Canterbury Champs

Sunday 2 December 2018
Map:
Hogs Back
Event Type:
Canterbury Champs - Long
Planner:
Alister Metherall
Controller:
Carsten Jørgensen
Co-ordinator:
Melanie Brigden

Welcome to the 2018 Canterbury Champs regional 2-day orienteering carnival featuring another of our most adventurous maps. This is an open event for anyone to enter, but the courses are designed to be ONZ High-Performance level to test our Elite WOC and JWOC team contenders. There will be 10 courses offered across all age group categories.

Hogsback is one of PAPO's premier maps, which was mapped by elite Nick Hann.  Since then, it has been used for our showcase events and deserves its place in the top collection. The native beech forest is very runnable, with a natural scattering of old branches underfoot. The rivers are clear and cold but crossable and the hills, ridges and gullies create wonderful navigational challenges. There are a few tracks that may help (depending on the deviousness of the planner) and are worth watching out for. Areas without trees may have grass, marsh, dracophyllum bushes or open gravel and from the top of the hills there are clear views up to the mountains around. 

Start lists: The start lists for Sundays LONG distance can be found here:  2018CantChamps-Long-StartList-Updated-20181132.pdf

Start / finish: Starts from 10am - 1pm . For courses 1- 4 and course 7, the start is a bit 2km back from parking. The other start and the finish is 500m further along road. So allow time to get to starts from carparking.

Registration: Once again, there is no need to go to registration if you have pre-entered, have your own SI card and have paid in full. Otherwise - head to registration. 

Costs: We have made these costs comparable to entering an evening rogaine/fun run. We have some event management and planner/controller expenses, etc to cover. We think the event and accommodation are good value for a short summer get-away weekend with excellent navigation in excellent NZ native bush surroundings. This is some of the best challenging South Island terrain available to run in.

  • Saturday - Middle distance |Senior: $20, Junior (13-20): $15, Child (12 and under): $5. Maximum family rate $50
  • Sunday - Long distance    Senior: $25, Junior (13-20): $20, Child (12 and under): $5. Maximum family rate $60

Entry: Sorry, entries for this event have now closed and pre-entry was a requirement.

Terrain: The Hogs Back map is a subalpine area with a mixture of mature beech forest and open tussock. The elevation ranges from 700m to 1200m above sea level. Large flat areas are dissected by steep valleys and ridges. The beech forest offers a range of runnability, from open mature forest with running speeds < 4min/km to extremely thick areas of regrowth. There are some isolated areas of limestone rock detail.

Recommendations: Lower body cover is recommended. This is lower alpine terrain, prepare for cooler temperatures. 

Map detail:  Contour: Mapped at 1.10, 000.  Contours 5m. The map is drawn to ISOM2017.

Course notes: White (C10) and Yellow (C9) courses are partly making use of vegetation boundaries as lines to follow. The vegetation boundaries are between open grassland and forest. Parents and/or caregivers please make sure that your child knows what a vegetation boundary is. The start is at a vegetation boundary so it is possible to do a show and tell at the start. 
This dotted line is an example of vegetation boundary between open grassland and forest: 
 
image.png

 

Courses:

Course Length Climb  
1 11.2 km 670 m M21E
2 7.2 km 390 m M20A, M21A, W21E
3 5.0 km 320 m M18A, M40A, W20A
4 4.2 km 265 m M16A, M21AS, M50A, W18A, W21A, W40A
5 3.5 km 170 m M40AS, M60A, W16A, W21AS, W50A
6 2.3 km 60 m M70A, W40AS, W60A, W70A
7 4.1 km 265 m M14A, M18B, M21B, W14A
8 2.7 km 130 m M40B, W18B, W21B, W40B
9 2.4 km 90 m M12A, M14B, M21C, W12A, W14B, W21C
10 2.3 km 60 m M10, M12B, W10, W12B

 

Directions: From Christchurch, take SH73 towards Arthurs Pass. After passing Castle Hill Village, take the next left onto the gravel road to Mt Cheeseman Skifield (signposted). Allow 1 hour and 30 minutes from Christchurch International Airport.

Parking: Texas Flat is on the Cheeseman Skifield access road.

Water: Water will not be provided on the courses. You can drink from the streams, but there is deer in the area, so bring your own drink in a camel bag or similar if you want to be on the safe side.  

Wasps:  Extensive baiting operations have been run but the wasps are still present. Usually wasps should not be an issue in early December – it is generally over the height of summer and early autumn that they pose problems. Please be aware if you are allergic and come prepared.