President's Report - 2003 in Review:

In 2003 the New South Wales Rogaining Association celebrated its 20th anniversary. Formally created by a handful of keen navigators in 1983, the Association continues to facilitate a full calendar of events for an ever-growing number of members.

The year began with the Cooks River Metrogaine in southern Sydney in February. As is the tradition of recent years this event was urban in it's setting, and featured an up-close exposure to life under a flight path and allowed the discovery of a global array of unique bakeries and delicatessens. This opening event for the year allows us all to gather once again after the summer holiday period and ease our way into the bush events that follow. 

The first such bush event was to be a 24hr event in the Barrington Tops over the Easter weekend in April. Unfortunately due to unresolved issues with the land managers of the intended course area, the decision was made to cancel the event. While regrettable there was not enough to time to reset an alternative 24 hour course prior to the scheduled weekend. 

In June the 2003 Paddy Pallin Winter 6hr event was enjoyed by 700 eager rogainers. Situated in a privately owned valley surrounded by Popran National Park north of Sydney near Mangrove Mountain, the course was reportedly a tad scratchy albeit still a great success. This event is without a doubt New South Wales' premier Rogaine. Supported by Paddy Pallin Outdoor retailers it attracts a large proportion of newcomers to the sport, and is therefore worthy of our support. In 2003 it celebrated its 40th anniversary as a navigational event, with the Association having managed the event since 1988.

The Lake Macquarie 6/12hr event was once again successfully held in August. In its 12th year in 2003, the event has become a regular feature of the Association's event calendar. One of the primary figures behind the event each year is Bert van Netten, who was in fact one of the 'keen navigators' behind the creation of this Association all those years ago.

The 2003 New South Wales Championships headed to the beautiful south coast north of Batemans Bay in October. To quote the event organiser, Trevor Gollan, in his write-up of the event for the newsletter - "...it was a gorgeous area for walking, with 25 to 30 beaches and headlands, placid lakes and lagoons, and some fantastic forest.... the idea was to showcase the scenery above all else". Many teams recorded championship efforts. The winners overall were a mixed team who cleared the course and traveled the 95kms in under 19 hours. Even those teams not contesting the top positions enjoyed the Championship challenges. 

The last event of the year was the 2003 Socialgaine. Held in Belanglo State Forest in the Southern Highlands, the event is in a sense the Associations end-of-year gathering - hence the name. 2003's event was no exception. With a twist on the standard style rogaine, participants found themselves with a map showing 26 checkpoints and a checkpoint description list showing 37. There were 11 'mystery' checkpoints, which they could only discover by first visiting a 'clue' checkpoint. The idea was to give people some extra strategic and navigational challenges.

The blanket worldwide increases in insurances, from which the sport of Rogaining seemed to have avoided in the immediate post-September 11 2001 periods, finally found us in 2003. The sport's Public Liability cover, which is held as a national body, rose significantly. The cost per member increased from approx. $4.50 to $12 per head. This increase forced the committee to make it biggest decision of 2003 in regard to its membership fees.

Initial discussions considered a straight increase in fees to absorb the entire per head premium. This motion was defeated and a new motion was put forward where as the increase was in part absorbed by an increase in membership fees and in part by an increase in event entry fees. This it was decided would be fairer as it would essentially be a user-pays system.

Mid-2003 the NSWRA was invited to submit a bid by the Australian Rogaining Association, to host the 7th World Rogaining Championships in 2006. The ARA then submitted our bid as its preferred Australian host to the International Rogaining Federation. The IRF notified us towards the end of the year that we in New South Wales would be the official host of the event. This is a great honour, and a great opportunity to showcase our state to all the international and national visitors the event will attract.

The NSWRA newsletter celebrated its 100th issue in November. Another significant milestone that is attributable to a significant number of hours contributed by many volunteers to produce and distribute the newsletters. The newsletter will continue to be the primary communication tool to all the Association's members in coming years. 2003 saw the beginning of discussions on the future form the newsletter should take. With the ever increasing use of email in everyday life it seems likely that the NSWRA newsletter will become electronic in form, although this is still under review and may take many years to implement.

The website continued to be transformed through 2003. The Associations webmaster, Graeme Cooper, contributed many hours of his own time to creating a site that meets the committees' core objectives. Primary of which is providing up-to-date information pre and post events. Online entries has been another major objective, which unfortunately in 2003 never eventuated. A Bpay system of entry payments, similar to the ACTRA system, is very slowly being implemented, due in part to many delays from our financial institution.

A big vote of thanks should go to those volunteers who by their efforts ensured that the events of 2003 were the success that they were. Thank you of behalf of all your fellow members. As you are all no doubt aware, the sport is entirely managed by volunteers. Those volunteers are vital both at the executive level of the sport and as part of the teams that organize each of the six events each year. In 2003, as in the years prior, the list of volunteers for each event and those on the committee feature many common names. This is not ideal and in my opinion not sustainable. The sport needs new faces and fresh perspectives. Something to consider in 2004, particularly as we begin to work towards the 7th World Rogaining Championship event.

In conclusion, we have all enjoyed another year of varied events full of challenges and perhaps for some of us personal triumphs. We can now look forward to another strong year in 2004.

Andy Mein

NSWRA President (2003)