Is Luke Alive?: TWALK!

Helllooooo Ladies and Gentlemen!

Another one of Luke's adventures, coming your way, characteristically on time!
He is (drum-roll please).... STILL ALIVE! Woohooo! Joy, happiness, peace, etc, etc.

Last weekend, I participated in easily one of the most insane events I have ever been blessed to be a part of. It goes by the name of "Twalk," and it is a 24 hour orienteering/scavenger hunt race. My team consisted of myself, Tyler, and Phill, and we were one of 80 teams that entered the race, comprising of over 400 people. The goal was to find as many "controls" as possible within a 24 hour period. Now, a control was a white paper plate (which is super fun to try to find in the snow by the way), with a particular word or phrase written on it that you had to copy down once you found it. These controls were scattered over hundreds of square kilometers, and in order to find them, you had to navigate via a compass and topo map. There was a short clue associated with each control, so once you arrived at the right location, you had an idea of what to look for.

Early last Saturday morning, all the teams met at the University of Canterbury, all dressed up because you do the first leg of the race in costume (obviously). We were herded onto several large buses, and driven to the starting line, the location of which nobody knew. Once the race began, all the teams began the first leg of race, which contained fifteen controls, and ended at the "Hash House." The Hash House was the central headquarters for the race. There was food being served around the clock, a running scoreboard, and people passed out in corners getting some sleep in-between legs. As soon as a team reached the Hash House, they turned in their scores for that particular leg, got some food, copied down where the controls where hidden on the next leg from a master map, and half an hour later, departed for the next section. There were five possible legs to complete in total, with a little over 80 controls to be found. Only the top teams were able to finish all five of the legs; our team made it out on four of them.

It was absolutely crazy how insane some of the teams were. My team covered about 50 miles in the 24 hours, but some of the higher ranked teams covered about 75 miles. It is an event that I would definitely do again, and probably train for next time.

Check out of the pictures! (None of these pictures are mine; I was too busy running around like a maniac).