Andy Mein Reports ...
In 1964 Paddy Pallin, the man, first
conceived the idea of an organised navigational event
as a way of improving the skills of bushwalkers in map
and compass navigation. That same year he held the
first 'Paddy Pallin' navigational event. Held at
Euroka that event perhaps involved no more than a
couple of dozen participates. Now in 2003 at this year’s
40th annual event, 650 participants and 20 volunteer
staff enjoyed perfect weather in and around Popran
National Park.
Popran NP was a Park I was unaware of
up until the event course-setter, Ross Duker, took
myself and Belinda and Andrew Pope (the event
administrators) for an initial visit in January of
this year. (See Ross' article later in
Newsletter 98.) The ease of access from Sydney in
comparison to the last few years of Paddy Pallin
events was certainly the initial appeal. Early
discussions with the owners of Glenworth Valley, the
original proposed Hash House site, clearly ruled out
the use of the valley. They run a successful
horse-riding business within the valley, something
that would not coexist with 650 rogainers. The owners
of Glenworth Valley kindly offered us an alternative
valley on the western side of Mount Olive. This became
the events Hash House site. And from this site we
began our months of work creating the 40th Annual
Paddy Pallin 6hr Winter Rogaine event.
Once consents had been negotiated and
finalised with the numerous concerned parties, Ross
Duker (setter) and Eric Smith (vetter) busied
themselves creating a course worthy of a 'Paddy Pallin'
event. The Park contained numerous significant
aboriginal sites, pristine waterways, and a number of
rare and threatened plant species. We worked with the
NPWS and the managers of the adjacent Crown Land to
ensure our impact was minimal, particularly to those
sensitive areas. Our thanks to Richard Colbourne
(Ranger for Popran NP), and Rowan Berecry (Secretary
for the Mangrove Mountain Flora Reserve Trust) for
their assistance throughout the process. As you are
now all well aware, the thick scratchy scrub on the
course was at times extremely challenging. The
geographical features were however well defined making
for easier navigation, something that perhaps excuses
the thickness of the scrub. Although from my visits to
the course, I admit that there were times I had
trouble finding the creek lines through the scrub! The
4WD and walking tracks on the plateau south of Mount
Olive, would have provided some relief from the scrub
for many of you. While the course area looked small on
the map, we were certain that no team would be able to
clear the points in the 6 hours. This was the case,
although the top teams did travel further than we
anticipated. For those of you who enjoyed the event as
an opportunity to discover new places and environments,
I am sure you were not disappointed, although were
somewhat relieved to emerge into the open valley of
Ironbark Creek at the end of the event.
Ironbark Creek was a superb location
for an event Hash House. Surrounded by pristine bush
land with reasonably straightforward road access. With
the exclusion of the numerous cow paddies, the grassed
valley floor was an ideal campsite come car park. The
king tide that accompanied the full moon on Saturday
night was the only unpleasant aspect of the site,
particularly for those that established their
campsites on the banks of the creek and were woken by
the over-running waters. Last years stomach turning
discovery of two missing participants at the
conclusion of the event at Newnes, was something not
to be repeated. At 3.30pm Sunday, half an hour after
this years finish, 23 teams had not returned. All
these teams thankfully were eventually accounted for
by way of the safety measures we had perfected since
last years event. Most of the teams were radioed in by
the course marshals as being on route to the Hash
House, or had elected to make use of the emergency
mobile number by sending an SMS message informing us
they were OK and were also on-route to the Hash House.
Our thanks go to the following course marshals who
volunteered their time and energies to ensuring the
safety of all the participants:
-
CP66 - Tanya Chivers, Kristy Bond,
Rob de Jong
-
CP64 - Chris Mein, Anthony
Hutchings
-
CP62 - Neil Prosser, Hisako
Shiraishi
-
CP104 - Alan Scott
Managing the administration of such
large numbers of participants, from processing the
initial entries to preparing the final results, is a
big task. This year we once again have Belinda and
Andrew Pope to thank. There are and were many
challenges to this role and they took them all in
their stride, while juggling their two young boys
(figuratively speaking!). Thank you to you both. Every
rogaine event would not be possible without the
assistance of the volunteers. This year we have all
the following to thank for their roles in making the
event a success:
Andrew Introna
Dianne Saunders
Julian Dryden
David Coysh
Carol Chivers
Jim Mein
Gill Mein
Lee Lowe
Rodney Davies
Catherine Watts
Jan Smith
Merle Goyen
Marcelle Gannon (& friends)
And anyone I may have forgotten.
1st Waitara Scouts didn’t disappoint
once again with this years catering. We are very
fortunate that they happily take on this mammoth task
feeding so many. And for those carnivores that were
present on Saturday night the smell of roast lamb
filling the valley was a definite mouth waterer.
A final note of thanks to the events
sponsors. Paddy Pallin Outdoor Equipment has supported
this event throughout the many years, among other
things covering the cost of the event brochure, and
most importantly, ensuring the event has adequate
insurance cover. They also provided via the events
co-sponsors, Ultimate and Black Diamond, a superb
array of quality prizes. I know you all enjoyed the
approach we took to awarding those excellent products.
Thank you to Paddy Pallin, Ultimate, and Black
Diamond.
A testament to the enjoyment of all
who participated is visible on the Event
Photo Gallery . There are smiles on every
face.
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