G'day Rogainers,
NSW Rogaining eNewsletter, 8th July 2022
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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 Hash House will be at the West Pennant Hills Community Centre less than a kilometre from the Bidjigal Reserve which has beautiful bushland valleys connecting Castle Hill to North Parramatta.
The 5-hour rogaine will start at 5:00pm, the 3-hour rogaine will start at 5:30pm, ensuring you all get some experience at night-time navigation, and a light meal will be served at the finish.
COMING EVENTS
12 or 6-hour Lake Macquarie Rogaine, Watagan Mountains (Newcastle), Saturday 13th August, Enter Here
It’s 30 years since the first LMR was held in September 1992, an initiative between Bert Van Netten, Ian Dempsey and the Lake Macquarie Council. The tradition continues this year, based near Heaton Lookout in the Watagan Mountains.
The course includes fascinating rainforest, pristine creeks, stunning spurs and gullies, and plenty of natural flora - gymea lilies, banksias on the drier flats, and amazing bungalow palm forests in some creeks.
The very experienced organising team, led by Bob Gilbert, are preparing a course with user-friendly options for novices and family groups, while longer technical routes will provide navigational and physical challenges for the fitter competitors.
Thanks to the dedication and technical know-how of Hamish Mackie, a quality 1:25000 topographic map with 10 metre contours has been produced. Tracks and trails have been field checked by legendary mapper & course-setter, Rob Vincent. The quality of the map and contours supports unambiguous, accurate navigation across the area, even through the deepest rainforest valleys.
Bob and Pam Montgomery are committed vetters checking tagged checkpoint sites, Pam using map & compass, while Bob verifies with GPS technology (FORBIDDEN for use by competitors!) They have covered almost 100% of the course so far.
No matter which route you choose to follow there are plenty of checkpoints boasting spectacular views! Hopefully the Covid regulations will allow the popular “Tea & Damper” facility to operate.
PAST EVENTS
6-hour Paddy Pallin Rogaine, Hill Top, Sunday 19th June Results, Route Analysis & Photos
Congratulations to all the organisers and nearly-400 participants in the 59th PPR, held on a sunny, winter day in Bargo State Conservation Area, west of Hill Top.
The top five teams were:
- Benjamin Hanley, Hamish Mackie (Men) 1,680 points
- Xanda Kolesnikow, Mike Hotchkis (Men) 1,640
- Mitchell Isaacs, Chantal Bronkhorst, Brendan Davies (Mixed) 1,520
- Toni Bachvarova, Andrew Smith (Mixed Veterans) 1,380
- Joel Mackay, Alyson Ashe (Mixed Veterans) 1,340
Hamish & Ben are winners of the 2022 Paddy Pallin Rogaine.
It was a big course with plenty of bush and off-track navigation that slowed everybody and meant that the winning team scored only 55% of the available points, but then, teams have cleared the three previous rogaines this year. Joel Mackay opined, “it’s hard to complain about having too many controls to choose from – the advantage it brings in reducing the density of people is significant.”
Other reviewers complimented the area, the map and the course. Course setter, Vivien De Courcelles saw all the course and more… such as the spurs south of a line between #49 and #39 which were near impenetrable (aka “fight” vegetation in orienteering.) As to the great size of the course, only the weekend before, Vivien decided not to include five control points north of the course. He later commented that a large course “should have been expected from someone who has set six bush events, the shortest of which was a 24-hour rogaine, the other five being 29-hour NavShields! On the positive, every control was visited by at least four teams so it does not feel like we wasted time setting extra controls.”
The map was of high standard, created by Phil Whitten with fieldwork by the course team. It takes massive effort to transcribe all those cliffs and tracks onto the map. Mitchell Isaacs observed, “I would normally never take a bearing off a wiggle in a small track!”
We had a safety incident when a participant suffered a serious ankle injury just downhill from #54. Our rapid response team (Robin & John Cameron, Gill Fowler & Phil Whitten) piggy-backed the patient the kilometre to Wattle Ridge Road, arriving just as the ambulance and Special Ops recovery service arrived. We wish Anna and her fractured ankle a full recovery, and expect to see them both return to rogaining in a few months. And a special mention to team SoxRox (Mark & Ellen Brackenreg) for providing initial first aid.
“Beautiful natural bush, speccy water courses, well-placed controls, amazing food (thanks Scouts!) and good spirited people. So nice to dig out the compass again!” [Kerrie Hammond]
“An event worthy of the Paddy Pallin name.” [Andrew Smith]
COMING EVENTS
If you seek broader horizons and you can travel, consider these three major rogaines in the next three months.
One - World Championships, Czech Republic, 26-27th August, Enter Here
Located on the mountain ridge of Králický Sněžník and Rychleby Mountains along the Czech-Polish border.
Two - NSW Championships, Gundabooka NP, 24-25th September, Enter Here
Between Cobar and Bourke, 800km from Sydney, Gundabooka National Park, features woodlands, floodplains, sandhills and the rugged Mount Gunderbooka that rises 300m above the western plains.
Three - Australasian Championships, Pyrenees Ranges, Victoria, 8-9th October, Enter Here
Entry has just opened for the Pyrenees Ponder 24hr, located about 220km north-west of Melbourne.
Find us on Facebook and Strava here.
Regards,
Trevor Gollan
on behalf of the NSW Rogaining Committee
publicity@nswrogaining.org