Wellington Area Trail Riding Club

Turakina Ride - Change of Venue

2012-01-10T12:04:00.003+13:00

We've updated the details in the Calendar (and removed the link to the Cluny Farm ride poster) so we're on track for a great ride at a new venue in the Turakina Valley.

The venue is Mareeba Farm, 499 Turakina Valley Road, and is somewhat closer to the main highway than Cluny Farm.

While Aimee and Tash have been finding gaps in the weather to get out and find useable trails, I've been "hiking" vicariously over the farm through Google Earth, stitching together explored segments from the club GPS, and getting the overall distances worked out. It looks like a great trail and I feel like I know the place already.

Fingers crossed for a fine day - Hope to see you there.

Newsletter 151 includes Pikarere ride poster

2012-01-08T16:29:00.000+13:00

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope those of you who have finished their break have come back relaxed and refreshed, and for those of you still on holiday, we wish you better weather than we're having right now.

The latest newsletter has been emailed to subscribers, along with results from Waikawa Beach and Battle Hill. We haven't quite got around to making the mailing list changes we'd intended, but we'll let you know when we manage to get ourselves organised.

Some of you may already be aware that the Turakina ride is to be transferred to another venue, still on the Turakina Valley Road, but not as far along it. This is due to the recent rains washing out the river crossings, rendering these unsafe. Even if that were not the case, with the current and forecast rain for the region there would still be a high risk of the ride being postponed due to flooding.

The alternative venue is another farm in the same area, which has a large stock and farm vehicle bridge over the river. The terrain is similar to Cluny Farm's but there is not as much trail through flat padocks before getting into the hills. The hills are mostly rolling, so there's quite a lot of up and down. As best we can tell it will be a good work-out but not as tough as our toughest rides.

Our main challenge will be getting a trail planned and marked in the time available, and the weather is not helping. We've been working with GPS data from previous exploratory rides and have a good idea of possible trails in Google Earth, but it's a matter of getting out there to see if they match up on the ground with what we think we see on our screens.

We'll keep you posted as soon as we have details, but for now, consider Turakina "on".

Battle Hill photos uploading

2011-12-26T22:49:00.002+13:00

Another big set so the upload to Flickr will be running overnight and may still be going on Tuesday morning. The link to the set is already on the Photos page but as usual the set will require some finishing touches once the upload is complete. Until then the slide show gadget will report no photos found but otherwise the photos are available as soon as they're uploaded. Enjoy.

I hope everyone has had a pleasant Xmas - the weather has certainly been at its best, although the outlook for new year is looking a bit shakey. Dove is having a day or two of rest after celebrating Xmas day with a hike up a hill and a picnic with a view across Cook Straight into Cloudy Bay. She doesn't much care for the view, but she enjoyed the Xmas cake.

Battle Hill Results, Pikarere Ride Poster

2011-12-24T16:36:00.002+13:00

Well it's a Ho! Ho! Ho! and the night before Xmas and your tireless committee slaves on. We have the ride poster for Pikarere in the Calendar and the checked results from Battle Hill on the Results page. Nicky is preparing a newsletter as well and that will no doubt be posted to you soon.

With regret, the Battle Hill photos still are not ready, but now that the day job has wrapped up for the break and the pre-Xmas rounds of socialising are done there is some hope for getting them done
(if I can just avoid the gardening chores ;-)

So, what a great first half of the season we've had. We've been lucky with the weather and fortunate to have only one ride cancelled (sometimes the spring weather can play havoc with our schedule).

First up in January is Turakina. This is a gorgeous venue tucked into the Turakina Valley off the road to Wanganui - well located for our northern riders, but well worth the trip for our southern riders too. Take a tent and camp at the ride base - the sunrise alone will make it worth your while.

WATRC wishes you a safe and enjoyable festive season and hopes you'll be back in the new year, refreshed and ready to ride.

Waikawa Beach photos uploading

2011-12-14T23:04:00.001+13:00

There's a link from the WATRC photos page now, while the photos are still uploading over-night. When the upload is complete I'll put the finishing touches to the set and the photos page. The slide show gadget won't find the photos until they've been tagged.

Battle Hill photos probably won't be posted until Christmas, sorry, but I'll get them out as quickly as I'm able.

Results for Waikawa Beach posted to the club website

2011-12-08T19:57:00.001+13:00

What a great day - the weather held off and the rains and winds predicted some days before never happened. A very well attended event with the venue almost at capacity.

Thanks to the support of the community the new start/finish line reduced the amount of road work througth the settlement. A minor variation in the northern half of the course reduced the scope for getting lost or straying into soft sands at the Kuku estuary. Altogether a greatly improved course and a wonderful day for a ride.

Results are now on the website. Photos are still some time away, and are unlikely to be available before Battle Hill, sorry.

Pukemarama Photos on Flickr

2011-11-23T07:53:00.001+13:00

The over-night upload finally completed this morning, and I've put a link into the Photos page before heading off to work. I'll complete the cover photo and slide show set up when I get home tonight.

Another big set - Pukemarama turned out to be a photographer's course with a very busy junction about 3 km into the ride at the intersection of the two sub-loops that formed the main loop. Combine with the big field, many of the early and 2 loop rides feature several times as a result.

The freshly metalled farm tracks turned out not too bad, probably because of the recent wet weather - the stones and grit had not compacted so were still relatively soft underfoot. A great venue and the weather, while not perfect for photography, was good for CTR - overcast and cool.

Results were released a few days ago, and a newsletter is due any day. Waikawa Beach a little over a week away now so we're into our season full swing.

Pukemarama Course Update

2011-11-07T18:38:00.003+13:00

Just through from our course markers (yes, a lot of time and effort goes on before you get to ride a course) is advice that many of the main farm races on Pukemarama have been freshly re-metalled and so will have more loose stones on the surface than previously.

This doesn't make the course un-usable by any means, but we are advising barefoot competitors to fit boots to their mounts, and all riders will need to exercise judgement and ride to the conditions they find on the day.

Also we now have updated distances - 33 km for the long classes and 19 km for the shorter.

So, just a few more days away now and fingers crossed for fine riding weather.

See you there.

Foxton Ride Cancelled

2011-10-28T21:35:00.003+13:00

We're very disappointed, but sometimes these things happen despite our best efforts. Our course marker was advised today as they were finalising the course that there were access problems at the venue, and it simply hasn't left us time to make alternative arrangements. Consequently we're forced to cancel.

This is such a great venue, and we'd love to say we could postpone, but the reality is our calendar is already pretty full and the chances of finding an alternate date for the venue this season are not high.

However, we have Pukemarama coming up next on 13 November. Similar terrain (flat) and only a little further north (directions are in the calendar) and maybe by then the weather will be a little better.

Our sincere apologies for any disruption to your weekend plans - rest assured if there'd been another viable option we'd have taken it.

In the meantime, keep your rides fit, and we'll look forward to seeing you at Pukemarama

Great start to our new season of rides

2011-10-27T22:47:00.001+13:00

Maymorn was a wonderful ride and very well attended - great to see many of our regular riders, especially those who we mostly see at our southern venues, as well as a lot of new faces. Welcome all, and we hope you can make it to more of our events.

The latest newsletter and results from Maymorn have been published - and the photos are in the process of uploading as I write. If you just can't wait you can access the partially uploaded set and periodically refresh the page to see more images as they arrive. The slide show on the photos page won't work until I tag the images once everything has been uploaded, probably on Friday morning.

Foxton on Sunday - a very flat venue and we hear the ground conditions are good so it should be a good ride if the weather is kind.

See you there.

Maymorn details published

2011-09-25T14:45:00.000+13:00

A refreshed ride poster for Maymorn is now available (and will likely be included in your next emailed newsletter, due soon).

Some of you may notice that we've reviewed and revised the distances for this event. This followed from preparation of a trail profile, based on GPS data of the Novice course which has consistently shown the course shorter than advertised over several years.

The extended Open course options have yet to be measured by GPS (we hope to do that this year) and have been created within Google Earth and checked against other mapping products. Again, we've concluded that the longer courses have been consistently shorter than previously advertised, and this has been born out by some of our more experienced riders who've found they had to travel much more slowly than expected in the latter stages of the return journey.

Also just available today is the poster for the Foxton ride at the end of October. If reviewing the trail profile for this venue, keep in mind that the course on our farm venues may vary from year to year, so the trail used this year may not be the same as last year's, although we expect it will use some of the same sections. At venues such as Foxton, variations from year to year depend on where stock and crops are situated, whereas trails in public parks (such as Maymorn) have limited options and tend to follow the same course each year. In other words, the trail profiles should be used as a guide to the venue and terrain, not a map of the course.

Anyway, we hope everyone's preparations for the competition season are well underway and going to plan, and we look forward to seeing al our regulars and a bunch of new faces at Maymorn on the 16th, just 3 weeks from now.

New season's Ride Calendar released

2011-08-07T16:28:00.004+12:00

It seems we've no sooner finished the last season than we start planning the next one. Your committee has worked out a provisional ride calendar for 2011/12. We think we have the dates and venues pretty well sorted, but we do need to get a few more confirmations from land owners and organisers.

Of course, the calendar is subject to change through the season, but we think we have enough there now that you can start planning your campaign. While each of our events is a challenge in it's own right, the larger challenge is to complete a season with your horse still fit and sound.

During the off-season, other things have been happenning.

As time has allowed, we've added some new trail profiles to the website, but there are more to come.

We've made some experimental layout changes on the photos page. With some of our members living in rural areas having only dial-up internet, we thought it might be worth trying a slide show gadget that presents a small low resolution show from the event set on Flickr. The gadget also includes navigation features. Broadband users can also put the show into fullscreen mode and take advantage of their higher speed service.

So with the amazingly mild winter we've had so far no doubt most of your horses have remained in light work at least, and you'll be able to get busy on your pre-season training. And while you're doing that, we'll get the organisation humming again.

Newsletter 146 wraps up the riding season

2011-05-09T19:51:00.003+12:00

In the latest news letter we have a wrap-up report for the riding season, a summary of member success at the Endurance National Championships, and our usual features.

Plus an appeal for anyone who has not yet returned trophies from last year to get them back as soon as possible - details are in the news letter.

AGM and Prize-giving is pencilled in for Sunday 26 June at Waikanae but has still to be confirmed. Make a note of the date and try to keep it free.

Waitarere Photos uploaded to Flickr

2011-04-24T10:48:00.003+12:00

Two weeks to the day, finally the photos are linked from our photos page. Sorry about the delay. To be honest if it wasn't for the Easter break I wouldn't have made it as I lost a couple of nights editing while out of town on business.

What a great finish to our CTR season. Waitarere is always an excellent venue and has a nice variety of trails over fairly forgiving terrain. A fast course greatly facilitated by our hosts who go to some trouble and effort to ensure that stock is moved off the trail and riders have a minimum of gates to open - we're very grateful.

Definitely a walking photographer's course this year, with the trail bending back on itself to create some common ground (two-way traffic) and busy junctions, giving the opportunity to catch riders several times. I particularly liked being able to work parts of the trail forward and backwards, knowing that my "shortcuts" would still have riders on them. I had 4 hours trail time available and covered about 12 km, and was busy the whole time.

