G'day Rogainers,
NSW Rogaining eNewsletter, 6th June 2022
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President Trev’s Update
University students are invited to compete in the 2022 Intervarsity Rogaining Champs, held in conjunction with the Qld Champs (23-24 July) to be held in Cataract NP near Tenterfield. One uni team from NSW can have their travel costs paid for them, but you need to contact president@nswrogaining.org to register for the travel subsidy.
Calling all 2021 Paddy Pallin Category winners from the Newnes Plateau. Can you please remember to bring your trophies to the 2022 event or contact the NSWRA Equipment Officer (Mark Vonhuben, ) if you don’t plan to attend.
Has anyone seen the U18 1st Waitara Scout Trophy? It looks like this and has gone missing – if you have it, please bring it along to PPR22 or contact Mark if you don’t plan to attend.
Did you know? The first NSW Championship was held in 1984 at Bungonia, organised by Peter & Robyn Tuft. It doubled as the Australian Champs, at a time when rogaining was stretching beyond pupal development in Victoria and Western Australia.
That’s nearly forty years of championship 24-hours and prompts the thought, among a whole bunch of questions, who has won the most NSW Champs? I have delved into the Archives, tallied the results, and can reveal who has won outright more than anyone else … in a future newsletter.
Entry for this year’s Champs are open early to allow you to plan your trip to Bourke in September. Congratulations to the “Double Jays”, the first team to enter.
Did anyone notice that the ACT Champs were in NSW, and the Qld Champs will be in NSW. Is this because NSW has the best rogaining countryside?
COMING EVENTS
6-hour Paddy Pallin Rogaine, Sunday 19th June, Enter Here
This year the PPR will be in Bargo State Conservation Area, near Hill Top, about an hour’s drive from Liverpool. It’s standard Sydney sandstone bush on the edge of the Blue Mountains, not too big, but with plenty of physical challenges and native bushland.
We said in the last newsletter that you can expect bush camping. Sorry, that’s not available. The impact of several hundred people is deemed to be too great for the protected area. However our caterers, 1st North Sydney Scouts, will be offering a light breakfast for you when you arrive on Sunday morning.
One of Paddy (the Man’s) passions was the scouting movement. NSW Rogaining has been sporadic in promoting and supporting scouts, but this year we will reinstate a separate, combined category for scouts/venturers. If a team includes two or more members who are scouts or venturers, and they include their scout troop in the team name, then they are registered in the Scout Category. Note that any team with a member under 14 must also include someone over 18, so a venturer team could compete on their own whereas a scout team must include at least one adult. All competition categories are defined here.
Also to honour Paddy Pallin, we contribute to one of the organisations that he supported during his lifetime. This year $2 from your entry fee will be donated to the National Parks Association. To reciprocate, the Paddy Pallin Organisation provides spot prizes, to be randomly drawn during our presentation ceremony.
COMING EVENTS
5 or 3-hour Bidjigal Nightgaine, West Pennant Hills, Saturday 16th July, Enter Here
An accessible way to test yourselves on some night navigation, in safe Sydney bushland where getting utterly lost is unlikely, the nightgaine is a great way for you to confront your nyctophobia.
The 5-hour rogaine will start at 5:00pm, and the 3-hour rogaine will start at 5:30pm, ensuring you all get some experience at night-time navigation.
This is another of the courses that was created last year then postponed due to Covid lockdowns. Thanks to Martin Dearnley and friends for this, their third attempt to run the Nightgaine.
PAST EVENTS
12 & 6 hour Autumngaine, Chapman Valley, Saturday 7th May, Results, Route Analysis & Photos
Congratulations to all the organisers and participants in the 12/6-hour event, held in impeccable Autumn weather, up the Putty Road. The appreciation for a real bush event and night navigation was evident among the 240 keen participants.
The location was promoted as Garland Valley but, in truth, was just to the south at Chapman Valley, a 3,200 hectare property running cattle, horse-riding excursions and farm-stay escapes. The Chapman’s property is large enough for us to never venture off their land, providing a great mix of open grazing farmland and native bush.
Ronnie Taib and David Williams, our most consistent, long-distance, bush rogainers, topped the 12-hour competition, visiting all controls with 30 minutes to spare, well clear of the other competitors. The top five teams were:
- Ronnie Taib, David Williams 2,640 points
- Xanda Kolesnikow, Ivan Koudashev 2,460
- Gill Fowler, Phil Whitten 2,340
- Chantal Bronkhorst, Mitchell Isaacs 2,210
- John Barnes, Mardi Barnes 1,930
Ronnie and David were the only team to collect all controls, finishing at 11:27pm
In the shorter six-hour comp, Hamish Mackie and Benjamin Hanley, with 1,250 points, edged out Nathan Archer, Paul Griffiths and Stuart Kurtz by just 40 points.
Special thanks must be expressed to the organisers, especially Toni Bachvarova and Andrew Smith for creating the course, and to Richard Sage for coordination.
Why was the event called the “Boogie-Woogie-Blitz”? In big part because of the increasingly famous Ford Blitz at control #90, pictured below with Chris Stevenson at the wheel. This Blitz was also used in the 2013 NSW Champs, and hopefully will cameo in future rogaines.
A feature for the setters, after such a wet summer, was the regular wet feet while crossing the flat valley floors. According to Andrew, “Boggy Swamp Creek is the major creek on the course so I tried "The Boggy Blitz" but Toni rightly pointed out you can't have a discouraging name for a rogaine and suggested ‘The Boogie Blitz’ to which I immediately replied with ‘The Boogie Woogie Blitz’. And it stuck.”
Andrew continued, “Anybody complaining about boggy swamps or creek crossings should have tried it a few weeks earlier when things were really wet! It dried out quite a lot in the weeks leading up to the event thank goodness. Just not quick enough to place water drops a bit further in.”
"Dave and Ronnie showed a masterclass in navigation, route choice and bush bashing."
[Phil Whitten 9-May-22].
COMING EVENTS
World Championships, Czech Republic, 26-27th August, Enter Here
A bunch NSW rogainers are heading to the Czech Republic and entries are still open if you want to include a different challenge in your next overseas trip.
According to the event website: There are only few wilderness areas in Central Europe left, but landscape of the mountain ridge of Králický Sněžník and Rychleby Mountains is definitely one of them. You can move in area more than 200 km2 and not see a single village. Experience the adventure of 17th World Rogaining Championship in this virgin nature along the Czech-Polish border.
COMING EVENTS
NSW Championships, Gundabooka NP, 24-25th September, Enter Here
After two Covid-cancelled attempts at running our Champs near Bourke, we are determined and hopeful to succeed this year. It’s four months away, but we want to give you early notice.
The Park website reports that “Gundabooka National Park and State Conservation Area is a vast area rich in Aboriginal and European heritage that stretches from the banks of the Darling River, across the plains and over Mount Gunderbooka. The park, featuring woodlands, floodplains, sandhills and the rugged Mount Gunderbooka that rises 300m above the park, is of great significance to the local Ngemba Aboriginal people.”
Gundabooka National Park is 800km from Sydney CBD, which means 9-10 hours driving. It’s not viable for us to provide transport – sorry, you will need to work that out among yourselves.
But then, it’s the start of the school holidays, and it’s a special area, very different to any previous NSW rogaines. We hope many people will take the opportunity to enter this event and explore some of north-west NSW. Have you heard about the Cobar Sound Chapel or the Brewarrina Fish Traps?
Find us on Facebook and Strava here.
Regards,
Trevor Gollan
on behalf of the NSW Rogaining Committee
publicity@nswrogaining.org