G'day Rogainers,

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NSWRA Website Alert – Apologies & Call for assistance!

NSWRA experienced a technical glitch that caused us to lose all the contents of our website, thanks to our (now former) US-based hosting service who decided to migrate our server without taking a backup. This happened right when registrations were scheduled to close for the Lake Macquarie Rogaine. Needless to say it is a massive nuisance and completely unacceptable, but our webmaster Chris Stevenson is hard at work restoring the site. A couple of points must be made regarding this:

  • Firstly, the website included the subscription list for these newsletters, so let me apologise to anyone who has previously unsubscribed to these bulletins and or otherwise does not want to receive them. We have sent this to anyone who has entered an event in the past 5 years. If you do not wish to receive them in future you may press the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this letter, and we promise you won’t be sent this again. Also the unsubscribe process has been made much easier.
  • Secondly, we have lost some information, but fortunately most of it can restored:
  • Event results for the last 5 years, which can be restored from our eventing system over time
  • All blog posts, which are being restored from on-line archives
  • Event pages and photos from the first 4 events this year. We have the photos but the galleries will need t be re-created
  • Our mailing list and associated requests to subscribe and unsubscribe

This outage did not impact our registrations system, which is hosted by QRA, nor did it impact our eventing and memberships systems which are not stored on-line.

NSW 24/8-hour Championships, 21st-22nd September, Yengo National Park

Entries are open to this year’s Spring rogaine (NSW Champs) which will be held in the Big Yango precinct of Yengo National Park, 3 hours north of Sydney. It is an area rich in Aboriginal and European history . With its central location, the HH is ideally placed for teams to do a loop on Saturday afternoon, return to the HH for a feed then sleep and go out again on Sunday for another loop. That is, a perfect chance to “step up” to a 24hr rogaine!

Vivien de Remy de Courcelles (Setter), Gill Fowler (Coordinator) and their team of volunteers are working hard to get all the main parts of the organising done and dusted, but we still need help for the following:

  • Towing the trailer
  • A few more helpers on the weekend for assistance at rego, in the hash house, and parking assistance

Please contact volunteer coordinator Graham Field (volunteer@nswrogaining.org) if you can assist here, or with any other event.

24 hours in the bush can be daunting. Some want to push themselves for the full duration, but most people use it as an excuse to camp in the bush and include two walks – Saturday afternoon/evening then Sunday morning. You might be interested in Ian Dempsey’s views in our recent Forum article, 40 years of rogaining, where Ian says he “worries about the ongoing viability of the 24-hour NSW Champs”.

Lake Macquarie 12/6hr Rogaine – Saturday 10th August – Results Now Available

The Lake Macquarie Rogaine around Mt Sugarloaf had an array of route choices, great views, and very little lawyer vine that the LM rogaines are renowned for, it was one that was appreciated by almost everyone* from casual day trippers to the top 12-hour competitors who gained impressive scores for efficient route planning and navigation a lot more than fast running!


Melissa Robertson, who made up the 6hr Women’s Winners, finds a little hideout between 87 and 44


Winning 6hr Team Member Ron Wielding approaching the finish. Not only did their score of 1760 have a 200 point lead on the runner up, but they got back 20 mins early to avoid getting torches out! Well done guys.

Thank you to all the volunteers, especially Bob Gilbert, Bert van Netten, Carolyn Rigby and Pam, Bob & Ann Montgomery, not just for their efforts on the day, but for your efforts in pulling the event together each consecutive year which has an iconic spot on our calendar (not least of which is thanks to the Tea & Damper stand!).

(*) Yes, we had some pretty impressive results at the other end of the spectrum, including some very late teams. Mat Collin, who won the previous event, did not have the same luck this time around, describing their experience as being “too cool for the map, so we took an alternate route that was off map… decided to check out some backyards that were off the map.” With a 280 point penalty, they just missed disqualification, but still did better than 10 other teams, one of whom was almost three hours late!

WRC2019 Wrap-Up

Last month the World Rogaining Championships were held at La Molina, in the Spanish Pyrenees north of Barcelona. The weather and the mountains were mean, the competition fierce, the hash house food below the quality of its wine and beer but all who attended were very positive about the experience.

Read my interviews with some of the NSW and ACT rogainers who ventured to WRC2019 here on our Forum.

Here’s a good summary from Richard Sage: “I won’t forget the very large Spanish cows sitting, watching and giving us tacit approval to cross their land in the middle of the night as we went past and then back from a control. That, and looking down on the bright lights of French towns during the night. It was a great event and confirms my faith in the sport that non-competitive teams like ours can not only enter, but feel included and enjoy it.”

And here’s how our NSW and some ACT teams fared in the event:

  • David Baldwin & Julie Quinn (Quinn Baldwin) ACTRA – 349pts, 1st XV, 2nd XO, 17th OA
  • Mike Hotchkis & Jonathan Worswick (Ossifrages) – 286pts, 1st MSV, 12th MV, 25th MO, 53rd OA
  • Ronnie Taib & David Williams (Turtles) – 275pts, 42nd MO, 65th OA
  • Antoniya Bachvarova & Andrew “Smiffy” Smith (Lost Control) – 243pts, 13th XV, 29th XO, 101st OA
  • Nicole Mealing & Andrew “Brooner” Brown (A Brootal Mountain Adventure) – 236pts, 34th XO, 115th OA
  • Graham Field & Neil Hawthorne (Terrainium) – 178pts, 20th MSV, 63rd MV, 127th MO, 226th OA
  • Richard Sage, Nihal Danis & Dom Pitot (RichardNihalDom) – 147 pts, 19th XSV, 96th XO 279th OA
  • Colleen & Colin Mock (Run Amock) ACTRA - 133pts, 7th XUV, 26th XSV, 66th XV, 113th XO, 309th OA

What Else this Year?

There are plenty of interesting rogaining options this year. See our list of Coming Events here

Have you pulled out your canoe or kayak and started training for the Paddlegaine at Lake Macquarie on the 3rd November? Or the following weekend you could be exploring the Bay of Fires, Tasmania, at the Australasian Championships.

2020 Calendar. Can you help make rogaines happen next year?

LengthNameStart DateOrganiser
3-hrMinigaineSunday, 23 February 2020
6-hrMetrogaineSunday, 29 March 2020
12/6-hrAutumngaineSaturday, 25 April 2020
24-hrAus/n ChampsSaturday, 9 May 2020South Australia
Nav.WorkshopSaturday, 23 May 2020
6-hrPaddy PallinSunday, 14 June 2020
5/2½-hrNyctophobiaSaturday, 4 July 2020
12/6-hrLake MacquarieSaturday, 1 August 2020Newcastle
24-hrNSW ChampsSaturday, 5 September 2020
SurpriseSunday, 18 October 2020Bert Van Netten
8/4-hrSocialgaineSaturday, 21 November 2020

You will note that few organising teams are listed, which is because we need people to step up to the game. NSWRA encourage all rogaining regulars to consider if they can be part of an organising team for an event next year. A new set of hands pulling an event together means that new ideas, locations and styles will inject new life into a rogaine, something that is essential to the renewal of the sport.

If you would like to be a part of coordinating, setting, vetting or otherwise helping, but don’t have the knowledge, there are many rogaining long-timers who would be more than willing to offer advice. If this is you, please think about what you may be able to do, and contact Graham Field at volunteer@nswrogaining.org.

Tristan White
Publicity Officer
NSW Rogaining Association
publicity@nswrogaining.org