Of course, all that means a lot of pictures taken and a lot of selection to do, but I hope you enjoy the results. The selection phase is very important, and it's by far the bigger piece of work. When I'm taking the pictures, I'm not really seeing the detail. It's more about framing horse and rider, finding a reliable focus point, and tracking the moving subject.

Once the pictures are on the computer, that's when I'm looking at the detail - checking the sharpness of focus, eliminating shots where horses or riders have their eyes closed, tongues sticking out (a lot more lip licking happens than you might suspect ;-) or where one or other looks uncomfortable, unbalanced, etc.

In doing this it's not about looking for the "perfect" shot. I'm just looking for a range of shots of each combination that (I hope) they will feel good about, and from which they can select their own favourites.

One of our members commented recently as they rode by that they loved how good I made their horse look. Actually, it's not me - it's you - but I hope, maybe, I can capture and share with you how great you all look.

Have fun, take care, and come back next season.

David

Club Champs Results are on the website

2011-04-12T20:44:00.002+12:00

Well, that's a wrap for another season. Twelve rides from October through April - it might have been more but for inclement weather in the early season forcing some postponements.

While the rides are finished, the work isn't quite done. Your committee will be reviewing the year. looking at what went well and what can be improved, getting the AGM and Prizegiving organised, and giving some thought to the next season's calendar.

We had wonderful conditions for the champs with an overcast day, recently softened ground, and a brilliantly well marked course. The results have been posted to the website. Photos are still some way off but will be linked as soon as they're available.

Club Championships Ride Time Draw available

2011-04-04T08:40:00.002+12:00

Start times for all Championship riders were drawn at random and have now been released - please check the draw for your start time. Non-Championships entries are still being accepted and can be entered on the day, but we ask that you pre-enter if possible to reduce pressure on the entries desk. See you at Champs

Pikarere photos uploaded and linked from the photos page

2011-04-02T23:12:00.005+13:00

A smaller set this time - result of a combination of the weather conditions and a relatively short time on the trail for me. Unfortunately I didn't catch everyone on the trail, missing a few of the late starters who were hidden in fog on the first hill while I had to cut back to base (I could hear you, guys, but I sure couldn't see you ;-) Of course, even some riders I did see were under less than ideal conditions.

What weather it was. The trail had been marked earlier in the week under brilliant sun I'm told, and even on Saturday when I went around with Nicky for an informal TD and to put in some extra markers (and drive in those the stock had pushed out) the day gave no clue of what was to come on Sunday. Pikarere will be developing a reputation for pea-soupers.

By the time the thunderstorm hit, we'd had enough - fortunately we were already packed for a quick get-away so as the rain-drops got fatter and wetter, we dragged the horse onto the float and made a run for it. So, let's hope for better weather for the Champs

Waitohu photos on Flickr

2011-03-24T08:05:00.002+13:00

Upload of the Waitohu set completed through the night and the set is now linked from the photos page.

Just a few days to go now until Pikarere, and only a few weeks until Champs at Waitarere.

Champs entries close on 31 March and entries will be taken at Pikarere, but please place champs entries in a separate envelope. Check the calendar page for entrie forms.

See you there.

Turakina photos uploading to Flickr

2011-03-10T22:31:00.002+13:00

I've just finished the edits and the upload of Turakina is now underway. Usual deal - it will run through the night while we sleep, with luck it will run to completion, but if not, I'll revive it in the morning and try to get it through before work, and failing that on Friday evening.

Just a few more days until Waitohu now, and we're racing towards the end of another season with just Pikarere and the Champs at Waitarere to go. If you haven't yet qualified in your preferred champs class, Waitohu and Pikarere are your last opportunities, so make the most of them. Both are good solid workouts.

See you on the trail.

Newsletter 145 and Turakina results published

2011-03-08T07:54:00.003+13:00

Our latest newsletter is just out, along with results from the Turakina ride.

Photos are still a few days away.

Turakina had an excellent day with enough overcast and a light breeze to keep it from becoming hot. An ecellent turn out for one of our more distant rides for many. Also great to see a number of local riders joining us for the day, and we hope to see them back again.

Waitohu is shaping up weather wise (fingers crossed) and we hope to see you there.

New trail profiles released

2011-02-21T11:27:00.002+13:00

Buried in our website we have a number of trail profiles that aim to give a bit more information about some of our competition venues and the courses. The maps are generally based on a combination of GPS data, topographical mapping, and satellite imagery, and the commentary is fairly described as "subjective".

Historically, we used images (screenshots) taken from a mapping product. These days, there is a wealth of choice in geographical systems, and many are based either on Google Earth or Google Maps. Because these tools are freely accessible to anyone with a PC or laptop and Internet access, it makes sense for our current approach to utilise these tools.

Therefore, we're beginning to develop map and commentary packages using both the GPX and KML/KMZ formats.

GPX is an open standard format for geographical information, particularly well suited to sports, and very portable between different mapping products. Most GPS devices will support an export function to GPX, and most mapping products will import GPX files.

KML is a proprietary format developed for Google Earth that performs essentially the same functions as GPX but with extensions and enhancements suited to the needs of 3 dimensional map viewers. KMZ is a "zipped" format of KML and is useful for distributing additional material to accompany the KML files.

In the last few days, we've added updated profiles for the Foxton and Bright's Farm venues to our pages and the KMZ and GPX files that accompany these can be downloaded from the profile pages. More detailed commentary is included in the KMZ and can be reviewed in Google Earth.

Increasingly we're able to obtain raw GPS data from the the course marking, the technical delegate inspections ("Tee-Dee-ing"), or from the ride itself (a competitor may be asked to carry a sealed GPS unit in a saddle bag). Putting it all together we get a fairly good view of the trail.

The raw data then has to be corrected and smoothed, and we tend to adjust the trail to fit with satellite imagery, which sometimes can be a little off (especially where the satellite was off to one side of a slope). There's a bit of work involved, but we think it's worthwhile, and very much in the interests of our sport to ensure that competitors have a reasonable indication of what conditions and trail features the venue offers.

At the moment we've yet to settle on a standardised presentation style, and the first attempt with Belmont looks quite different to the more recent work. And perhaps the KMZ and GPX formats aren't that convenient for you. For example, would screen shots still be useful, or would you like us to produce PDF files that you can print from?

So, take a look at what we've got, and give your feedback to a committee member. We want to make sure we're giving you useful information in a useful format.

Manakau Results online - Photos uploading

2011-02-19T18:46:00.003+13:00

The Manakau Farm photo set is a little smaller than recent sets - a few reasons for this:

First, I was out on the trail only for a short time due to obligations back at the ride base, but that said, I was out long enough to get shots of nearly everyone, with the last riders leaving shortly before my return time - so it all worked out pretty well in the end.

Second, I had to drop back to my older camera and a shorter lens - after a minor accident at Maymorn my usual gear is off at the local agent for some repairs and my back-up has a slower frame rate, so less photos in the same time - fortunately we have accidental damage cover to take away the pain, but the inconvenience is unavoidable.

However, that worked in nicely with the last issue - the rain. A shorter lens meant I had to wait for people to get closer, which also meant that there was less time to take photos, but also meant less exposure of sensitive electronics to the damp - not such a bad compromise in the circumstances.

So, as is common with some other marginal weather sets, the images are a little grainier (if you look at some at full size you'll see the rain drops ;-) and a little darker and flatter.

But everyone seemed to be having fun despite the weather, and in truth it wasn't cold and it wasn't that bad.

Let's hope for better conditions at Turakina.

Oh - and the results are in the usual place.

Maymorn photos uploading

2011-02-16T21:11:00.002+13:00

My apologies for the delay in getting this set prepared - spare time has been at a premium in the last two weeks and a few other tasks had to take priority. But the upload is underway now, and as usual will probably finish sometime in the small hours. It's quite a big set because I was out on the trail until the last riders got home, and snapped most riders twice.

Next comes Manakau - a smaller field and less shots to sort through, so with luck I'll have it done before Turakina.

Speaking of which, Turakina is a great venue and well worth the trip.

Hope to see you there.

Bright's Farm photos uploading

2011-01-24T14:55:00.003+13:00

The upload is under way but is likely to take some hours, and may have to be interupted. It should certainly be complete by Tuesday morning, but between now and then I expect I'll have to deal with a glitch or two ;-)

It will be quite a large set. I got out just ahead of the first riders but had to be back at base for strapping duties after two hours, so I stayed in the front part of the trail, walking out and back to ensure I got photos of all competitors. Apart from a few riders who made a course error and never passed me (I saw their disappearing backs in the distance ;-) I got pretty much everyone.

After final vetting for my connections I got out on the trail again, but with most riders leading their horses down the long final hill it didn't seem worth leaving the Control Area (well, that's my excuse) where all riders should at least be mounted.

As it worked out, I saw quite a few of the earlier starters several times on the course when they were coming back through for their second loop as I was returning to the base, and then again the Intermediates and Opens were finishing their rides while I was on my second sortie. Consequently, a large set.

And, in all other respects a very successful event - we were a little lucky with the weather, but a cool day is usually very good for the heart rates and is always welcome at Brights by the horses - the hill climbs are long and strenuous, but the extra time allowed ensured that the ride was feasible.

We're now looking forward to Maymorn, and keeping fingers crossed for fine weather.

Hope to see you all there.

Sunday 16 January - Change of venue

2011-01-04T20:07:00.002+13:00

Regretfully we've had to change the venue for this event - we were going to be at Pikarere, but now we will be holding the event at Bright's Farm instead. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Pikarere will not be available to us on the scheduled date. Fortunately, trail conditions at Bright's Farm have improved over the last few months and the venue is available, so that's where we'll be.

Brights is a challenging course, and in response to past feedback the course designers will be ensuring that additional time is allowed. Of course, you have the option to enter a slower / shorter class if you're concerned your mount will not be ready for a harder course. We definitely advise against chooosing this venue for your first step up to a higher class.

Once course marking is completed later this week, we expect to have a ride flyer out with full details.

Newsletter 143 and Pikarere ride-flyer published

2010-12-22T23:48:00.002+13:00

While we're wrapping up the calendar year, the WATRC season continues full speed ahead. our last newsletter for 2010 is available to download and we have ride fliers for the next ride at Pikarere, and the rescheduled Maymorn ride at the end of January.

We hope you get lots of fine days to go riding over the festive season, and hope to see you fit and well and ready to ride at our first event in 2011.

Battle Hill photos uploading over-night

2010-12-20T22:17:00.002+13:00

You'll find a link to the last ride before Xmas on the photos page as usual. The upload will complete in the small hours of Tuesday and sometime during the day I'll apply the tags, select the cover shot, and remove the progress image.

That's it now until Pikarere in January - we're expecting a newsletter and ride flyer in the next few days, so check back on the website or watch your email.

Have a safe and happy Xmas and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Foxton Photos published

2010-12-11T11:46:00.002+13:00

I didn't think I was going to make it before Battle Hill, but I did - Foxton photos are now on-line and I've cleared my back-log, at least for a day!!

