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Orienteering Hutt Valley

Frank Smith Trophy 2009

WOA Interclub Orienteering Competition: 6 Dec 09

HVOC Logo Frank Smith was the pioneer of Orienteering Hutt Valley. OHV donated a trophy to the regional orienteering association for interclub competition. So we're pleased to offer the 2009 event at Battle Hill Regional Park, Pauatahanui.

Battle Hill has a colourful history; and a more recent orienteering history.

The farmland was mapped in 1982 by Kapiti HAVOC in the days of offset printing. OHV had its eye on the young pine trees on the steep slopes of Transmission Gully and KH gave the area to OHV. It got photogrammetry, but couldn't get a mapper onto the job for love nor money. (Two mappers agreed to do the job but both failed to deliver.) After some years of this KH asked for the map back! They put it into OCAD, and ran a couple more events in their last years. On winding up, the map ended up with... OHV again.

Meanwhile the pine trees on the steep slopes had been steadily maturing. They are now in perfect orienteering condition. Finally this year Michael Wood used the area as a mapping training exercise with Tineke Berthelsen and Sarah Gray. Here are some notes about what you may find.

Did we say it's steep?

The forest where the red and orange courses will start (1.5km walk) consists of two steep ridges with a deep valley between. C1 will use both ridges, C2-5 will use the larger one. Some specifics:

  • The forest is mostly white with good visibility. There are a few patches of light and medium green, possibly over-mapped as everything is fairly easy to get through.
  • There are quite a few grandaddy pine trees that you might think should be mapped. But there are too many so we haven't.
  • Likewise banks, knolls and depressions have to be a decent size to make it onto the map.
  • There is a 4WD road up each ridge ("the Puketiro Loop") and being steep it has banks and cliffs on the side. We haven't used tags on these banks and cliffs - it can be a bit tricky to distinguish what is the dashed road and what is the cliff with gaps in it!
  • There are a couple of old fences in the forest, ruined in places. They will be hidden for red courses.

The courses will come out on the farmland, we're using the easiest terrain here. (White and yellow only on farmland, starting from reg.) It hasn't had the same mapping attention, only "as required" fixes. So be prepared for:

  • Man-made objects coming and going. The area is used extensively for equestrian events, and there seem to be jumps being created and removed all the time. We have undoubtedly missed some changes.
  • Some of the banks, knolls and depressions may be too small (under 1m). Banks and rockfaces might be interchanged. Distinctive trees and green blobs may look the same.
  • Cliffs (not many) and banks have tags on them
  • There are some out of bounds areas. One is permanent (black stripes) and others are temporary (hay paddock, equestrian event).
Hope that helps.

Now the courses. The climbs are generally about 7%, white and yellow a bit flatter. Red and Orange courses are on the easy side navigationally. Remember that you can go in whatever course you like, this is an INTERCLUB event, you are running for your club not yourself!

  • C1 Red 7.3km climb 1.24 Mt Kaukau's
  • C2 Red 4.8km climb 0.76 Kaukau's
  • C3 Red 2.9km climb 0.43 Kaukau's
  • C4 Orange 5.0km climb 0.69 Kaukau's
  • C5 Orange 3.2km climb 0.47 Kaukau's
  • C6 Yellow 2.9km climb 0.37 Kaukau's
  • C7 White 1.7km climb 0.13 Kaukau's

Finally this event has been brought to you by:

  • Controller Sarah Gray
  • Course planner Michael Wood
  • Coordinator Pat van Berkel
  • Results Jason van Dyk
  • Landowner Greater Wellington Regional Council (ranger Andrew Nevin, former OHV member)
Enquiries Ph 04 566 2645.

Page installed 30 Nov 09, climbs added 3 Dec

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