Pyengana Endurance Ride
NTARC and WICEN (South) joined forces to provide rider tracking and safety communications at Pyengana last weekend. The equine endurance event was special in that it was 30 years since the first ride there. WICEN has provided services at Pyengana for almost half of that time, the first being in 2009.
The comms group came together on Friday afternoon, at the ride base at Pyengana Recreation Ground, to set up the Base station before heading off to checkpoint locations to check signals. Pyengana can be problematical, sometimes needing a repeater to access all checkpoints. This time, the 12 metre, trailer mounted, antenna mast did the job. There were four comms locations on the track, two of which were passed through twice on each leg, giving six checkpoints in all, plus Base.
When the checking was satisfactorily completed, socialising was the order of the day, continuing into a very pleasant dinner at the Pub in the Paddock before retiring to various accommodations including, tent, campervans, the recreation hall, a QTH, an Airbnb in Binalong Bay and a villa in St Helens. Oh, there was an additional after dinner, before bed, gathering for further testing, of samples of products from Scotland. This activity was restricted to those in residence at Base.
All went to plan on Saturday, with the 80, 40 and 20 kilometre rides. Tracking occurred, a float was called in to pick up a slightly lame horse and a farrier’s tool box picked up from Base and brought to a do it yourself rider to refit a lost but recovered, shoe. An additional activity at Checkpoint 2/3 was dodging poo. Garry 7JGD reported hazardous conditions for checkpoint personnel. Fortunately, the majority of the poo deposits, liberally spread at the location, was generously deposited by the resident sheep, so not so slushy and sticky as that of their larger sometimes paddock occupants.
The weather was just about perfect throughout. The organisers expressed their appreciation for another job well done. After packing up at checkpoints and Base, some of the southern contingent headed home, whilst the remainder returned to the Pub in the Paddock for another dinner. Saturday night was clear with a full moon, and very cold. I left at 04:00 after packing up a very frozen camp and drove through freezing fog until Conara.
The crew members were VK7s, AG, ARN, DMG & XYL, ES & XYL, FEAT, GW, JGD, KPC, TW, ZAB, ZIR, ZSB, and ZTT.
