Hey ya twalkers,
First off, to those who missed the briefing or want a refresher, here is the link, it starts at 33 mins in. If you didn’t attend, very important that you watch this.
Here is a link to the transcript.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WLn_pDUGUKY10n_o1D1zTu8M5hYJg4hd_YBq6MalUtI/edit?usp=sharing
Key Points:
Saturday Morning
- Meet at the Haere-roa Carpark, 90 Ilam Road, at 7:15am.
- Check in at the registration desk. Here the team leader will be given a tracker. For the teams meeting us at the startline, you will be given it there.
- Put overnight gear in the luggage compartment. Keep anything you need for leg one with you.
- Buses leave at 8:30 AT THE LATEST
The Course
- Buses will drop you at the start of leg one. This will be at about 11:30. The startline is a different location from the hash house.
- Maps will be issued to each team. There will be at least TWO Maps per team.
- Twalk will end after 24 hours
- You will be penalised ONE POINT for every FIVE MINUTES you are late and after 30 minutes you will lose all points.
Hash house
- Everyone must sign in and out at the check-in desk before heading out on course. This will be located in the hash house.
- There is a compulsory 30 min down time for everyone after completing each leg.
- 1st Aid Team is located in the Hash house next to the check in desk.
- Vegetarian, Vegan, DF and GF options are available. The cooks will be in touch with some of you regarding what you like to eat due to your dietary requirements.
Prizegiving and going home (Sunday)
- Prizegiving will commence as soon as the last team is in
- Awards for 1st overall, 1st Student Team, Best Dressed, and Longest Leg One
- There is an updated plan for Sunday, more on that later, but ideally we have everyone back on buses by 1pm and in Christchurch by 3:30.
Land Use
- No littering. On course and at the hash house/campsite. The volunteers are not there to pick up after you. On a side note, if your costume tears or falls apart, pick up the pieces!
- Keep gates as you find them. Assume fences are electric
- Report any damage to organisers asap.
GEAR
We cannot stress this enough but for your own safety all gear on the gear list is COMPULSORY. Treat twalk like a tramping trip! No Cotton and No Jean (the only exception is your costumes on leg one)!
- Polyprop top and tights (or equivalent)
- Woollen hat and gloves (or equivalent)
- Fleece top or equivalent
- Wind and Waterproof Jacket – VERY IMPORTANT. If you are in doubt that your raincoat is still waterproof, a good and fun way to test is to put it on and stand under the shower at home (try not to do this with super hot water). Generally, if water leaks through seams, it is probably not as waterproof as it once was.
- Torch or headlamp and spare batteries
- Survival Blanket
- Adequate food and water
- A minimum of 1.5 liters of water on leg one – please take water with you on each leg.
- Bring lunch on leg one!
Overnight Gear is also compulsory. Sadly, we cannot have people sleeping in the hash house this year so instead we have a campsite nearby so please bring a tent! It is meant to be wet and cold, so a spare change of warm clothes and a sleeping bag is an absolute must! Your overnight gear will go in the luggage compartments of the buses.
- A full change of warm clothes (thermals, pants, fleece top, socks etc.)
- A bowl, mug and cutlery for food. A container may also be handy.
- Sleeping bag
- Sleeping mat
- Tent
Team Gear
- A Compass
- A Whistle (it is a good idea for each participant to have their own)
- Sunscreen
- 1st Aid Kit
- PLB (optional but if you have one it is a good idea to bring it). The spot trackers have an SOS function for extreme emergencies only. Treat your spot tracker like a personal locator beacon!
If you are missing anything off the list outdoor retailers such as bivouac and macpac sell all the compulsory gear. Second-hand shops are also great for clothes like thermals.
The updated plan!
We have figured things out! It will be the first ever 21.5 hour long Twalk! How exciting! As everyone would have heard if they attended the meeting, the driveway to the farmstead where the hash house is located got washed out a bit. With this, we can no longer get the buses to the hash house. But we have found a solution!
So now, the plan is to END the event at 9AM SUNDAY MORNING, have prizegiving, and have everyone start walking by 9:30am down the ~6km the driveway to the buses. Everyone will walk along the driveway until they hit the road, turn left and walk along the road a few hundred metres to the gravel lot where the buses will be located. For people who are too tired/injured to walk after the event, we can do some shuttling and drive people from the hash house to the buses. This will be the same place everyone got dropped off for leg one. While walking along the road, WATCH OUT FOR CARS. We will be shuttling people and driving along the road, so watch out, walk off the road if you can, and get out of the way if you hear a car. STAY AS A TEAM while walking, you will have to check in and out as a team. Make sure that when you arrive at the gravel lot your team checks in.
We will set up some marquess (as many as i can find in ~48 hours), some heaters and have a bbq lunch there. However, we encourage everyone to pack some lunch prior to leaving the hash house. There will NOT BE ANY WATER or LOOS at the busses, so you will need to fill up as much as you can and go to the toilet prior to leaving the hash house.
On Saturday, you will load your overnight gear into the buses at registration. At the start of leg one, your overnight gear will be loaded from buses into vehicles/trailers and taken to the hash house. You will pick it up from the hash house. On Sunday, you will load your overnight gear into the tralers/vehicles and we will drive it to the buses and dump it there, under some marquees, and you will load it into the buses yourselves.
This plan might be different on the day, we have been a bit hectic organising the changes, so don’t freak out if things are different.
The weather looks a bit grim, with 20mL of rain coming mostly overnight Saturday-Sunday. But it can change, keep an eye on it yourselves. Be prepared to get wet and muddy. Also, controls are paper plates, some might have already or will be washed away into illegibility. If you can’t find the control, they might be gone. But that is just part of the fun.
So Twalk will be going ahead, so see you all at 7:15am Saturday morning at the UCSA Carpark. (90 Ilam Road, Ilam, Christchurch 8041) Remember, only park on the side of the car park that is alongside Illam road. You will be dropped off at the same place, sometime Sunday afternoon.
Thanks everyone!
Nick and Anna
Twalk 2022 Organisers
TWALK 