Along with others from WATRC, I attended the funeral of Gabrielle Deuss on Thursday. On our behalf, Eunice Tyler paid tribute to Gabrielle's contribution to equestrian sport, along with representatives from other organisations with whom Gabrielle has been associated.

The most moving tributes were given by her family and I'm sure all of us who know the Deuss's will support them through this time.

Battle Hill tomorrow has a new extension for the Intermediate and Open riders. The shorter distance remains much as it was, traversing the farm and the extended Puketiro Loop, while the longer distance covers a new section of private land stretching along the tops towards Flighty's Road. This should help take some of the sting out of what's always been a challenging ride as past extensions have often involved additional steep hill-climbs.

This is the last ride of the calendar year and is always popular despite the challenging terrain.

Hope to see you there, somewhere on the trail.

Gabrielle Deuss

2010-12-06T07:48:00.003+13:00

With sadness we learned over the weekend of the passing of Gabrielle Deuss after a long illness.

Gabrielle and the Deuss family are long time members of WATRC and supporters of CTR and Endurance riding in the Wellington and Wairarapa areas.

WATRC has sent condolences on behalf of members to the Deuss family, husband Eberhard and children Kirstin, Felix and Tessa.

A celebration of Gabrielle's life will be held on Thursday 9 December at 2 pm

Cornwall Manor
Cnr Knights Road and Cornwall St
Lower Hutt

Wainuiomata Photos on-line

2010-12-04T08:31:00.003+13:00

The Wainuiomata set is smaller than usual, reflecting on the one hand the smaller size of the field, and on the other the shorter time your photographer was out on the course. I haven't worked out whether I got shots of everyone or not - the course layout and my limited time meant I got only as far as the second loop start point for the Open and Intermediate riders, but at least that was a point that every rider had to pass at least once, so the chances are if you saw me, I saw you.

A challenging ride and whatever else you may have thought of it, you have to admire the locals and their horses for whom this terrain and similar is their normal training and recreation venue. Magnificent views as promised, and a handy location for the more southerly based competitors.

I've now started on the Foxton set - I doubt it will be complete before the Battle Hill ride, but I'm hopeful that both will be available before Xmas - Foxton is another big set, and I expect Battle Hill will be too as it's the last ride of the calendar year and hosts our Rhona Fraser Challenge event.

While Battle Hill is another challenging ride with the long climb and descent of the Puketiro Loop track, we're hoping this year to use trails on neighbouring private land to provide the extensions to the course. Having seen some of the trails that are likely to be used, I'm hopeful that these will enhance this course and encourage more competitors to try the longer classes.

Hope to see you there.

Pukemarama Photos published - Last minute Foxton course update

2010-11-27T09:05:00.004+13:00

Photos from Pukemarama were uploaded overnight and the finishing touches applied this morning. Still backlogged on Wainuiomata and about to compound my problems with Foxton tomorow, but we're getting there slowly.

A technical hitch while out and about on the Pukemarama trail has resulted in shots of a couple of pairs of competitors being of much poorer quality than I aim for, but I was able to salvage at least a record of their appearance - we'll aim to do better for them at Foxton.

We're passing on last minute advice of further revision to the Foxton course, dropping the distance a couple of kilometers per loop (so now 36 km for Open and Intermediate, and 18 km for other classes) and times have been adjusted accordingly. This is just one of those things that can happen - our rides are often on private land and the needs of a working farm take precedence. We owe a vote of thanks to Aimee and Sandy for their long hours spent scouting, marking, measuring, and then modifying and re-measuring this course - it will be an excellent ride and to judge by the pre-entries received (69) you all think so too.

Please remember to confirm your finalised ride times and distances when you register your entries at the desk - the times and distances published on the website and in the newsletter are only a guide, and the ground jury may alter a course after publication for safety reasons or to accommodate the wishes of the land owner.

See you there.

Foxton Course update

2010-11-23T19:32:00.002+13:00

With measurment and marking of the Foxton course now compelete we have revised distances and times posted in the calendar and emailed to members and pre-entered competitors.

For completeness, we include the information here for the benefit of our readers.

Novice - 20 km (2 hrs 30)
MBT and Junior - 20 km (2 hrs)
Intermediate - 40 km (4 hrs)
Open - 40 km (3 hrs 20)

Hope to see you all there

Newsletter 141 and Wainuiomata results published

2010-11-16T07:59:00.002+13:00

Hard on the heels of last night's release of photos, results, and ride flyers we have the latest news and results from Sunday's ride at the new Wainuiomata venue.

Enjoy

Waikawa photos, Pukemarama results, Battle Hill ride flyer

2010-11-15T22:00:00.002+13:00

It's taken a while to get through the Waikawa Beach set, but finally the photos are online and linked.

The Pukemarama ride results have been checked and confirmed and posted tonight.

A ride flyer for Battle Hill (12 December) has been received and posted on the site.

Details for the up-coming Foxton ride are also posted. Check the Calendar for details.

It's all happening at last.

Season started - Waikawa Beach results - Wainuiomata ride flyer

2010-11-04T21:28:00.003+13:00

At last - things were looking a bit bleak for a few weeks there, but finally we're under way and I can stop talking about the "first ride of the season", referring to a different venue each time !!

As usual, the Waikawa Beach venue has proven very popular - a large field and lots of folks taking advantage of the flat, fast terrain to try the next level up - 8 entries in Open is a very good turn-out - well done those who took the plunge.

We're now off to a good start, with Newsletter 140 published along with Waikawa results, and a ride flyer for the new Wainuiomata venue.

Pukemarama, also a new venue is reportedly a wonderful location and the trail has been marked and measured and checked. This will be another fast flat ride, but conditions underfoot will be much firmer as the ground has dried after the early season flooding.

If you're intending to take advantage of the camping facilities at the venue, please note that our hosts have requested that you arrive after 4:00 pm on Saturday.

Also, take a moment or two to programme the new club cellphone number 022 023 4914 into your phones - we'll use this number to post messages giving advance notice of any cancellations, as well as a using it as a ride-base contact number for emergencies during our events, but do note that this is subject to network coverage.

Oh - photos - I'm battling through them but with rides 3 weekends in a row, I am definitely going to have a backlog and there will be some delay in getting them posted - as soon as they're available they'll be posted and I'll set up the usual link from the club site.

See you at Pukemarama

Waikawa Beach pre-entries close 8 p.m. Friday 29 October

2010-10-26T20:23:00.003+13:00

Through an oversight, the pre-entries closure date for the postponed Maymorn ride was not updated when the Calendar page was updated for Waikawa Beach this Sunday. My apologies for this. If you know anyone who thought they couldn't enter because of this, please let them know that pre-entries are still open and we're keen to have them join us.

Meanwhile, we await favourable weather for Sunday with bated breath - while it's not unheard of for our rides to be postponed or cancelled due to the weather or the ground conditions at a venue, it's always a great disappointment to us. Rest assured, the decision to cancel a ride is not taken lightly.

We're investigating the feasibility of setting up a club phone with voicemail greeting so that if the weather's a bit suspect, you can check the status of the ride before committing to the journey. Of course, if you're leaving early the day before for one of our more distant venues, you may need to check while on the road - while we'll update the status as early as possible you still need to use your own judgement when conditions are marginal.

At this stage, the MetService 10 day forecast is looking quite favourable for Sunday - it's just a matter of timing - if the predicted southerly clears on Saturday, we're in for a wonderful beach ride on Sunday.

Hope to see you there.

David

Maymorn postponed due to MetService Severe Weather Warning

2010-10-16T15:10:00.002+13:00

With considerable regret, our organisers have decided to postpone the Maymorn ride that was scheduled for Sunday 17 October. A severe weather warning issued at 11:13 am on Saturday describes the deteriorating conditions as likely to be hazardous for driving, and we really don't want you towing your horses under those conditions.

At this stage we're uncertain when the ride will be rescheduled - availability of venue and organisers is yet to be determined. We'll keep you posted.

You can keep abreast of the severe weather updates on the Met Service website.
MetService Severe Weather Warning

Newsletter 139 published - rescheduled Pukemarama confirmed for 7 November

2010-10-10T08:47:00.002+13:00

Here we are again - after one false start (hopefully the only one for the year, fingers crossed) the WATRC competition year is about to get under way with the always popular Maymorn ride. No doubt you've all made what use you could of the dry spells in the last 2 weeks to further hone your horse's training. The weather this spring has certainly been a challenge, unless you're a duck !

Ride flyers are now available for Waikawa Beach (31 October) and the re-scheduled Pukemarama (7 November). This year we've adopted the practice of including these in the calendar as a link from the ride so that you can find them easily. Of course, they're also included in preceding newsletters.

Our latest Newsletter reminds you to pre-enter for Intermediate and Open classes, and encourages you to introduce someone new to CTR.

So, we hope to see you and your mount at Maymorn, with a friend.

First newsletter of the new season published

2010-07-22T21:38:00.002+12:00

Our new editor, Nicky, has done a great job of compiling her first club newsletter of the 2010-11 season - sure to be the first of many.

It's membership renewal time again. The club's membership year runs from 1 August to 31 July. For rider and support combinations, the family membership rate is a great deal at $35. You can find a renewal form on our resources page.

If you've ever wondered how the club's awards are assessed, this newletter takes the mystery out of it, and if you've a hankering to get yourself in the running, this information will help you plan your competitive year, just as soon as we have the calendar finalised, of course.

On that topic, while the ride calendar still looks a little sparse, it's mainly because we have still to finalise available dates with our venue owners and event organisers. We expect to firm things up at the next committee meeting in early August.

However, the first ride of the season is now booked in. Pukemarama is another new venue for the club, but easy terrain similar to Waitarere (and probably similar to our Foxton champs venue, Bulls, and Manakau Farm) - fast and flat - just what's needed for a start of season ride as you're still working up to competitive fitness.

So, if you haven't started already, perhaps it's time to get a few winter training rides in whenever you can find a gap in the weather - just over 10 weeks to go ;-)

Greetings from Budapest

2010-06-14T22:44:00.002+12:00

We're in an hotel with broadband internet for a couple of days so I've started to upload some more of the Waitohu photos while we have the opportunity. Unfortunately the ISP appears to be throttling my obviously excessive bandwidth usage, so things are proceeding rather slowly and it's unlikely the uploads will complete before we have to move on to our next destination, Munich.

It's been very hot through Austria and Hungary (30+) and we've mercifully had a thunderstorm this morning to cool things off - now the sun's come out again and it's hot and steamy! Hungarian beers are up to the challenge of dealing with this.

We've been watching the weather back home and noted the very cold temperatures - you have our sympathies - be consoled by the thought that we will be arriving back from a super-heated Europe via tropical Hong Kong just a day or two after NZ mid-winter - it's going to be a very rude shock ;-)

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that the photos have not been forgotten and will be delivered at the latest when we get home just prior to AGM.

Prost!

Greetings from Europe

2010-06-02T08:50:00.002+12:00

Having made it safely from America to Europe without intervention by Icelandic volcanoes, I can report I've also made progress on the Waitohu set, at least in terms of selection. However, our current internet connection as we cruise on the Rhine does not have the bandwidth to upload the images (and I suspect the Flickr website is filtered as I can't access it at this time) so completion of the set will have to wait until we return home in the last week of June.

