Trevor Carswell
Profiled March 2016
Trevor is another club member who does a huge amount behind the scenes for NWOC, most recently writing our Search and Rescue plan utilising his vast experience in this area. And of course, he is the organiser/persuader/motivator behind the NWOC Katoa Po teams! He is always a willing volunteer and always has a smile.
Trevor took some time out (while injured) to answer a few questions:
Number of years orienteering?
Started orienteering back in 1977 with the Hawkes Bay club. Fleeting runs with Red Kiwis, Counties and Whangarei.
How were you introduced to orienteering?
I used to go around to a school friends place, Michael Alexander, on Sunday afternoons after he got back from his favourite sport, orienteering. He always seemed a buzz about the event and he always came home dirty! For a growing boy of 13, it seemed like the ideal sport. Never being good at road running, it seemed like the equalising sport; thinking and strategy over sheer running ability. I remember coming 3rd to last (254th in the year 9 (3rd Form) cross country, Orienteering changed that….I could actually come (and did) 3rd to 1st. lol.
Key orienteering achievements to date?
- Controller for the Queen’s Birthday 3-day event in 1984; featuring Esk, Smedley and Granules (now Maraetotara)
- Mapping Smedley and Granules
- After cycling from Taupo to New Plymouth, getting a podium finish in M21A (no elite grade back then) for a 3-day. An o-course was nothing after cycling all that distance.
- Surviving courses that seemed un-survivable.
Current orienteering project or goal?
As my doctor has kindly put it, old age has got the better of me, so making a late come-back is out of the question. My long term goal is to be a ‘Mike Beveridge’ in my retirement, maybe back in Hawkes Bay. Mike and his team put so much effort into school events which were never around in my day back in the Bay. Seeing the excitement and sense of achievement from the students is a real buzz to me and I’d love to put back into the sport what I taken over the years.
Trying to get Rangitoto College students to national events is a project too! Or I’ll die trying.
Favourite map and why?
I don’t really have a favourite as such but more a small list of great maps that I had ‘Pure’ error free runs on or a fight for my life!
- My first ‘Badge’ (National) event, was Gwavas at 13, and what a challenge that was. 2hr:54m (and a few seconds!). Great, tough map but just got lost in the green of the map. Another time it snowed there. Not fun in O-gear but thankfully after a year of running, I had one of the fastest times of the day.
- Then there was Kahuu and Kahuu-iti. Awesome Gum/Pine forests in the Waikato. At times visibility was at knee height so running to compass was the only way forward. These maps slowed everyone down. Ideal for me!
- I really did enjoy the Naseby map in the South Island for its unique gold mining landscape and the atmosphere of NZ’s first major international event.
- A simple black and white map in Hawkes Bay called Phillips Bush was fantastic to run on. HB held many novelty events there, memorising the map and running either control to control or returning to the start area to see where the next control was. I loved the fact that the Hawkes Bay club was small enough to be able to do fun events like that.
- Te Mata Peak was a regular event, almost every month in Hawkes Bay. And although not a technical map, it tested your fitness with steep valleys and tracks galore. There was something amazing about a mountain in the middle of the Bay that had such awesome park-like qualities.
Map you have yet to experience but aspire to orienteer on?
The new Disneyland theme park map looks awesome having only ever been to the old Disneyland Park. In lieu of that, returning to the Smedley remap is something I’m aiming for in the next year or two just to see what they’ve done to my early 80’s edition. And wouldn’t it be great if we could get back onto the old Hallmark Tongariro National Park mountain marathon map. What a map and event that was, traversing Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngaruahoe over two days.
Orienteering hero?
Having never aspired to international fame, my hero/heroes are a little more close to home. Roger Bee (Hawkes Bay) always challenged the way I thought about orienteering. He was our elite runner (M21A – no elite back then). He mapped, he competed hard, he organised major events, he was our best runner and he was always willing to offer advice or be there on hand to help. We spent many long nights programming my Commodore VIC-20 (5K RAM, 16K ROM – Wow!) to run the 1984 Queens Birthday 3-day HB hosted.
And although not heroes, nowadays I’m hugely inspired by many of the up and coming juniors we have in the North West club who are running at a level we never dreamed of back in the 80’s. Their enthusiasm, commitment to training, approachability, down to earthiness, and enjoyment in the sport, somehow make me want to continue running, just that little bit harder. These are the qualities I saw in Roger and in years to come these juniors will be someone’s future heroes.
Day job?
By night super hero, by day, account manager for a supply company; items such as PVC fabric like on the ‘Cloud’, componentry for inside furniture, or sail cloth found on many yachts in NZ.
Other interests?
I think many in the club are aware of my fascination with lights. That stems from my 24 years of caving. So little has been explored down under and it’s an amazing feeling to be in a deep underground cavern where no-one’s been to before. The on-flow from this is my new pastime, decorating our street at Xmas. Planning meetings and neighbourhood discussions are happening all the time and we’re out to rival Franklin Rd this year. Any spare time I have, you’ll find me in the garden. Italian/English in the frontyard, - tropical in the backyard. Keeps me sane!
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