What a great weekend !

Thanks to all those who entered and competed in the final Kaweka Challenge.
Click here for 2011 results
2011's Results are available here....

The final Kaweka Challenge occurred last weekend, 26 and 27 February, ending a 22 year history of providing one of the toughest mountain races in New Zealand. Organisied by HB Orienteering, Heretaunga Tramping and Amateur Radio Emergency Corps this final event offered five courses ranging from 13km to 41km.

The 41km Course 1 was won be Dougie Kyle in 6hr 54 mins, 49 seconds in front of Kristian Day. Their battle began in the uphill first leg – from Cameron Carpark to the top of Mt Kuripappango where they were 3 minutes apart. Kyle continued to retain the lead as they passed Kiwi saddle Hut, which he kept extending for the next two controls. After climbing Kaweka J his lead was extended to 18 minutes. Day really picked up the pace by the time he reached Matauria Ridge where he was alsmost 2 minutes faster than Kyle. He continued to pull in Kyle, punching each control with faster times for the rest of the race. By the Lakes carpark control day had flicked into overdrive, reaching it 8 minutes faster than Kyle. He kept the pressure on across the last two stages and cut Kyle’s lead to a mere 49 seconds over the 41 km.

Hamish Goodwin(Hawkes Bay) – fresh from his Coast To Coast win in the veteran men’s grade – won the vet men’s  grade (Course 3) on Saturday – with the second fastest overall time of 4hr 16min 38 seconds behind Edward Lawley (New Plymouth) 4hr 12min 17sec. Rita Holmes (Hawkes Bay) was the first woman home on Course 3 with 5hr 49min 53 sec. The youngest competitor on this course – Havelock North’s Robbie Love, celebrated his 16th birthday by completing the course in just over 8 hours.

On Course 4 Tauranga based brothers Glenn and Clive Reynolds broke the Vet Men course record with a time of 5hr 33min 39sec. This course was won overall by Liam Paterson and Joshua Girvin (New Plymouth) in 5hr 23min 26sec.
The Course 5 13 kilometre ‘sprint’ over Mt Kuripapaongo, through the Lakes carpark and back to the base nestled high above the Ngarururo River, attracted 96 runners and walkers. Dougan Butler set a record breaking pace, with a time of 1hr 16min 29 – 2min 56 secs off the record he set back in 2007. Rassmus Andersson from Norway came in second, winning one of the legs from the summit down to Lakes carpark. School Pairs Hamish Sturmer, Orin Burmester and Matt Furze, Tom Spencer manged to tie both their teams at 2hrs 2mins and 19secs – quite a remarkable achievement over the 13kms – with Hamish and Orin being 16 seconds ahead at the half way point.

Some stand out performances also came from Susan Williams who won the Super Vet Woman’s grade on Saturday on the 41km Course 1 as well as winning the same grade on Sunday in the 13km Course 5.
The 224 competitors had to deal with drizzle, very low cloud, 15 knot southerly winds on their courses. Spirits were lifted by the control site staff – many of whom had dressed up in fancy dress to surprise the runners as they went through. Amongst the competitors was Neil Higgins who has competed in 21 of the 22 events and Michael Wood who has competed in 20 Kaweka Challenges.

A new feature introduced for the last event was the use of linked radio controls stations, which gave automatic updates of runner’s times from the top of Kuripapaongo back to the event centre – about 3kms. This allowed supporters to check progress in real time whilst the runner was out on the course. The same technology was used from the top of the Firepond, which allowed advanced notice of the arrival at the finish line. Developed by local man Phillip Herries, the system gave competitors, supporters and race officials up to the second progress as they raced through the controls.

The two parent  organisations – Heretaunga Tramping Club and HB Orienteering had decided that the 22nd event would be the final one organised by the two clubs.

This event was proudly brought to you with the help of

AREC Hawkes Bay, Heretaunga Tramping Club, HB Orienteering

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