Du-O Endur-O at Wingell-O

Monday, 18 October 2010

Despite the cold blast that swept across NSW on Saturday, the 2010 MTBO Bike Adventure @ Wingello (otherwise known as Endur-O at Wingell-O) was blessed with a clear fine day ... although heading west into that wind reminded us of the snow that organiser Chris Schulz claimed he saw falling in Wingello Forest on Saturday morning.

At the pre-start briefing, participants were greeted with news of the "Bearing Gifts" stage - a special point-scoring opportunity involving foot-orienteering (on an upscaled MTBO map - interesting indeed).  This was the first key to scoring a swag of points - with 400 points (including 100 bonus points) on offer, and one team clearing the foot-o section in 33 minutes - it was a good way to rack up quick points.

Even the bike-o controls were mostly located off the tracks - making for an interesting mix between riding, bush-bashing, log-running and track-finding.  Not to mention the navigation and the route choice decision-making.

With a plethora of controls to choose from (and thanks to all those people who helped after the event with collection of the many controls our organisers, Chris Schulz and Simon Nott, had placed in the forest), route choice was a key factor.

Some excellent scores were achieved - check out the results here.  Others were happy just to make it back without needing to call out the willing services of our friendly St Johns First Aiders.

With an excellent post-event BBQ hosted by Wingello Public School's P&C group, Wingello Camp was the scene of many smiling faces at 3.15pm on Sunday afternoon.

Category winners were smiling even more when they received their prizes, including 2 bottles of specially labelled commemmorative sparkling wine (from The Winepoint), a hydration backpack, a Bundy on Tap Camelbak water bottle (from Ye Olde Bicycle Shoppe in Bundanoon), and a voucher from Cranks Bikes.