The Taupo club hosted this event the weekend after the nationals. It was welcome to see the sun after the heavy rain Hawkes Bay experienced straight after the Nationals Relays, with no access to maps that had been used for the events due to slips. Geoff Morrison was once again doing the commentary and hopefully getting used to using the radio control information. Taupo club had arranged a bus for him fitted out with speaker horns and plenty of audio gear.
The individual championships took place on the Friday in slightly chilly conditions so Geoff made the most of his facilities by commentating from inside the bus. The radio computer was setup next to the computer handling the downloads at the finish tent so a WIFI link was used to between this computer and the commentary bus.
On the Saturday the relays were on the other side of the map in a more sheltered position so he was able to move to the upper deck with its spectacular vista over the lower part of the course. Where the bus was parked was too far for WIFI to reach the finish tent reliably and so the radio computer was set up in the bus and mispunches were updated periodically on foot via bits of paper. Pamela Morrison from the Hawkes Bay Club did a fantastic job managing entries and the inevitable last minute changes to teams so that the information imported into the O-Lynx software was accurate.
The champs were really well run thanks to the Taupo Club and in particular all the planning and work of Chris Morris, with the kids having a great couple of days in the excellent weather.