The sun shone down on Saturday morning as 200 competitors, dressed in life jackets and wetsuits, waited patiently on the banks of the River Ohau just east of Levin, for the map that would determine their fate for the rest of the day.
The first part of the top secret course led the 58 enthusiastic teams on a tube down the Ohau River followed by a bush basing excursion along possum trails East of Levin. Two teams from Taradale College were leading the field off of the next leg, a MTB along Gladstone Road, but two missed control points earlier in the race saw them drop back in the field with an automatic 2 hr time penalty.
The next navigation heading north dropped teams onto Heights Road just out of Shannon. It was this section of the race that saw the safety team, Horowhenua LandSAR, put their skills into practice with a few teams going off track.
The final piece of the race was another MTB through a forestry block, with a well earned descent into Mangore with the finish line at the Mangore Village Hall.
Event director Carrie Yaxley says “We had an awesome day, teams came smiling in at the finish line and Mother Nature was on our side.”
Official results and category winners will be on the website www.bigbangadventure.co.nz within a few days but preliminary results saw the college team “Opunake Boys” from Opunake College come 3rd in a time of 6hrs30min18sec. 2nd place were “Opunake Old Boys” in 6hrs27min27sec, with the overall winners team “Hide and Seek” from Wellington in a time of 6hrs24min23sec.
