Army angle to QB relay

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 320, 23 January 1990, Page 12

Army angle to QB relay

Waiouru soldiers, on bikes, in canoes, on ropes and in armoured vehicles featured in the Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay Run which passed through the Waimarino and Waiouru last Tuesday.

Teams from Headquarters Company, the , Army Schools and Waiouru Training Depot competed against each other, with each team carrying one of three batons across a portion of the Waiouru Training Area. The race started with the baton being handed over to the Army ,by a team of civilian runners along State Highway One. A vehicle then transported the batons to Access Road 17 where the first team member received the baton and cycled along Access Road 17 to the Moawhango Dam. From there the baton was passed to the next team member who abseiled down the southern face of the Dam. After completing the abseiling the team members then ran back up the stairs of the dam

and transferred the baton to an awaiting canoeists. The canoeists then paddled across Lake Moawhango to the start of Paradise Valley Road in the Northern zone of the Waiouru Training Area. The batons were then passed over to three armoured vehicles which travelled along Paradise Valley Road to Shepherd's Hut where the batons were handed to a ten man section waiting on Unimog trucks. The vehicles transported the 10 man sections towards Turangi, where, five kilometres south of Turangi, the sections disembarked from the vehicles and ran the remaining distance of the journey into Turangi under escort finishing at McLaren Park.