The MTBO Championships held in Alexandra and Naseby on the 1st and 2nd February provided a navigational variation for many orienteers.  Many of them also competed at the Oceania Championships in the North Island the week before and/or the Taitonga South Island Championships the following weekend. The entry list of 113 riders included 12 Australians plus one each from the UK and Finland. The event was a big undertaking for the small group of Central Otago Orienteers, assisted by the wider Orienteering Dunedin club. Joe Sherriff put in a big effort in co-ordinating all aspects, updating all of the maps and planning the Middle Distance. He was assisted by Frazer Stevens, Sprint planner; Jo Wilson, Sprint controller; Chris Forne, Middle controller; Conal Boland-Bristow, Long planner; and Tim Sikma, Long controller.

The championships began on Saturday morning with a Sprint event across a variety of terrain, combining hillside single tracks on the Boot Hill map with flat forest, playing fields and two schools on the Molyneaux Park map. Riders were well warmed up for the afternoon’s Middle distance with a stiff 260m climb to the start on the Matangi map. While the courses had an overall descent of 160m it wasn’t at all a downhill cruise with rocky terrain, a maze of twisting single tracks. Many route choices included steep descents and climbs, or if you were lucky contouring options, and some easily missed junctions resulting in expensive mistakes.

On Sunday we moved to Naseby for the Long Distance where the extensive network of single tracks with a greatly varying levels of steepness, rideability and twistiness were combined with mostly fast, but sometimes steep forest roads. Route choices required both careful selection and execution. On Monday the Long distance control locations with a few variations were used for a fun MTBO 2 hour rogaine event. Many riders choose to explore a
different part of the map than used for their courses the previous day. In a small field, Rachel Drew took the honours in Womens Open in all three races, while in a competitive Mens Open field the wins were shared with Chris Forne taking out the Sprint, Conal Boland-Bristow the Middle and Tim Farrant the Long Distance.
by Alister Metherall