The weather here has so far been a little so-so - the locals tell us it's usually warmer this time of year (we were getting the same story in America) so it looks like being a long spring with a late start to summer here "up-over".

News and Results following Waitohu: and greetings from America

2010-05-08T09:51:00.004+12:00

It's an extraordinarily civilised country that recognises broadband access as a human right - no, not America, but France - the Americans I doubt ever expected to have to declare it - they just did it. Hence, we sit here in our RV (recreational vehicle - think "campervan") and check our email, note the latest news and results from Catherine, and what-the-hey update the website - after all it's most likely hosted on an American server anyway, and I guess we're closest ;-)

We're a couple of hundred miles (it's hard thinking in miles again after all these years of metric system) south of San Franciso on the coast at Morro Bay - about halfway to Los Angeles, although we're not necessarily headed there. The main thing bringing us this way (don't laugh) is the quest for a saddle!! About 20 miles inland from here is San Luis Obispo, seat of the county of the same name, and base for Longriders, with whom we've had some past dealings. And yes, again don't laugh, shopping has been on the agenda.

Longriders is in fact mainly an Internet business with only a small display stock, but enough to get those acquisatorial juices flowing - still no saddle, but chances are that will be our next direction setter - there's a saddlery a wee way south of LA that's been getting favourable murmurings ;-) Tonight will be spent planning our hops and stops for the remaining 2 weeks so that we get to see a few non-equestrian sights in amongst the other missions.

No progress to report on the balance of the Waitohu photos, sorry - they'll arrive in due course but probably not for a good while now.

Anyway - enough for now - we're on holiday ;-)

See you at AGM

Part set of Waitohu Photos uploading

2010-05-02T23:12:00.002+12:00

I'm running out of time before heading overseas, so I'll only get about half of the Waitohu photos uploaded before departing these shores for a couple of months. And while I'll have a laptop with me so might get time to do some more, realistically it's more likely that not a lot more will happen until I get home.

Sorry about this, but there's just too much to do before we go and not enough time to do it all. I'm hoping that I've at least got a shot of everyone who was on the ride, and when I finish the set there will be some more.

See you at the AGM

Waitarere photos uploading

2010-04-26T23:51:00.002+12:00

The usual story - upload will proceed through the night. With luck it won't break down, and in the morning I can put the finishing touches to the set. Otherwise, sometime later tomorrow should see it done.

Just Waitohu to go now - I'll try to get that done before Leslie and I go overseas, but no promises - we've got a lot to do between now and then.

We'll be back in time for AGM - see you there.

Where's the photos of Waitarere ?

2010-04-23T20:05:00.002+12:00

Er... yep... sorry... They are coming (as is Xmas) but I've had a hectic couple of weeks at work trying to wrap up some projects before Leslie and I take off overseas for a couple of months, and it's been hard to find time to do the edits. Even when I've had time I've been so knackered that I've made little headway.

However, progress is being made - not sure if I'll have the set up before Waitohu, but certainly before we leave.

Apologies for the delay but don't panic - it will happen ;-)

Photos from Foxton available online

2010-04-07T22:52:00.002+12:00

Seems that some of you have already discovered this, but I thought I should probably blog it in case there are some of you who wait for the announcement (yeah, right ;-)

The large upload proceeded last night and worked without interuption (which is rare I have to say) and I was able to put the finishing touches to the set this morning and get the site links updated, but an early work engagement meant I had to leave the blog 'til later. It's a big set as predicted as the trail design allowed multiple opportunities to shoot each competitor - if I didn't get very many shots one time, I usually got more another. Also managed to get a few nice sequences of shots for some of you showing phases through your mount's pace.

You may have noticed the new filename prefix on the images - this indicates yet another camera upgrade - the "original" images are now 18 megapixels - the compressed JPG files are generally somewhere between 6 - 10 megabytes (average in the set is about 7.5MB) so just be aware of the size if you want to download for printing.

This is a grainier set than usual due to the overcast day and the high proportion of shots in forest. The 3200 ISO setting is pushing the sensor fairly hard, and I probably should have dropped it down whenever the opportunity presented. The smaller number of images shot at 800 and 1600 have turned out better (in open and sunlit conditions I usually shoot at 400 ISO). However, at screen resolution or for small prints, the effects should not be so noticeable - it's mainly when blown up to full size the graininess and fuzziness becomes obvious.

Anyway, enough of me wittering on about cameras and ISO and image qualities - I hope you enjoy the photos, and look forward to seeing you at Waitarere this coming weekend.

Championships results and Newsleter 134 published

2010-04-03T17:09:00.003+13:00

Out today are the results from the Champs ride at Foxton. A great new venue and one we hope we can use again in future.

The latest newsletter was published today also, and in it the flyer for the next ride at Waitarere, and ever popular venue with flat terrain over farm and forest trails.

So, taking advantage of a site update opportunity, we've taken the next step in migrating to our new website host, placing notice of closure and an alternative link in our most prominent landing pages, and updating the navigation sidebar so that all sidebar links should now direct you to the equivalant page on the new website.

In fact, the migration of content is complete, and the remaining steps are all about moving you from the old site to the new one. If you have bookmarks or "Favourites" to the old site or pages in it, you'll need to update these before the end of June.

We haven't gone through the entire old website and updated every internal link to point it to the new site. If you've kept deep links to pages in our website you may still have some limited ability to navigate within the old site (until it dies), but once you land on the new site, its links should keep you there.

Still working on the photos from Foxton - the overcast day and lots of forest shooting means the images are often grainier, the focus softer, and the dynamic range lower due to the compromises one must make to get the shot. On the up-side however, the course layout was such that I covered all of it except for the loop over the sand hill, and I saw most competitors more than once, so there's lots of shots to choose from.

No ETA for the set, sorry, but I'm aiming to deliver before the next ride.

See you at Waitarere.

"Hoofin' It Online", our website, is hoofin' it over to Google Sites

2010-03-25T08:37:00.002+13:00

Over the past few weeks, we've been moving our website to Google sites. If you're a blog user, you already know this and the sidebar links in the blog already take you to the new site.

Now we think it's time to start everyone else moving, and our WCN hosted Home page is being updated to advise our regular users. Our other pages will be updated next, and our website navigation sidebar not long after.

While our old site will continue to exist up until 30 June, updates are likely to cease before then to encourage folk to make the move.

If you find broken or misleading links on the new site, please contact the webmaster so that we can get it fixed.

Turakina photos now uploaded

2010-03-22T18:28:00.003+13:00

A bit of a false start when the computer rebooted in the middle of the night (shortly after I went to bed, of course), followed by curses in the morning and restarting the balance of the upload, followed by the finishing touches this evening - but it's done now.

Of course some of you haven't waited (good-on-ya) and will have found yourselves already (or not). If you were one of the folk who got in before the job was finished, take another look at the set - you may find yourself later on the trail.

We're now on weather watch for the coming weekend, hoping that early indications of rain are un-founded, or that things will change between now and then. Looking forward to it and hoping to see you all there.

Photos from Turakina uploading

2010-03-21T23:05:00.003+13:00

Upload is in progress now and will run over-night. It's taken me so long to complete the first pass-through of the photos that I've chosen to upload now rather than delay further for a second pass - kind of a quality control and trimming exercise that we'll just have to forego this time. This means the set is quite large.

It was always going to be a fairly big set as I've included shots taken around the farm on the evening before the event, and the layout of the course meant many competitors passed me twice. There were also some great opportunities for getting a long sequence of shots on the more open parts of the course, so I've kept a larger number of shots where I had plenty to chose from.

On the website migration front (one reason for the delay in getting this set done) progress has been good, with the new site now running in parallel and the blog re-homed. The remaining tasks now are to update the club's email addresses published on both sites, and to review the blog for links to the old website and update these to the new site.

At some time in the near future now, the old site will start to carry notices of the move and the sidebar links will be updated to point to the new site. Once that is done, there will be very little incentive to continue to maintain the old site, and it will be left pending the closure of WCN hosting.

Anyway, next ride is the Club Champs at Foxton - a new venue for everyone, and we hope to see you there.

This blog has moved

2010-03-16T20:31:00.003+13:00

This blog is now located at http://watrcnz.blogspot.com/.
If you're looking at this version of this blog entry, then that's where you are now.

Sidebar links will take you to our new site hosted by Google Sites.
Links embedded in the posts and archives will take you to our site hosted by WCN until such time as we either update those links or the WCN site is closed down.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://watrcnz.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

While our website is still in a transitional state from WCN to Google Sites, our blog is now where it ought to be, and where it will remain for the foreseeable future.

Blog migration tonight

2010-03-16T20:22:00.003+13:00

There doesn't seem any point putting this task off any longer - it has to happen and now's good, so tonight's the night.

The old blog will continue to be hosted on the WCN site, but all updates and new posts will go to the version hosted on Blogger.com. Once the migration has completed successfully, I'll update the sidebar links on both sites to point to the new location.

The way this all works, you should not notice any disruption to your access to the blog, but to get future updates you will need to resubscribe once to the new location. I'll signal when you should do this.

Fingers crossed we all make it to the other side ;-)

Change of dates for Waitohu and Waitarere events

2010-03-15T22:56:00.004+13:00

We've just been advised that the Waitarere and Waitohu events will swap dates.

The calendars on WCN and on Google Sites have both been updated.

Waitarere will now be held on 11 April, and Waitohu on 25 April.

We trust this change will not disrupt your plans for those weekends and hope to see you at both rides.

Newsletter 133 and Turakina results online

2010-03-13T21:55:00.005+13:00

The latest newsletter and results from the Turakina ride have been posted to the website. Photos from Turakina are still some days away as we navigate our way through a few more social events than we're normally accustomed.

What a fabulous venue is Cluny Farm - we missed it last year and it's really great to see it brought into the main calendar this year. A well designed course, well marked, and terrain varied enough to be interesting and a challenge, but not so tough as to be off-putting. Well done, Aimee and Brenda and helpers.

Some time before the end of March, I aim to have this blog moved off the WCN host and onto the Blogger.com host. That move will be followed fairly rapidly by the migration of the entire website onto Google sites.

There are a couple of drivers for this aggressive time table. First, as advised previously, Blogger.com is withdrawing suport for FTP publishing as of 1 May. Second, Wellington Community Network is ceasing to provide free hosting for community websites from 1 July. And third, Leslie and I will be travelling overseas for some weeks from early May. The hope is that by completing the migration by the end of March, it still leaves us April to iron out any glitches and get our back-up webmasters up to speed.

The Blog migration is expected to go fairly easily as Blogger.com have provided a migration tool to help with updating the blog and the hosting site. I anticipate having to change the main links from sidebars, and there may be a few embedded links that will break until I can track them down, but disruption will (I hope) be minimal.

The migration of the website will be a bigger exercise and may be a little more disruptive. Much of the new site has been built already in Google Sites, but there is still some work to be done. You're welcome to take an early peek at the new site. It's not that much different to look at than the old site in fact, but some links still take you back to content on the old site until the migration is complete.

