NEWSLETTER
September 2023
It’s a short Newsletter this time due to limited contributions. Of most importance is our role in conducting the Australian 24hr Rogaining Championships at Goobang National Park near Parkes. This is a massive undertaking and Trevor Gollan is coordinating the event. Thankfully, many of you have stepped up as volunteer and we look like it will be very successful. There is still a need for some more volunteers in various roles (see Preparations for the Australian Championships).
Ian Miller has been involved in NSW Rogaines for a very long time and he is our first contributor with a tongue in cheek report on winning his first rogaine mug and a short report on the recent Nightgaine. We then have Julian Leger’s acknowledgement of the outstanding work done for your sport by the Montgomerys and then a report on his recent performance in the World Championships in the USA in blisteringly hot conditions.
Please consider offering your observations on any Rogaine in which you have participated in a short article to the editor.
Dale THOMPSON
Editor
Preparations for the Australian Rogaining Championships
30th September, 2023
by Trevor Gollan
David Williams and Ronnie Taib, have undertaken the mammoth task of setting the course for the Australian Championships. They’ve been on the task for well over 12 months, initially looking at a site near Cowra then finally selecting a site at to Goobang National Park between Orange and Parkes. David has made the map, written submissions for National Parks, a special presentation for the landowner, and a DA for Parkes Council, while Ronnie has compiled the Water Plan (required for Aus Champs) and the Safety Plan. They’ve done lots more, but I’ll stop there… An honourable mention must be given to Gill Fowler for her ongoing efforts and experience when it comes to our relationships with National Parks and private landholders.
After David and Ronnie taped the control points, Andy Macqueen, Sarah Delaney, Greg King, Liz & Ellen spent several days vetting the course, as recounted by Andy on our social media. Of interest, Andy and friends actually went “to The Edge and Beyond!” After vetting at Goobang they travelled onwards and walked at Gundabooka, Michael’s ill-fated course that Andy and his team also vetted last year.
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In the week preceding the event Bob & Pam Montgomery, Jim Collier, Carly Finn & Julian Ledger are going out to hang the flags – new corflute flags constructed by Graham Field.
This event will be totally run by NSW Rogaining members, which will allow us to meet and observe fellow rogainers in a different light. There are still loads of tasks to be completed to make this event happen which include establishing the HH site, distributing water drops, managing registration and the competition start, Hash House set up, All Night Café set up, Safety patrols, presentations and clean-up.
Look through the following lists and see if it might be possible for you to lend a hand in making this a successful event.
Admin. Anita Bickle & Carolyn Rigby. We’ll need helpers for registration, novice assistance, and the starts. (There will be two starts: 24hr start at 11am, 8hr start at 12 noon)
Catering. Dale Thompson, and Bruce Inglis, are managing the catering. We have several helpers but there is still some room for more servers and cooks. We are offering a meal Friday night, a light breakfast Saturday, then continuous food from Saturday evening until Sunday lunch. As well as an All Night Café.
Nicole Mealing, with Andrew Brown, are taking on the All Night Café, 6pm to 6am, out on the course.
First Aid. Reddall Leslie has kindly accepted the first aid role. Reddall is a GP who lives in Orange.
Photographer. Arthur Day has volunteered for this job. Arthur is a Tasmanian, currently visiting NSW, who also helped at the recent Lake Macquarie 12hr.
Safety Patrols. We need 4WD’s to regularly travel designated trails … as a safety presence and to replenish water drops. Ronnie has a plan for these patrols.
The following rogainers have stepped up as volunteers. Lucy Alexus, Ian Almond, Nihal Danis, Karen Duerden, Ann Montgomery, Donelda Niles (also from Tas.), Tracy Phillips, Richard Sage
Lucy, who lives at Parkes is acquiring local produce (honey & olives) to be given as prizes and seeking a way to slash the long grass on the HH site, and organising a water carrier for the 5,000 litres we need.
Our biggest volunteer need is for someone to tow the Admin Trailer to the event on or before Friday, 29th September. If you are able to help with this or any of these volunteer roles, please contact Trevor Gollan on 0408 230593 or the Volunteer Coordinator at volunteer@nswrogaining.org
How long does it take to win a Rogaine Coffee Mug? (the Rogaine version of “How long is a piece of string?”)
by Ian Miller
2023 is my breakout Rogaine year. In the recent night event Steve Dunlop and I won the 3 hour MUV class. It helped that we were the only entrants in the category, but we also won two other categories and came third in M. We exceeded our expectations completing our planned course and getting back inside the three hours. Charging (relatively speaking) around the park for the final set was a highlight.
