Twenty years to the day after its first ever meeting, the Upper Clutha Tramping Club (UCTC) celebrated its twentieth birthday last Sunday (August 21) with a celebratory function at Urban Grind.

Former UCTC president Stu Thorne said the club was formed after a group of 30-or-so locals who enjoyed the outdoors decided to establish a more permanent way to promote tramping around the Upper Clutha. 

The long-running club stays busy and active, with a trip programme issued at the start of the summer season including one-day, two-day and multi-day trips which are open to members and non-members. During the winter months, a programme of day walks is issued. 

The event made it clear that much of the ongoing success and camaraderie of the club is owed to Karen Marinkoviç, one of UCTC’s founding members. 

Her interest in trip management leaves the club with the Lake Ohau mistletoe appreciation day, bike rides such as the popular Station to Station trip, snowshoe days at the Snow Farm, a beginners’ orienteering day, mid-winter ‘camps’ at venues such as Lake Ohau Quarters, and leadership of many day and overnight trips.

On the organisational side Karen’s legacy includes providing club badges and bumper stickers, leadership workshops, routine use of personal locator beacons for safety, the club blog and regular trip reports. 

Karen was also credited with getting the annual Christmas BBQ and AGM potluck dinners going and promoting track maintenance.

After serving on the committee for 13 years, including two as president, Karen stepped down in 2016 and she was given a life membership award at last weekend’s event.

Karen said one of her best memories from club activities include a 2006 trip up the Landsborough River with two other club members, during which they resurrected an old deer culler’s route around Strutt Bluff. 

This avoided a higher and notoriously exposed route described in a contemporary guidebook as ‘nasty’, and the low-level route opened up by Karen’s party is now marked on TopoMap as the standard track.

Seven of the original members were present among the 42 past and present members who attended Sunday’s function. 

Stu also acknowledged several former club stalwarts, now deceased, such as Jim Davis, Anton Woperis, and Brian and Maureen Cleugh.

Find more information about the UCTC here.

PHOTO: Supplied