Aside from the website URL changing (I suggest you bookmark the new site and the old one in the interim), the demise of WCN also means our email addresses for club officers will have to change. I'll be setting up the new addresses and placing them on both sites for the transition, but the old addresses will continue to work up until the day WCN pulls the plug. When you see the new addresses, I suggest you update the contact details in your personal address books.

For the time being we are maintaining the two sites, but a tipping point will be reached at which the main pages of the old site will carry advice that you should start to use the new site, and a link to take you there.

Please bear with us as we make the transition, and by all means let us know if something appears to be "broken" so that we can fix it.

Belmont Photos on Flickr

2010-02-26T07:32:00.004+13:00

Belmont attracted only a small field of competitors, which was a pity really, as it's an excellent venue with well marked trails and fine views over the Wellington, Hutt and Porirua cities and surrounds.

It's a challenging ride with a few more than the usual number of climbs and descents, and this was compensated by allowing all classes additional time to complete the distance. The course layout was in the reverse of last year's and covered some of the same ground, dropping out parts and adding in a few new sections.

Despite the patchy and uncertain weather we've been having this summer, it was a very good day if a little breezy on the exposed tops.

The photo set was uploaded overnight last night and is now available through the photos page as usual, or direct via this link.

We do hope as many of you as possible will make it to the Turakina ride. This venue was a late addition to the season last year and got excellent reviews from those who were able to attend. This year it's been brought forward into the main season and promises to be a "not-to-be-missed" event.

Hope to see you there.

Changes to WATRC website and Blog hosting coming soon

2010-02-19T11:55:00.005+13:00

We've recently received notification of changes at Blogger.com that will affect us slightly. As you may have noticed, when you open our WATRC blog, you are still on the WATRC website. That's because, when we set up the blog, we've chosen an option to publish the website to our own web server rather than using a Blogger.com server.

Blogger.com have announced the withdrawal of support for that option (FTP publishing) and will shortly be offering a tool to help existing FTP publishers to migrate to the Blogger.com servers. While we could do so pretty much any time now, we've decided to wait for the tool to see if it offers any benefits to us before making the move.

When we make the move, we'll make sure the links from our site are updated. If you have bookmarked the Blog you'll need to update your saved URL. If you subscribe to the RSS feed, you'll probably need to update that too. Aside from opening at a new URL, nothing much else about the blog should change, and it will deliver the same irregular and quirky updates as ever.

Of far more significance to us is the recently confirmed withdrawal of funding for the Wellington Community Network (WCN) by the Wellington City Council. The effect of this is that WCN will cease to operate, and we are now in the process of looking at alternative website hosting services that fit within our budget.

One alternative is free hosting on Google Sites, where you may stumble across an in-progress build of a "look-alike" WATRC site. This is not a done deal - more part of a "learn-by-doing" exercise for me as I work out what's involved in moving the site from it's current off-line site editor style maintenance to an on-line site editing basis.

So, this note is simply a "heads-up" to let you know that some site changes are coming and we're working to ensure that our website remains functional and serves our club through the transition - nothing to worry about here ;-)

Brights Farm photo set uploaded

2010-02-13T22:43:00.003+13:00

A smaller field than we've been accustomed to lately. Doubtless a few folk put off by the venue's reputation, and others by the undecided weather. Brights is certainly a tough ride with a lot of climbing and decending, and for the longer distances there's the psychological hurdle of doing it twice. Nonetheless it's a wonderful venue, and a worthy test of horse and rider.

With time at a premium, I headed out on the trail with riders initially catching me up, and then headed back against the flow and up the final hill. That way I could be assured of seeing everyone at least once, but still within easy distance of the base for when I had to get back. Of course, I tarried a while at the top after Leslie and Sharon had gone past so that I could catch a few more competitors, and then had to run down the hill and take a rather steep shortcut to get back in time, at the cost of one slip and painfully stiff muscles for the rest of the week - the things we do!

So now we watch and wait on the weather to see the outlook for Belmont. In the meantime, enjoy the photos from Brights.

Pikarere Photos on Flickr

2010-01-31T00:31:00.004+13:00

Pikarere photos were uploaded earlier on Saturday, and I've just now completed the finishing to the set and update of the photos page. I have mixed feelings about the set. Although the day was comfortably cool, the major challenge was again low light, but this time compounded by fog and at times a very light drizzle (fog with lumps, you might say).

So, on the one hand I'm disappointed that the number of shots is well down, and I've had to compromise the standard yet again, while on the other hand pleased that I got as many as I did in spite of the conditions. So, mostly grainy and fuzzy shots, but a fair indication of the conditions.

I missed some of the later starters, sorry - in the hope that conditions might be better at sea level (they were not) I got to the beach, but then had to make my way back to base via the long intermediate trail, so if you hadn't made it to Liz's checkpoint by 10:40-ish, it was too late.

Anyway, as of today it's beginning to look like we might get a summer - let's hope it holds until Bright's Farm next Sunday. We're still waiting on final details for this event, but it shouldn't be long now.

Photos from Manakau Farm available on Flickr

2010-01-17T15:24:00.005+13:00

Well, it all happened a bit faster than I'd expected (you have 2 days of liquid "sunshine" to thank for that) but after a delayed start I managed to complete the selection and get the Manakau selection uploaded last night. The set is now available to view on Flickr as usual.

Yet again, the conditions were a challenge with the overcast conditions dictating higher ISO, wider aperture, and slower shutter speeds. Consequently some images are again a little grainy and soft at the edges, or the depth of field may be quite shallow and the "in focus" area won't cover the whole subject, so if you're contemplating prints, do look closely at the "original" sized image and decide whether it will give you the results you want. While most look OK at normal screen resolution, enlarging to A4 might not always work out so well. It seems to be the story of the season.

The field was quite large, so with the main loop being extended and the number of loops reduced compared with last season, along with a tighter timeframe for me to get back to base for strapping, I chose an out-and-back strategy to maximise the likelihood of catching everyone at least once. An unfortunate injury for one of our competitors interrupted my return, and I think I definitely missed some folk at that point, but I was able to catch most of those at the end after our vetting was complete. If I did miss you, very sorry - luck of the draw.

We were very lucky with the weather - a few shots show some speckling from the light drizzel that fell around 10:30, but otherwise the rain gods smiled kindly on us for the day. At least the conditions were good for keeping the horses cool.

Looking forward to Pikarere, always a favourite venue not least because of its proximity to Wellington for many of us. It seems unlikely that the trail will be as dry and hard packed as it sometimes has been, but I'm guessing there may be a lot of long grass in some of the back paddocks, so that may slow folk down a bit on some of those untracked farm sections.

Hope to see you all out on the trail then.

Newsletter 129 posted

2010-01-14T23:58:00.005+13:00

The latest newsletter has details of the Pikarere ride coming up on 24 January. This is a lovely venue and handily placed for Wellington riders. It is quite a testing trail with a long tough climb towards the end of the main loop. The long Intermediate is spared a 2nd climb of this hill, which rises from near sea level to about 200 meters, by doing a one-and-a-half loop trail.

There has been a venue change for 7 March - now Turakina, a new venue introduced at the end of the last season. This replaces Bulls, and while it may be a little further to travel, it's reputedly well worth the trip. The Calendar has been updated.

I've delayed posting the results from Manakau to the website - a minor formatting glitch has turned what could probably be 4 pages sheet into 8, with the placings disconnected from their results - a waste of trees if you intend to print. As soon as I have a reformatted version I'll upload it.

Photos are still a little way off - I'm working through the selection but have had a few diversions to contend with. They should be out before the next ride at the latest.

Funeral arrangements - Helen Bain

2010-01-02T00:10:00.005+13:00

Published in Friday's Dominion Post, a celebration of Helen's life will be held in Cornwall Manor, corner of Knight's Road and Cornwall Street, Lower Hutt at 11:00 am on Monday January 4. The notice suggests that in lieu of flowers, donations to the Forest and Bird Society will be appreciated and can be posted to PO Box 631 Wellington or left at the service.

Helen - captured moments 2006 - 2009

2009-12-30T18:10:00.005+13:00

Helen and My Daddy's Tuff, Bright's Farm, November 2006

Helen and My Daddy's Tuff, Waitarere, January 2007

Helen and My Daddy's Tuff, Waitohu, March 2007

Helen and Evo Supremo, Karapoti, November 2007

Helen and Evo Supremo, Waitarere Endurance, January 2008

Helen and Evo Supremo, Tinui, September 2008

Helen and Evo Supremo, National Endurance Championships, Whareama, April 2009

Helen and Evo Supremo, National Endurance Championships, Whareama, April 2009

Helen Bain

2009-12-30T15:32:00.006+13:00

It is with great sadness and not a little shock that we learn today of the untimely death of Helen Bain. Helen drowned on December 29 while crossing the Ruamahanga River on horseback near Masterton. Despite the heroic efforts of companions to rescue her from the river, Helen could not be revived.

Tributes to her work as a journalist have been published online in Stuff, and for her role as Communications Manager for Forest and Bird.

In the worlds of CTR and Endurance, Helen was an active member of the Wairarapa Endurance and CTR Club, a past member of WATRC, and a stalwart in the organisation of Island and National Championships events. She has done much to promote both sports by contributing pieces to various horsey magazines, and was an active and respected participant in HorseTalk forums.

Our heartfelt sympathies go to her partner, Mark, her family and friends, work colleagues, and fellow club members and competitors. We all feel her loss dearly.

Helen and Evo, Karapoti, November 2007

Prize Winners from Battle Hill on Flickr

2009-12-16T23:15:00.008+13:00

Of course some of you have already noticed the additional photos, but in case others were waiting on an announcement, this is it.

I've taken the opportunity to try something a little different with the photos page. When I look at other sites' photos pages, they generally have photos on them, and occasionally (rarely) I've included some in ours. It seemed to me that our page looked a little drab in comparison, so I've made a token effort to change the look.

The images are still hosted on Flickr, but presented on our pages. Each event will continue to have a text linked to the set, and now a "thumbnail" sized copy of the cover image for the set in its original format. The image will also link to the set in the same way as the text, so you can click either on the text or the image but the result should be the same - a new window or tab should open on the Flickr set.

For the Battle Hill prize winners spread (1st placed competitors) I've used Flickr's "small" image size, but in these cases the underlying link is to the image in its place in the photostream. You can navigate to the set within Flickr quite easily. It was the lift these images gave the page that made me think about doing something similar for the other events, but I'm conscious of the impact the increased data transfer may have on dial-up and rural users, so I won't take it much further than I have.

Anyway, photos-wise, that's a wrap for this calendar year. We're just waiting now to add the published results from Battle Hill to the site, and we can take a break for Xmas.

On that note, we wish you a safe and happy Xmas and New Year, and look forward to seeing you all back at Manukau Dairy Farm in January.

Battle Hill Ride photos uploading

2009-12-14T23:13:00.004+13:00

Once again this will be an over-night upload with finishing applied to the set on Tuesday. Just the ride photos to start with - over the next day or two I'll go through the prize winners shots and select from those for another smaller set and a small photos page spread.