Lest you get the wrong idea – I don’t enter Rogaines to go pot hunting. This was my first mug. Our win in the night event was somewhat accidental. Steve and I were keen to do the event but I was recovering from a heavy sinus cold and my tune up walks the week before showed I had dropped fitness so we opted for the 3 hour rather than the 5 hour. This proved a good decision as we avoided faster teams who entered the longer event. You still have to finish but being the only UV helps to win a mug.
To answer the how long question meant researching when I started Rogaining? Short answer is “don’t know!” My records only go back to 2014 so I couldn’t find my first event. I have a tea towel from the Paddy Pallin in 2013 which lists all the events in NSW so it was before then. I was definitely younger, fitter and faster. I remember exhaustingly enjoyable events in Kuringai, Lane Cove and at locations around Lake Macquarie.
Rogaining is great exercise and the Hash House environment and discussions are enjoyable.
My tips
• Glucose jellybeans as an energy source.
• Keep Rogaining – Your next event could be your best !
Thank you to Steve Dunlop and the organisers, caterers and helpers. Lang may yer lum reek!
Steve found the termite mound.
The coveted mug!
The Tea Towel.
A night at the Opera Rogaine
by Ian Miller
Rogaine NSW organised a night event in the Upper Lane Cove area of Sydney area on Saturday 29 July. 3 hour and 5 hour course times were offered.
In the 3 hour event James McQuillan and Seth Sweeney powered home to win the Overall and Men’s categories with 1050 points in the near perfect time of 2:57:59. Second overall and first in the Women’s, Family and Novice categories were Savanna and Saffron Sweeney with 730 points. Emma Inglis and Sue Moore won the Veteran Women category with 550 points and were second in the Women’s section.
In ninth place overall and second in the Men’s and Family categories were Lachlan and Lee Coady with 530 points closely followed by Steve Dunlop and Ian Miller with 510 points who were 3rd in the Men’s category and won the Men’s Veterans, Men’s Special Veterans and Men’s Ultra Veterans categories.
Tim was our only rep in the 5h event, finishing 15th in the Men’s category.
To complete the WHO involvement Vivien was the event administrator. The Hash House food was great. Thank you Rogaine NSW
The
Montgomerys – Stalwart Volunteers for Our Sport
by Julian Ledger.
Bob and Pam Montgomery are popular faces at rogaines competing in the UltraVeteran category. You may not know that they also volunteer and tow the rogaine trailer to many events? At the 2021 Paddy Pallin rogaine on the Newness plateau they drove from Newcastle separately in their camper and truck, picked up the rogaine trailer in Sydney, arrived a day early at the Hash House to make sure the portaloos were delivered to the right spot, competed in the event, stayed an extra day and collected a bunch of controls and then drove home dropping the trailer back in Sydney on the way.
More recently they played a big part in helping Mat Collin put on the Autumn event at Stroud and also vetted the 30th Lake Macquarie event visiting all but one control locations. Those who took part know just how challenging some of those were! You won’t see them competing at the Australian 24 hr Championships and 8 hr at Goobang – but they will be there having helped hang the flags – rumoured to be over 80.
Bob, Pam and sister Ann heading out on the 12 hour at Belanglo (after towing the trailer!)
2023 World Rogaining Championships - Lake Tahoe, California
by Julian Ledger.
I attended the first world championships way back when in 1992 in the gold mining country around Beechworth, Victoria. Arguably the event was a bit premature (most competitors were Aussies) but it was a statement of confidence about where the sport wanted to go. I made it to the next three championships held biannually at Mt Singleton WA, South Island NZ and Kamloops, British Columbia. Then work and family commitments took over and I dropped out until being part of the NSW Rogaining team that organised the successful 2006 event at the Warrumbungles.
The attraction of a championships is the special atmosphere and for a world championship, the flags of competing nations and being out on the course with the world’s best rogainers.
Last year I travelled to the Czech Republic to a course in the mountainous forests bordering Poland. Then this year to California for an event that had been postponed from 2020. The 18th World Rogaining Championships was the tenth and final event of the Cal-O-Fest which included the North American Orienteering Championships.
The primary host was the (San Francisco) Bay Area Orienteering Club. With only modest resources and a somewhat ambivalent ski resort hosting the hash house the team did a great job.
