Orienteers travelled from Hutt Valley, Wellington, Pahiatua, Paraparaumu, Feilding, Levin and Palmerston North for our Double Sprint in Whanganui. The morning was in beautiful conditions at the hilly Bason Botanical Gardens. The Difficult course planned by Carol Ramsden was maybe a little long with the winning time being 22:17.  The Moderate course winner took 18:51 and Easy 13:15.  We welcomed a few new people f rom Whanganui and hope that they will come to more events.

The picturesque school campus in the afternoon provided a completely different challenge. Georgia Ramsden's courses had people twisting and turning around the boarding houses, sports complex and chapel, and even through the headmaster's garden. The Difficult course winning time was 16:40, Moderate 12:39 and Easy 10:59. The predicted deluge of rain arrived at 2pm, to coincide with our Start time which meant lots of bagging of maps and soaked runners all having great fun. 

During the day we had father and son rivalry,  mother and daughter against father and son, and 2 ex Collegiate students, now fathers, taking selfies while standing on grass which was always forbidden to to them when they attended Collegiate as pupils.

Thanks to those who helped collect controls, did other jobs during the day and especially to Russell who did all the timing on the day as well as precorrecting the maps and preparing the maps with the courses on them ready for printing, and to Tony who took all the wet gear home.

Next up - the combined club event and Manawatu and surrounds 'Schools Champs' at the new Holly Farm map north of Marton on Sunday 23rd August, followed quickly by the Schools Teams Champs in the morning of 4th September and an evening Rogaine for all at Massey University and farm.