The set can be viewed from link on the club photo page or directly

Maymorn Photos Uploading

2009-11-20T23:05:00.005+13:00

Finally caught up with my backlog - a little faster than anticipated too. With a smaller turn-out for Maymorn I had less shots to review, so have been able to get through them in good time. They're uploading as I write and should finish some time around 1:00 am on Saturday morning. I'll do the usual finishing work on the set during the day.

I have to say the conditions on the day were a little trying with heavy overcast and some strong wind gusts to contend with. In response to the lower light I've had to shoot a lot of the time at wide open apertures with shallow depth of field being the inevitable result. That just means that sometimes your horse's head may be sharp in focus, but you might be a little soft - or the other way around. You probably won't notice unless you blow the image up to full-size, but if you intend to print any pictures it might pay to inspect the images closely before making your final decision.

I'm pleased to report that my blisters are callousing up nicely. I always enjoy my walks, but sometimes I push the envelope a little farther than I should ;-) Very glad to have a couple of weekends respite before Battle Hill, another challenging venue.

If you haven't seen them already, the Maymorn results are now posted, and the latest newsletter features the flyer for Battle Hill and the Rhona Fraser Challenge events, the last ride of the pre-Xmas half of our season.

Hope to see you all there and snap you on the trail.

Wainuiomata Photos uploading

2009-11-16T22:56:00.004+13:00

The Wainuiomata set is uploading now and should complete some time in the small hours of Tuesday. I'll put the finishing touches to it some time on Tuesday either before work or after.

Leaving ahead of the briefing meant the change to the trail took me by surprise, and so I ended up doing the inner loop ahead of most of the field. If you didn't overtake me on the trail, you missed me, and I didn't get a picture of you. As you know, I work to a timetable and try to be back at base in time to assist with Dove's strapping and final vetting.

Despite a spotty forecast, the day turned out very well. Some of the early photos were under slightly difficult lighting due to the overcast, and look a bit fuzzy under close inspection, but as the day wore on and the light improved I got some sharper shots. There are some nice sequences of some riders.

I've barely looked at the Maymorn shots as yet. I'll get on to those next, but I have some other committments that will divert my attention this week, so the next set may be a little bit later than usual. It will however be a smaller set, like the Wainui one. Although I think I got shots of everyone, the smaller field means I took less shots overall. Again, overcast and sometimes "breezy" conditions were a challenge but I'm hopeful there will be some pleasing results.

And thank goodness for a break until the next event - my feet are killing me. My mission on the day was to get a look at the tunnel - I've only ever gone as far as the ford before, and the tunnel was not much further. Unfortunately, as I was reading the details on the sign on the other side, my connections on horseback turn up - dang!

So the downside of that little excursion was having to get back to base in a hurry. After battling the head wind and slogging up the hill I had to jog the downhill bits to catch up and keep up. I ended up over-taking some competitors as a result. Anyway, my connections arrived back 2 minutes early - serves them right really ;-)

As for me, I was on time and my heart rate at the end was OK, but a vet out lame was definitely on the cards ;-)

See you all at Battle Hill.

Waikawa results published - photos uploading

2009-11-09T23:07:00.004+13:00

Hard on the heels of the just published results from Waikawa, we have the photos now uploading to Flickr. This is going to proceed over-night Monday, hopefully without crashing, and with luck will be complete by morning. I'll probably do the finishing work on the set on Tuesday evening.

Everyone loves a beach ride - especially the photographer. I should apologise for the size of the set and explain why it's so large. At 598 images, it's my biggest set by just one. The problem of course is the beach - I can see riders coming from far off and I can position myself to get many more shots of each rider as they approach and pass. Often this is not so easy on some of our more confined trails.

That of course is also the reason for the delay - with a huge amount of raw material, it takes longer to select the shots.

One other consequence, which I hope you'll like, is the opportunity to put together longer sequences of shots, showing the horse in its paces. If I have good sequences, I like to use them in the set. And of course, the out-and-back structure of the course means most riders passed me at least twice, so we got a second chance to take some shots.

With 3 rides on successive weekends, I am of course losing ground. I'm just preparing my backups of the Wainui shots and will start selecting on Tuesday or Wednesday evening depending on other committments. Although it was a smaller ride and I got less shots, I doubt I'll have the set ready before Maymorn, so please bear with me.

And if I missed you at Wainui (I know I beat some of you around the course ;-) then make sure you're at Maymorn - another out-and-back that pretty much guarantees we'll meet!

See you there.

Newsletter 126 published

2009-10-21T22:02:00.004+13:00

The latest newsletter has been emailed and is now posted on the website.

Do check it out - ride flyers for the rescheduled Waikawa Beach ride (1 Nov) and Wainuiomata ride (8 Nov) are incorporated, along with the rescheduled Maymorn ride (15 Nov). As we've said already, November is going to be a very busy month, weather permitting.

Note that the Waikawa ride has been brought forward a half hour (first rider out at 1:30 pm) to take advantage of the earlier low tide - indeed the two week delay has meant we now avoid the worst of the spring tide that was close to the prevously scheduled date.

So much nautical science required for equestrian sports - who knew ?

Waikawa Beach - resheduled for 1 November

2009-10-19T23:55:00.004+13:00

There's been some fast re-organising going on behind the scenes as your dedicated committee try to salvage something from our so far soggy Spring riding season.

Waikawa Beach has now been rescheduled to 1 November.
Wainuiomata remains as originally scheduled, on 8 November.
Maymorn remains rescheduled for 15 November as previously advised.
Again, a busy three weekends on the trot.

However, mercifully, the Brights Farm ride, scheduled for 22 November has now been cancelled. Don't worry, you'll still get a crack at it in February as part of the premier points competition.

See the calendar for details

Maymorn Rescheduled - now 15 November

2009-10-18T23:07:00.003+13:00

We've just had confirmation that the Maymorn ride is on again (weather permitting, of course) and has been reschdeuled to 15 November. Assuming everything else stays on track, it's going to be a busy three weekends, with Wainuiomata on the 8th, Maymorn on the 15th, and Brights Farm on the 22nd.

No word as yet regarding reschedule of the Waikawa Beach ride - let's hope for a stunning "go-to-the-beach" day for that one. As soon as we have news, we'll let you know.

Waikawa Beach Ride Postponed

2009-10-16T23:26:00.006+13:00

It seems the weather remains resolutely against us, and again we've had to cancel a ride. It's not so much that the weather is looking a bit dodgey for Sunday (it is) but the amount of rain that we've had in the last weeks, and the expected dump in the Tararuas for tomorrow.

With that kind of precipitation, rivers are going to be up, and combined with a spring tide we don't want to be putting riders or mounts in harm's way. Those of you familiar with the course know that there are two river crossings, and those who are familiar with the photos from the 2007 ride will know what it's like when we get the tides wrong - trust us, you don't want that ;-)

We hope to be able to re-schedule this ride (tentatively 1 November, pending discussions with our venue hosts), but if that doesn't work out then Wainuiomata on 8 November is the next scheduled ride. As soon as we have an update we'll post it.

Maymorn Ride Postponed

2009-10-09T18:11:00.003+13:00

We love our ride venues - we hate to say cancelled - but in effect that's what it is.

With the parking area very soggy and no way it will drain and dry out in time for Sunday, along with high waters in the river and creeks, the Regional Park Ranger has asked that we postpone this Sunday's ride.

So, Maymorn is off until we can find a new spot to fit it back into our calendar.

Sorry about that - stay warm and dry

See you at Waikawa Beach on Sunday 18 October

Waitarere Photos uploading now

2009-10-09T17:26:00.003+13:00

At last - sorry for the delay - it's a busy ol' life and I've had to snatch a few hours here and there to do the selections. Thank goodness for sick days - shame about the sick part of it :-(

Also I apologise to those who commenced their ride after 11:10 am - I have to work to a timetable as I have strapping, trot-out, and general gopher duties back at the base at the end of Leslie's ride. If you saw me on the trail, there'll be a photo (or two) of you somewhere in the set. Otherwise, enjoy the snaps of your fellow competitors, and aim for an earlier start next time ;-)

What a great day it was nonetheless - dead lucky with the weather. I was warned of water on the trail as I set out, but it had all drained away over-night and good going under-foot for horses and photographers was assured.

The Waitarere forest produced it's usual challenges with low light in the trees and high contrast in the places where the light broke through. High ISO ratings, slower shutter and wider apertures tend to produce a little more "noise" and blurring, but overall I'm pleased with the results. I hope you will be too.

The set is uploading as I write this - the final count will be 373, so if it's not complete when you look at it, give it a while and come back a bit later. I'll monitor it during the evening so that, fingers crossed it will be completed tonight - with a set that size there are usually a few breakdowns on the information highway to contend with ;-)

If you haven't already seen them, the results are on the website, along with Newsletter 125

News just to hand - due to the amount of rain we've had, the grounds at Maymorn are very soggy and the creeks and rivers are up. Accordingly, we've postponed the Maymorn ride.

I'll be updating the website calendar shortly

So - start planning instead for the Waikawa Beach ride on Sunday 18 October, and we'll hope to see you there.

Draft ride calendar released with first newsletter of the 2009 / 2010 season

2009-07-30T22:48:00.002+12:00

That's it folks - holiday's over - get those beasties out on the trail again!

The committee has released a draft calendar for the coming season and it's time to get back in training.

Newsletter 123 has now been published and posted, and includes a list of the prize winners from last season.

Annual membership fees are now due - complete a membership form, post your cheque, and it's done.

Also, the club needs an entries person, so if you could fill this very important role, see the flyer and get in touch.

Don't forget the quiz night this Saturday - if you've lost the flyer that was emailed back in June, here it is.

See you there

Belmont Regional Park gets a promo in Schmap

2009-04-25T18:31:00.005+12:00

Schmap is a publisher of digital travel guides for destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It can be browsed online, and has versions optimized for iPhone and Nokia users. You can learn about it on the Schmap website.

Why mention this ? Well, the publishers of the Wellington guide asked if they could use a photo from a WATRC event, and chose one from the recent Belmont Regional Park ride. You can see the guide entry here. Look for a shot from our event in the set of four photos associated with the entry.

Schmap presents information from a variety of sources, including Google Maps and Flickr. Clicking on the image takes the viewer back into the image in Flickr, where I've added a link back to the WATRC website and other Belmont sets.

Check the April 2009 Sportaloosa Quarterly - see "Miss Autumn" ;-)

2009-04-13T20:23:00.003+12:00

A few weeks ago, I received a request for the use of a photo from a member of one of the HorseTalk forums. The contact turned out to be one of the publishers of the website and quarterly online magazine of a non profit organisation that promotes spotted breeds as sport horses (therefore, "Sportaloosa"), and they were looking for a suitable cover photo for their second magazine.

The request arose after Leslie had posted a favorite picture of Dove from the Waikawa Beach ride to the HorseTalk forum.

We were rapt to receive today a link to the latest Sportaloosa Quarterly, a short online magazine downloadable for free as a PDF file. No prize for guessing who is the latest "cover-girl". It being a quarterly magazine and this being the April edition, in our household at least Dove has been temporarily dubbed "Miss Autumn" (which is probably better than "Miss Fall" as she might be were it October and this the northern hemisphere ;-)

Anyway, the terms of use of the image was an attribution for the photographer by name with a URL to the WATRC website, so with luck the club will benefit from some additional exposure.

