Contestants of all ages brave the cold
KEEN orienteers of all ages were out on Signal Hill yesterday for the South Island championships.
Competitors were undeterred by chilly weather at the top of the hill as they prepared for the race, which had courses ranging from 2km to 6km.
Dunedin Orienteering president Jeni Pelvin said more than 200 competitors were taking part in the middledistance event, in which the first lot of orienteers started about 11.30am.
‘‘[Otago] last held it three years ago, in Naseby,’’ Pelvin said. ‘‘Clubs around the South Island hold it every year.’’
There were contestants from around the country this time and also from Australia.
Pelvin said the event, which had wrapped up by late afternoon, went well.
‘‘It ended up in sunshine in the grandstand in the Caledonian Ground,’’ she said.
There was a special race for contestants under 10 years old, which began at the Caledonian Grounds, and the shorter-distance ‘‘sprint’’ event on Saturday was held in the Dunedin Botanic Garden.
Pelvin said there was a wide range of ages in the 10+ race. The oldest contestant was in her 80s.
Otago Boys’ High School pupil Brayden Foote (13) said he was looking forward to the middledistance event despite the cold, and he definitely preferred it to running.
‘‘I like that you’re always looking for a goal,’’ he said.
Pelvin said the event came before a fourday national mountainbike orienteering championship event in Alexandra, which would also include contestants from Australia as well as New Zealand.
The Dunedin event had been organised with the help of Mountain Biking Otago, which laid out the track network and provided a bus, radios and other gear, and community group the Balmacewen Lions.
After the event competitors gathered at Emerson’s Brewery for some ‘‘relaxation’’ and analysis of the routes they had taken.