Congratulations to competitors and organisers of the 43^rd Australian Champs, held at Goobang National Park, near Parkes. Conditions were mostly hot, above 30 ° on both Saturday and Sunday, though it dipped to a chilly -1 ° on Saturday morning as the huge, full moon set over Lake Endeavour.

Julie Quinn and David Baldwin continued their dominance of the event, finishing 180 points clear of the second team. Julie and David also finished last, that is, the last team to return to the Hash House, with a spectacular sprint to finish a mere seven seconds over the 24-hour time limit. David commented that the ten-point penalty justified the 20 points gained by pushing for control #34. The top ten teams were:

1. David Baldwin, Julie Quinn (ACT) (Mixed Vets, 3580pts)

2. Eric Lambers (Vic), Paul Monks (Vic), Tim Cochrane (ACT) (Men, 3400pts)

3. Keelan Birch, Tristan White, Ivan Koudashev (NSW) (Men, 3210pts)

4. Paul Guard, Amanda Koopman (Qld) (Mixed Vets, 3130pts)

5. Andrew Duerden, Mike Hotchkis (NSW) (Men Supervets, 2890pts)

6. Gill Fowler, Brendan Davies (NSW) (Mixed Vets, 2850pts)

7. Mitchell Bloom-quinn, James Hardcastle (NSW) (Men, 2730pts)

8. Etienne Gautier, Michael Harmer (NSW) (Men, 2690pts)

9. Robb Simpson (NSW), Nick Harris (NZ) (Men Vets, 2660pts)

10. Adrian Anderson, Justin Quigley (NSW) (Men, 2630pts)

The minor, 8-hour event was won by Anthony Wharton and Clinton Russell, from nearby Orange, scoring 1050 points. It was a narrow win; Jemma & Rochelle Duerden with Andy Jackman achieved the same score but finished five minutes later. Full results, photos and analytics are on the event website .

David and Julie are Australia's best rogainers, only beaten once since 2017 (and that was a narrow 40-point loss to classy WA duo, David Symons and Paul Williams.)

As to the Goobang environment, Julie observed, “The Edge was an excellent name for the event. The vegetation is an amazing blend of eastern and western NSW. For example, cassinia and teatree that we know from the ACT and coast, versus spinifex, callitris and flowering calytrix from much further west. Highlights were all the spring flowers, sun and bearded orchids, and the variety of birds including red-tailed black cockatoos.”

There is a secondary competition at the Aus Champs, where states accrue points according to participants state of origin and top-3 placings in each category. The winning state is usually the host state, but this year was somewhat different. Goobang NP is equidistant from Sydney and Canberra, and the Interstate comp matched the geography, with ACT and NSW equal-first on 16 points. It's an unprecedented outcome, though ACT might claim a moral victory in that they had 33 competitors compared to NSW's 78.

The third competition at the Aus Champs is the Intervarsity Championships, this year won by Xavier Scott and Will Whittington (2080pts) representing the University of Tasmania.

Thank you to the many volunteers who made this event a success, notably the course setters David Williams and Ronnie Taib . David produced the tablecloth-sized map, with 1:25000 scale much appreciated by the competitors. Ronnie supervised the water and safety plans … water supply being vital in such weather conditions. Other major contributors included Dale Thompson and Bruce Inglis in the central Hash House, while Nicole Mealing and Andrew Brown managed the All Night Café. See the full list on the NSW Volunteer webpage .

OCTOBER UPDATE

Trev's Wrap on the Aus Champs at Goobang