For those of you with spotted horses, whether purebred Appaloosa or Knabstrupper, or an out-cross with spots, take some time to check out the Sportaloosa website.

Bulls Championship photos on Flickr

2009-04-09T09:28:00.002+12:00

Put on a spurt last night and burned some midnight oil to complete the first cut edit of the Bulls set. Concluded that with care-giving for Leslie including a vist to the hospital today and the likelihood of new cast being fitted, plus the need to pack myself up and get to the Wairarapa for the Endurance National Champs, a second go-through was not really on the cards.

So, they're up - a little bit raw still, but it's done.

What a great venue we have at Bulls. Without the support of the land-owners we would not have access to such a range of fabulous trails, and we're very grateful for their willingness to open their properties to the club.

Great job all the organisers, officials, and helpers. A well marked course and a well run event. It's too easy to just not notice the work that goes into a sporting club event but I'm sure our competitors all apreciate what makes a successful event.

I had a fine walk and there were lots of photo opportunities. Also, the earlier start meant some of the first shots of the day got the benefit of some wonderful morning light, and I'm particularly pleased with some of the backlit shots that catch highlights around horses and riders. While shooting in that light has it's challenges and none of those photos are technically perfect, the effect is stunning, and it's the impact that matters.

I hope you enjoy them

Championships Results, Turakina Flyer and Newsletter 121 online

2009-04-07T23:03:00.002+12:00

Results from the Championships ride at Bulls were emailed today and are downloadable from the results page. The latest newsletter came out at the same time and can be downloaded from the news page.

Shortly afterwards a ride flyer for Turakina was published and contains some important updates relating to entries. Please refer to the flyer on the calendar page rather than the details in the newsletter.

Photos from Bulls are not available yet - I'm still editing the set, but hoping I may be able to upload on Thursday before heading over to the Endurance Championships hosted by the Wairarapa club at Whareama. If I can't make that deadline it will unfortunately not be until after Easter.

Waitohu Photos uploading - results on the WATRC site

2009-03-20T21:33:00.002+13:00

It's great to have finally caught up on the backlog of photos. Waitohu is uploading now, and all going well, I'll be able to put the finishing touches to the set in the morning. You can get to the set through the photos page as usual.

Results were out today for Belmont and Waitohu, and are now on the results page.

We're looking forward to the club championships at Bulls. It's a great venue and ideal terrain for a championship event.

Waitohu was a challenge for me, photographically because of the amount of forestry. In a mature but well maintained forestry block you have low light areas that are often mottled with very bright areas where the sun is able to break through. The smaller patches of very bright light amongst otherwise quite dull areas make it more difficult to get exposures correct.

Compensating for low light without flash means sacrificing some quality in the image to get the picture, and close examination of the shots taken under those conditions will reveal the speckling of the image that comes from using a "fast" sensor setting (eg. ISO 1600) and the fuzziness that comes from the blurring of moving subjects at low shutter speeds, or in elements of the picture that are not within the compressed "in focus" range that results from wide apertures.

I guess you could say that was my own fault - I could have kept to the open areas of the trail and minimised the time spent in the forest. However, I had a very good walk so can look forward to planning next year's outing with much better knowledge of the trail than I've had to date.

Photos from Waikawa Beach uploading

2009-03-11T19:41:00.003+13:00

It's certainly been a marathon editing session with the Waikawa Beach set and not without it's challenges, as I'm sure you know. I've concluded that rather than reviewing and re-reviewing the set, given the delays so far, I'm better to get it on-line and move on to the next event. So, here it is, or at least, here it comes.

It's a bigger than usual set, but then, Waikawa Beach provided exceptional photo opportunities. I usually take a number of shots of each rider at each encounter in the trail, and select what I hope are the best from each. This time, with riders clearly visible from a distance there was opportunity to take longer sequences of shots, and some of you will find yourselves quite heavily featured in a sequence, or even two.

It's going to take most of this evening (Wednesday) to complete the uploads, and the set remains in a partially completed state for most of that period. However, if you just can't wait, you can monitor the photostream during the upload, and a simple browser refresh will show you whatever is new - it's taking about 30 - 60 seconds to upload an image.

Aaaaarrrrgggghhh @#$%^&* !!!

2009-03-04T18:36:00.002+13:00

Please forgive the language -some days it's the only appropriate response to events ;-)

I've been grinding away at editing the Waikawa Beach photo set, trying to judge when to apologise for my tardiness, and finally the time has arrived. Unfortunately, it's not one of those "but won't be long now" scenarios.

You may as well have the whole story.

Waikawa Beach, being an "out and back" ride starting at the trail's mid-point, is one of those WATRC rides where a well placed photographer gets to see all the riders multiple times. It's probably fair to say that being a wide open space with few hiding places, the riders get to see the photographer several times too, and from far enough off that a decision to up the pace and fun level in front of the camera is more temptation than many can resist (and good-on-ya ;-)

The upshot is a huge amount of raw material (probably twice as many shots as I've had from even the largest ride before) and a massive editing job to get them into a manageable set for uploading. There I am then, just approaching halfway through and feeling good about the results so far, but conscious that it's taking longer than I'd like ...

... and the laptop dies. Hence the scream and profanities.

All is not lost - I still have backups of all the unedited photos on my my main computer, and I'm backing them up to another as I write this. The loss is in the work and time spent so far. For me, editing consists mainly of selecting the best photos and deleting those that don't make the cut. Chances are everything to date is still there on the laptop's disk drive, but in the time it will take to get that fixed, I might as well start over.

So - deepest apologies - yes, the Waikawa photos will be available, but good things take time and it won't happen overnight.

Newsletter 118, Manakau Farm results and photos

2009-02-15T22:09:00.002+13:00

Newsletter 118 and the Manakau Farm results were emailed today and have now been posted on the website. Manakau farm had another very large turnout and was a very popular venue. We hope to be able to use it again in future and extend the range of trails available.

The newsletter further clarifies the qualification criteria for the club championships event to be held at Bulls on 29 March, but unfortunately contained an inadvertant error that was corrected in a subsequent email. The corrected information has been placed in the website Calendar page.

Finally, the photos from Manakau Farm have been loaded to Flickr and linked from the club photos page. Sorry for the delay - it's been one of those weeks.

Pikarere Photos on Flickr (at last)

2009-02-05T18:28:00.003+13:00

Sincere apologies for taking so long with this set - the large turn-out and a lot on at work, along with family committments and another back-to-back WATRC event have conspired against me. But finally, its now linked from the photos page.

Now, if I can just make time to get Manakau Farm sorted before Waikawa Beach, perhaps I'll have caught up ;-)

Photos from Daisybank (Wairarapa) on Flickr

2009-01-18T12:14:00.005+13:00

As mentioned in the last entry, Leslie, Dove and I didn't make it to Bright's Farm. Instead we went over the hill to Daisybank, just out of Martinborough and on the eastern (drier) side of the valley. We usually make a Wairarapa trip an over-nighter, camping the night before or the night after the event, depending on the start time.

Daisybank is an attractive venue for Wellington based riders given it's relatively close for us compared with some of the Wairarapa venues. We hadn't been to Daisybank before, but had good reports of the terrain and going, backed up by Google Earth and TUMONZ. Had it not been for the clash of dates, we think more WATRC riders would find Daisybank a worthwhile outing.

As it was, there was a small field of competitors. Many of the Wairarapa regulars chose to rest their horses following the North Island Endurance Championships, held the weekend before. The weather was perfect for CTR, remaining overcast throughout the day, with light to moderate wind, and a little light drizzle towards the end of the ride. The course mainly followed well formed farm trails and in places crossed paddocks or skirted crops to link into other parts of the farm.

From different points on the trail one could look to the north over the Murdoch James vineyard, west across the valley to Lake Wairarapa and the Rimutaka Ranges, east to the Hau Nui Wind Farm, and in every direction over the award winning Daisybank farm itself. The rolling country means that the course is not as demanding as some of our hillier Wellington venues, making the slightly longer distance feasible. As already mentioned, I managed to walk one loop of the course in slightly over the Intermediate 1 time allowed, and I can't usually manage that on steep terrain ;-)

Anyway, despite this not being a WATRC ride, I thought some photos might be of interest to members, and perhaps might encourage more to consider making the trip over the hill to this or other venues in future. Take a look - aside from familiar faces from both clubs, I've tried to make a selection that shows the venue to advantage as well.

See you at Pikarere.

Newsletter 117 and Brights Farm results posted

2009-01-16T17:34:00.003+13:00

Having survived the festive season, it's back into the second half of the CTR season with a vengence. Leslie and I were not at Brights Farm, so if anyone got out and took photos, drop the WATRC webmaster a line and we can get some onto the site.

Instead, we tripped over to the Wairarapa and the Daisybank CTR. An award winning farm near the Murdoch James vineyard south of Martinborough, Daisybank has gentler terrain than Brights - probably comparable to Waitohu. I amazed myself by walking the 20 km loop in slightly over the 40 km intermediate time (but suffered for it the next day ;-). Dove unfortunately threw a shoe, so Leslie withdrew on completing the first loop in an emergency boot.

Like Brights, we had good weather with a few spots of drizzle that never developed into rain, although further north we could see the signs of a downpour in progress. The overcast conditions and light southerly helped keep things cool. The event had a smaller turnout than Brights, as many of the Wairarapa regulars were resting their horses following the North Island endurance championships the previous weekend.

We're now looking forward to Pikarere and the rest of the WATRC season, and no doubt will see you all there.

Battle Hill prize winners photos on Flickr

2008-12-19T22:29:00.002+13:00

Well, it's been a bit of a marathon, but finally, we have a wrap. I've placed a low resolution photo of each of the five class winners on the Photos page, but if you click on any one of them, it will take you to the full set on Flickr and you can find the original photo in the set.

The set includes everyone who turned up for the post prize-giving shoot, so even if you don't see your photo on the WATRC photos page, check the set - you'll be there.

Battle Hill Results and Newsletter 116 published

2008-12-18T19:52:00.003+13:00

The last newsletter before Xmas was emailed today, and with it the results from the Battle Hill ride.

Battle Hill is always a challenging venue, and the hot mid-day and firm tracks have been reflected in higher than usual vet-outs. Well done to the survivors, and commiserations to those who didn't qualify - better luck next time.

From the ride base, the hill itself looks quite tame, and indeed the clockwise direction of the Puketiro loop takes the worst of the steepness out of the up-hill section.

But the steepness is not really the issue - it's the height and the length that take their toll. The climb is close to 400 vertical metres over an unrelenting 3 kms, and it has to be approached with respect. Add to that your descent from Water Point 1 into a valley and a climb back out of it (mercifully not the whole 400 metres) and you begin to get the picture. Of course the Open and Intermediate 1 classes do yet another descent and climb on their extended section of the ride. Although it's a little out of date, the 2006 trail profile gives you a rough idea of what you tackled.

