 2 was rather longer than it has been previously and we were delighted that so many, who might have been put off by the length, took up the challenge. We hope you were rewarded by enjoying the most pleasant area.

We'd like to thank Sacred Heart College for the use of their school as our base. It was great to have the easier terrain, yet interesting contours and a tricky building complex, for the shorter courses.

The next event is on the Carrington map. This event is the first of the secondary school events and so we expect about an extra 60 competitors next week. This will mean things are just a bit more difficult as there will be lots of students milling around trying to find out what they are supposed to do. Please be understanding - we hope that some of them might enjoy the experience enough to take up orienteering as a serious sport and that is one of our objectives. This event is the last of the Wednesday ones (Wednesday 24th ). The registration is in Unitec which is on Carrington Rd and you enter through gate 3 (same gate number as we had this week for Sacred Heart). The following week the event is to be held on Tuesday (note there is only a six day recovery) the 2nd of March at the Panmure Basin. This must be the bluest O map about. Antoinette Fotherby, an Auckland junior who is about to spend the next year in Britain, is the setter on Panmure Basin.

Stewart Family (ph 575 5695; email aw.stewart@auckland.ac.nz).

Course 1        10.3kms 1    Rob Wayne        0:56:13 2    Mark Lawson      0:56:46 3    Rob Jessop       0:57:37 4    Jon Counsell     1:00:21 5    Dave Crofts      1:06:54 6    Rudi Hlawatsch   1:13:29 7    Dave Middleton   1:16:08 8    David Stewart    1:18:28 9    Mike Ashmore     1:23:42 10   Rob Hattie       1:25:23 11   Alan Janes       1:30:11 12   Adrian Skinner   1:30:58 13   Suzanne & John   1:33:10 14   Martin Barber    1:36:50 15   Simon Thorpe     2:10:10                  Course 2        5.2kms         1    Andrew Bell       0:39:10 2    Guy Cory-Wright   0:45:00 3    Scott Vennell     0:46:52 4    Rob Ambler        0:46:59 5    Duncan Milne      0:49:00 6    Mark Roberts      0:49:43 7    Craig White       0:51:40 8    Steve Bullock     0:52:06 9    Craig Pearce      0:54:22 10   Russell Howard    0:56:16 11   Asta Wistrand     0:59:29 12   Edwine Gers       1:00:57 13   Kate Amiria       1:01:42 14   Chris Grove       1:02:45 15   John Mackay       1:02:48 16   Lyn Stanton       1:05:02 17   Jane Counsell     1:05:50 18   Andy Brewis       1:06:00 19   Maurice Penney    1:06:19 20   Johanna Boss      1:08:18 21   Phillippa Poole   1:15:45 22   Antoinette Fotherby 1:15:51 23   Olive Delves      1:17:04 24   Anonymous         1:17:14 25   Steve Fotherby    1:19:20 26   Rae Powell        1:22:13 27   Craig Chilvers    1:24:00 28   Lyn Ashmore       1:33:00 29   Cheryl Lyou       1:33:26 30   Vivienne Leigh    1:33:51 31   Phillip Barber    1:37:54      Mike Beveridge      DNF      Charlie Wood        DNF Course 3        2.6kms   1   Mark Hodgson      0:20:52 2   Daniel Martin     0:23:37 3   Andrew Reid       0:25:00 4   Leon McGivern     0:25:46 5   Jane Monro        0:30:00 6   Brian Johnston    0:31:06 7   Catherine Price   0:33:42 8   Richard Hodder    0:34:50 9   Lisa Allcott      0:34:56 10  Robyn Howard      0:37:04 11  Kerry Bollard     0:37:13 12  JE Lambert        0:41:54 13  John & Jane       0:42:30 14  Erin Tolhurst     0:42:48 15  Gene & Renee Beveridge 1:00:00                  Course 4        1.7kms     1   Anonymous        0:16:31 2   A & E Tolhurst   0:20:00 3   Carmel Tolhurst  0:20:28 4   Emma Webb        0:26:00 5   Margaret Turkel        ?