2015 Autumn Events
The Lower Cotter Catchment Night/Day Foot/Cycle Gaine was held over the weekend of 18/19 April in the eastern parts of the Cotter catchment and the adjoining Tidbinbilla ranges. A brave band of 27 teams turned up for the 5hr foot only night event, despite the discouraging weather forecast. As it turned out, despite the cloud cover during the evening, the weather remained warm with only a few light showers to speak of.
Some teams quickly discovered both the pro’s and con’s of a course set in and around a large fire trail network within a pine forest, while other teams took to the hills to help them safely navigate during the evening activities. Even the caterers started to worry when there had been no sign of any teams coming back to the hash house within the first 4 hours of the event; either teams were having a great time out there or everyone was completely lost. Thankfully, it was the former as teams started to trickle their way in with 30 minutes to go.
A number of teams returned showing signs of recent blackberry fights or having made their way up the foothills of the Tidbinbilla ranges through some of the recently back-burned forest. The rush of teams just before and just after the cut-off was a sign that they had a great time out there and also that the length and distance of the course was deceiving.
The winners of the event and recipients of the nightgaine trophy were Peter Preston and Tomas Krajca, who blitzed the field in an excellently executed course with 1760 points. There were close contests in both the mixed open and the minor placing of the male open event. Michael McCluskey and Charlotte Peterson finished only ten points ahead of Kieran Macdonell and Clare Lonergan, despite both teams finishing within a minute of each other after cut-off, to take out first place in the Mixed Open. We had some good participation from the family category too with James and Max Swann taking out first place. Parissa Poulis and Pat Meithke also had a great result taking out third place in the Women’s Open, as well as winning both Women’s Veterans and Supervets categories.
The six hour foot and cycle events on Sunday started off in glorious weather, with most teams heading out in shorts and t-shirts. Twenty-one teams entered the foot event and eight in the bike event. Unfortunately, by midday the weather had turned very wet and cold, with a large number of teams making use of the hot drink and food at the Hash house to reinvigorate themselves, before heading out for another shot at collecting controls. An extraordinary feature of the results was the domination by mixed teams. Mixed teams took out the first six places in the foot races, which was won by Keira Doherty and Thomas Banks with 1820 points. Michael Reed and Leigh Nelson were one of the few cycle teams to stay out on course for the maximum amount of time, in what were very challenging conditions for our bike entrants. They top scored for the entire weekend with 1960 points. Some of our newer members took out placings in the Sunday events, including Brad Vallette, Karun Paul, Dale Drummond, Jet Shoon Chong and Jaron Lee.
Read MoreSome teams quickly discovered both the pro’s and con’s of a course set in and around a large fire trail network within a pine forest, while other teams took to the hills to help them safely navigate during the evening activities. Even the caterers started to worry when there had been no sign of any teams coming back to the hash house within the first 4 hours of the event; either teams were having a great time out there or everyone was completely lost. Thankfully, it was the former as teams started to trickle their way in with 30 minutes to go.
A number of teams returned showing signs of recent blackberry fights or having made their way up the foothills of the Tidbinbilla ranges through some of the recently back-burned forest. The rush of teams just before and just after the cut-off was a sign that they had a great time out there and also that the length and distance of the course was deceiving.
The winners of the event and recipients of the nightgaine trophy were Peter Preston and Tomas Krajca, who blitzed the field in an excellently executed course with 1760 points. There were close contests in both the mixed open and the minor placing of the male open event. Michael McCluskey and Charlotte Peterson finished only ten points ahead of Kieran Macdonell and Clare Lonergan, despite both teams finishing within a minute of each other after cut-off, to take out first place in the Mixed Open. We had some good participation from the family category too with James and Max Swann taking out first place. Parissa Poulis and Pat Meithke also had a great result taking out third place in the Women’s Open, as well as winning both Women’s Veterans and Supervets categories.
The six hour foot and cycle events on Sunday started off in glorious weather, with most teams heading out in shorts and t-shirts. Twenty-one teams entered the foot event and eight in the bike event. Unfortunately, by midday the weather had turned very wet and cold, with a large number of teams making use of the hot drink and food at the Hash house to reinvigorate themselves, before heading out for another shot at collecting controls. An extraordinary feature of the results was the domination by mixed teams. Mixed teams took out the first six places in the foot races, which was won by Keira Doherty and Thomas Banks with 1820 points. Michael Reed and Leigh Nelson were one of the few cycle teams to stay out on course for the maximum amount of time, in what were very challenging conditions for our bike entrants. They top scored for the entire weekend with 1960 points. Some of our newer members took out placings in the Sunday events, including Brad Vallette, Karun Paul, Dale Drummond, Jet Shoon Chong and Jaron Lee.