Nor is the homeward section of the Puketiro Loop to be underestimated. It is at least downhill, but downhill throws enormous strain on the horses' forelegs, and combined with the additional weight of a rider on their backs leaves them less ability to pick their way through stones, which is one reason many riders get off and lead their horses on this section (and it's easier on the rider if they have to trot the horse to make up time)

Bright's Farm is a similarly challenging venue. The trails are not as firm as they have not been constructed to carry logging trucks, but they can sometimes have long grass which can be slippery, especially if wet. High steep hills are a feature of this ride also, making it one of the toughest in the WATRC calendar. Again, an out-of-date trail profile is available, but do not rely on this as a guide on the day - the course may cover different ground or go in different directions.

Think about a ride strategy. Doing your speed work and covering distance up-front lets you take the end of the ride more slowly, allowing the horse's heart rate to come down, but remember that course layout and conditions can force you to re-think on the fly. If the underfoot conditions are good, that's an opportunity to make up time and distance at any point in the ride. If the underfoot is bad, slow down regardless - you're better to vet through late than to arrive lame on time.

Never forget your horse - most CTR competitors only have one mount - look after them and they'll look after you. Plan to finish this ride and be back for the next - don't blow it all on one day.

Photos from Battle Hill uploading

2008-12-17T23:37:00.002+13:00

It's taken a bit longer than usual to get the Battle Hill photos organised, and it's still a work in progress - I'm trying to wrap up all sorts of work stuff before the Xmas break, and meeting the usual seasonal social obligations has been diverting my attention. However, we are getting there.

The Battle Hill set is partially uploaded, and the balance of the set can be found in the photostream as it uploads over night, if you just can't wait. Once the upload is complete I'll put the finishing touches to the set and it will be done.

Sash and ribbon winners - I'm still working on your photos and hope to have them ready by the weekend. I'll put them into a separate set with their own link from the photos page.

Unfortunately, I missed a number of the later starters due to my timetable (I had strapping and final vetting duties back at base) and the route I followed on the trail (cutting across from Water Point 1 to the Puketiro Loop homeward section) put me well ahead of any who hadn't passed me on the hill climb. Maybe next time.

Merry Xmas and a safe holiday to everyone, and we hope to see you all in the new year.

Newsletter 115 Published - Battle Hill details confirmed

2008-12-01T09:13:00.002+13:00

The latest newsletter is now on-line and has been posted to subscribers. Included are further details of the Battle Hill ride. Due to pressure on the venue from other users, times allowed will not be available until a final course measurement can be taken, probably the day before.

Overnight camping and grazing is available. Anyone needing this should contact the ranger in advance. Contact details are in the newsletter and on the calendar page.

Battle Hill hosts the club's "Rhona Frazer Challenge" event, a club premiere points ride (double placing points to count towards club end of season honours) and is the pre-Xmas wrap-up ride for 2008.

Hope to see you all there.

David

Battle Hill preliminary details released

2008-11-30T22:48:00.003+13:00

Due to a delay in posting the newsletter, a quick update to the calendar has been released for the Battle Hill ride. More complete details are expected when the newsletter is released.

Also, photos from the second Maymorn ride are available via links form the photos page.

Wainuiomata - Results and Photos published

2008-11-16T09:15:00.003+13:00

The Wainuiomata ride is probably one of the most beautiful venues on the WATRC calendar, with spectacular views to the south and west of hidden valleys, the city and harbour entrance as a backdrop, and the Kaikouras (on a fine day) a distant couterpoint. To the north and east, the Orongorongo's overlook the picturesque Wainuiomata River valley with the southern end of the Rimutakas behind, and the plateau above Baring Head falls in steep cliffs to the stoney beach.

This year the trail included an inspired detour around the eastern edge of Lake Kohangatera and the Gollans Stream wetlands. This area has been longingly admired from the top of Valley View Hill on previous rides, and it was a pleasure and priviledge to descend into the valley. For horses and riders this new section of trail added some welcome softer going on the flat and the opportunity to blow out some cobwebs - most riders took advantage of it.

By getting out a little ahead of the first riders, I was able to catch the first few in a warming morning light ahead of the full sun of the day. My trail followed the planned Novice route, but with the loop past the lodge and along the lakeside in reverse so that I could meet the riders rather than be overtaken. A trot downhill allowed me to meet a pair exiting the lake reserve who I had snapped as they entered the downhill part of the loop. The only downside of this plan was the very steep climb I had back to the main trail, but it paid dividends as I met every novice rider at some point on that loop.

Congratulations and thanks to Sharon and the numerous helpers on the day. A highly successful event and a magnificent venue with new gems revealed.

With results and the latest newsletter published, the photo set completed (at last) we now have a second chance at Maymorn to look forward to.

See you there.

Bulls photos uploading

2008-10-31T21:49:00.002+13:00

As I write, photos from the Bulls ride held on 26 October are uploading to the Flickr website. I've posted a link to the set on the photos page, but the photos will only be added to the set when the batch is completed. If you want to get an early preview of the photos, go to the photo stream instead. If you refresh the page every 5 minutes or so, another image or two should be available.

Although there was a small field of riders due to the dire weather predictions that never really came to pass, I've taken a lot of shots, and the layout of the trail meant that I had several opportunities to take shots of most people. Being a new venue, I've also left more than the usual number of landscape and environment shots in the set.

It certainly is a beautiful venue, and the recent rains had left the free draining sandy soil of the farm quite soft underfoot, but not muddy. The day was overcast but not at all cold, and if there was any wind (and there certainly was plenty as we headed home through the Manawatu), the venue was well sheltered from it and we never really noticed.

This is a great venue that I'm sure riders will look forward to next year.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we head off to Wairarapa and the Whareama CTR day and Endurance ride. It'll be an early start and we'll come back on Sunday - again, the weather predictions are not good, and this time we think they just might come true ;-)

I'll leave the upload running overnight, but in the past these have been prone to failures, so bear with me if the complete set of photos doesn't get completed and finalised until Sunday evening.

Newsletter 112 and Maymorn results published

2008-10-20T18:32:00.002+13:00

Check the website for the newsletter and the Maymorn results if you haven't already received them by email.

Please note also a small change in the directions to the Bulls venue this weekend. The entrance has been shifted and is now just after the 65 kmph bend. This will mimimise any inconvenience to the land owner who has so generously allowed us access to this new trail.

Also note that as you enter you will be on part of the course for a short distance and you may encounter riders. Please keep well to the left, go slowly, and stay alert for horses that may become alarmed.

Maymorn photos now available to view on Flickr

2008-10-18T21:08:00.002+13:00

I've not long completed the selection and upload of shots from Maymorn, and you can now link to the set from the Photos page as usual.

It was great weather for the ride, and with the day heating up as time passed, the early starters were glad of their "red-eye" choice.

Coming up we have the Bulls ride - a new venue for the club and one we hope to see you all at. See the Calendar for details

Ride flyer for Bulls (26 October) and calendar updates posted

2008-10-13T20:46:00.003+13:00

Details of the Bulls ride to be held on Sunday 26 October have been emailed to newsletter subscribers and now posted to the website. This is a new venue for the club with terrain reputably similar to Waitarere - mostly flat going with farm and forestry trails.

In fact, Bulls is the first of a number of new venues this season, and updates to the calendar have now been posted outlining some of these. February will be a very busy month for the club with an event each weekend.

The Maymorn ride was a great success, with riders enjoying wonderful weather to complete a well loved course in generous time.

Photos from Waitarere trickling onto Flickr

2008-10-04T17:05:00.002+13:00

With a backlog of photos to edit from the Wairarapa 2 day Tinui event, it's taken me a while to get started on Waitarere, but I hope to have caught up before the next WATRC ride at Maymorn.

Rather than keep folk waiting, I decided to upload the photos I've selected so far, and I'll carry on with the edit task and upload the rest as I'm able, finalising the set sometime next week.

In some ways, the hardest part is done, with most of the forest photo selection done. Photographing riders in the Waitarere forest quickly exposes the limitations of one's gear and talents. At low resolution , some of you may notice that the forest pictures have greater contrast than the farm shots. At high resolution, you'll notice a lot of "noise" in the darker parts of the images. This is from pushing the sensitivity of the camera so as to shoot in low light.

If you also notice some bluriness, this is more to do with the limitations of the photographer. Using telephotos at slower shutter speeds (again because of the low light) a steadier hand is required ;-)

Anyway, as the caption on the photos page says, editing and uploading is still in progress, so if you saw me on the trail but there isn't a photo of you yet, look again when the set is final, and with any luck there'll be a shot of you.

Waitarere - first ride of the WATRC season - 28 September

2008-09-19T20:43:00.004+12:00

A flier for the ride was posted to the mailing list a week or so ago, and I've been very remiss in not getting it onto the website sooner, so this quick note by way of notification in case any of you are users of the blog or the RSS feed (that works automatically off the blog). Check the details in the Calendar

In fact, Leslie and I have an early start in the morning, travelling over the hill to Tinui and the Wairarapa club's 2 day Endurance ride. They're putting on a 2 day pre-novice 40 km event (40 kms each day) but we'll only be competing on the Saturday, staying overnight to help out for a part of Sunday before coming back. Mainly a matter of seeing a new venue and getting a good training ride in before Waitarere.

Hope to see some of you there, but if not, no doubt we'll catch up at Waitarere.

Wairarapa's Clareville Ride - Photos on Flickr now

2008-09-11T22:39:00.004+12:00

Well, we're back. While the WATRC season doesn't start for another couple of weeks, some of our members made the trek to Clareville last weekend and got a head start on the season.

The day could not have been better weather-wise. The rain abated for a day that started with a frost that caught a few of us by surprise. Although the sun shone, there was a cooling breeze throughout the day - good for the heart rates.

Perhaps most surprising was the size and strength of the Open field - 13 competitors took advantage of the flat Clareville course, an ideal test of the horses' start of season fitness.

Some very muddy sections of the trail tended to slow the pace, but despite this riders mostly managed their time very well - a few even managing to rush the course and come in too early.

The photographer, having to work to an Open class timetable to assist with strapping, took an "out-and-back" route, getting as far as the river crossing before returning to meet riders on their return to base. Consequently most riders completing two loops passed him twice, and some three times, affording ample opportunity for shots.

You can access the photos from the link on the WATRC Photos page

Enjoy

Newsletter 109 published - Prizegiving and AGM date set

2008-05-18T18:00:00.001+12:00

With the riding season over, things do go a little quiet on the club front, and so there hasn't been much to report for some weeks. Now however we have a confirmed date for the Prizegiving and AGM, combined with the celebration of WATRC's 21st birthday - a milestone in the life of any entity.

It's clear that our committee have been busy on our behalf in the times between. The issues that the club confronted in the latter half of the season have still to be addresed, but it's encouraging to learn that relations with ESNZ remain cordial, and discussions continue. Even more encouraging is the desire reported on behalf of ESNZ to see CTR grow, along with the willingness of our own members to continue to put forward remits aimed at the betterment of the sport under the ESNZ umbrella.

Details of the Prizegiving and AGM can be found in the latest Newsletter or in the Calendar. We hope that as many of you as are able will be there - it will be fun to catch up.