This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
By Don Goodhue In the January issue of “Wilderness”, an article entitled “Endurance weekend or scenic weekend in the mountains?” sums up the Kaweka Challenge as “fit, puffing, sweaty humans, all pitting themselves against the Ranges _..". And so it was on the weekend of 18 - 19 February that I found myself, perhaps not-so-fit, puffing, and sweating over the Kaweka Ranges in the 1995 Kaweka Challenge. It had all started on a Club trip to the Lodge late last year - Alastair suggested to Malinda the idea of taking on the Kaweka Challenge. The fact that it was called a “challenge” and not a “tramp” probably had something to do with her saying yes (as well as the fact that Alastair had a complimentary entry). Not to be out-done, I promptly piped up and said “count me in”. I had never been to the Kawekas, but had heard a lot about them and the Kaweka Challenge and anyhow, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, I hadn’t been tramping _since May!
gear such as pits, flies etc must be carried. Gear is checked before the start.
Anyhow, now I had got myself into it, I had to find someone to be the other half of the team. Malinda had a friend, Wendy, who had done a bit of tramping in the past and more importantly, was keen. So by Christmas, we had a team, but only 7 weeks left to get into shape. A day walk up Kuripapango in January gave us a good insight into what lay ahead and made it obvious that it wasn't going to be a doddle.
So, after weeks of preparation it was the Friday night before the big day, and we, like about 400 other punters descended on the River Carpark at Kuripapango to set up camp. That night saw gear checks and registration being done, as well as numerous attempts to sort out the absolute minimum gear required for the weekend. Saturday dawned fine and was already shaping up to be a scorcher by the time we started with about 100 other
Now if you've ever been to the Kawekas. and up Kuripapango, you won't need to be told that it is one mean sucker of a hill- 700 metres straight up. Add to this the heat of a Hawkes Bay summer and by the time I got to the top I was beginning to think of better ways to spend the weekend. For the uninitiated, the Kaweka - Challenge is a mountain race, with four courses ranging _-frama one day 54km solo to a more sedate 29km, 2 day “team (of two) event. For the two day events, minimum punters on the “Mackintosh Course 3” The start was about one km up the road from the start of the climb up Kuirpapango - far enough to give the rabbits time to clear out ahead of the main pack.
Our first day was 16km; up to Kiwi Saddle, then on to Castle Camp and Kaiarahi before the long descent down Mackintosh to Mackintosh Hut where we were to spend the night. In comparison, the second day would be a breeze - only 13km back to the start via the Lakes WT&MC'APRIL 1995 and the base of Kuripapango hill. Anyhow, back to the business of the race...
We reached our first objective, Kiwi Saddle Hut (a four hour tramp according to the DOC sign) in 2 hours 15 minutes and took a well-earned 5 minute break in the shade. Then it was off again to Castle Camp, where we took another break and came across a punter from Course 1, the 59km two day solo event. He asked if this was Studholme Saddle and if the next hill was Mad Dog. His face was about as long as the climb up Kuripapango when I told him no, this wasn’t the Studholme Saddle, that was about an hour and a half away, no, that wasn’t Mad Dog but Kaiarahi, and yes, at that rate he still had about six hours to go. It was apparent that a lot of people on the track weren't trampers but runners who had underestimated just what it was all about. Although the track was well marked and it wasn’t necessary to use the map, an amazing number of people still had no idea where they were going. A number of times we came across a group of punters waiting for someone to show them where the track headed to next.
After a long grovelly descent, we finally arrived at Mackintosh Hut, 6 hours and 7 minutes after setting out, having only stopped for a total of about 15 minutes all day. The fastest team had finished about 2 hours ahead of us and the last were about 2 hours behind. Dinner that night wasinteresting with most punters travelling ultralight and surviving on Moros for dinner, we served up the normal Tongue & Meats fare of stir fry, cheese cake etc. Alastair had positioned himself and his stove right where everyone had to walk past to the stream and get a good whiff of his culinary delights on the way. Our story was that since we weren't going to win, we might as well be comfortable.
After the tops on Saturday, Sunday was a pleasant change. Ina mass start at 8.30am, we all lined up in our finishing order from the previous day and headed off through the bush. The trip out was through mostly Manuka and pine forest, and apart from a couple of big grunts was uneventful - except for a slight problem I had crossing a swamp about ten minutes from the finish. By now, most teams had sorted out where they came in the pecking order - it was interesting to see a team charge past on a downhill, only to know we would pass them struggling up the other side, then they would pass us again and so on,
We finally crossed the finish line after a total of 9 hours and 38 minutes on the go. Of the other WT&MC teams, Anne and Johnny were about one hour ahead and Malinda and Alastair were about and hour behind overall. It had been a fun weekend of puffing and sweating in outstanding country with brilliant weather, and will certainly be on the trip schedule next year. Two of our teams won spot prizes (I can think of easier ways to get hold of a new pair of socks!), but what was most important was that we had achieved what we set Out to do and had fun doing it.
Representing the Tongue & Meats in the 1995 Kaweka Challenge were: Alastair Booth and Malinda Goodhue, Don Goodhue and Wendy Rodie, Anne Mould and Johnny Booth. (Now that Malinda has done her first tramp, she reckons she will stick to easy trips for awhile!).