I had two other ulterior motives for going to California. Firstly, despite having been a few times including hitchhiking through twice as a student in the 1970s I had never been to Yosemite National Park. Secondly, I wanted to explore the footsteps of great x 3 grandpa Matthew Ledger who had died in the town of Sonora in 1851 at the height of the goldrush. (He had unwisely got caught up in it as an ‘old’ man of 50).
On arrival after one night in the city I headed off in my campervan (Aussie owned company). Like Australia once inland it got hot, very hot. Good thing the van was well air conditioned. In Sonora between visits to graveyards I spent time in the coolness of the library and a historic bookshop come bar.
Yosemite did not
disappoint and has the most fabulous scenery. It is a popular place, gets
booked early and in season is well known for long queues. I stayed outside the
park and drove in early to start walking by 7.00am. Best day was the steep 6 hr
return hike to the top of Yosemite Falls. Part of the idea was to get used
the altitude which at least made it
much cooler than the lowlands. The next day saw me driving over the Tioga Pass
up to 10,000ft and into Nevada. After the record snow season the pass had 
only reopened the previous weekend.
Arriving at the event site I met up with blind date team-mate, Tamsin Barnes, and we headed off to do the model event. Idea is to get used to the mapping and vegetation. One thing you can be sure of at a rogaine far from home is that it is not going to be the same as you are used to. In the evening there was a low-key meal with welcomes and some nice musical entertainment.
Next morning, we were near the head of the queue to collect maps and had plenty of time for strategy.
As an ultra-veteran competing in the mixed veteran category. I was not expecting to be competitive and our plan (team name Australian Crawl) was to focus on enjoying ourselves. The start was in an outdoor ice rink at the centre of resort which was busy with out of season activities including mountain biking. People did not seem too fazed by the sight of rogainers dressed for the conditions charging off in different directions at midday.
Our plan was a large loop on the Saturday on some the less mountainous part of the course returning to the hash house for rest before a smaller loop on Sunday. It worked out well. We made good progress although I was slow on some of the bigger climbs and through boulder fields. The trick was to keep drinking whilst keeping the fluids down. We filled up at one stream and treated the water for an hour before consuming. Tamsin as a vet was well equipped. I took some magnesium and had no trouble with cramp although by midnight was fading and pleased to reach the hash house at 2.00am. We slept well in the van and after some breakfast were walking again at 6.00am. The morning was pleasantly cool and the route was mostly on trails on steep slopes through bigger forest.
We met Gill Fowler and teammate Liz Dornom who were in good spirits and went on to win the Women’s Veteran category. We didn’t see bears on the course although others did, and we kept a wary eye. Organisers reported control flags having been bear-vandalised. I did see the brown bear pictured below at a campground on Lake Tahoe just off the course.
Thankfully our return route was downhill, and we got back with a nice 15 minutes to spare. Tamsin had been a great teammate and a very good navigator.
The altitude on the course ranged from 1900m up to 2700m. We had walked 56km with approx 600m altitude variation and scored 1480 points (For some reason our GPS tracker did not record our morning effort).
Results are here: Cal-O-Fest - RESULTS
Consider this – we walked for 20 out of the 24 hours, lost no time on navigation or finding controls, only stopped for water and fixing headlights and the winners from Estonia scored three times our score. Amazing athletes.
There was a friendly atmosphere as we waited for the results presentation. Tamsin’s husband Richard Robinson and Viv Prince had comfortably won the Mixed Ultra Veterans category. It was good to sit and eat and rest. Other Aussie teams included:
112 F = 44 C
The next World Championships is scheduled for early summer (around June) 2025 in Spain. With rogaining popular in Europe bigger numbers can be expected although I would be surprised if the entry criteria of having achieved the podium in previous rogaines needs to be applied – therefore, all should be welcome.
The 2024 Rogaine Calendar
by Graham Field.
Trevor Gollan has put together a draft calendar of events for 2024. He’s done his best to avoid any conflicts with significant events from other rogaining and orienteering organisations, whilst seeking full moons and avoiding the heat of summer. You can check out the calendar here: https://nswrogaining.org/coming-events
The outstanding feature of the 2024 list is that it’s totally devoid of any Event Locations, Organisers or Course Setters!
Even though there’s nearly six months till the first event of 2024, we need to get cracking on finding new locations and event-making teams to enable these events go ahead. We also need to get applications in to National Parks, Councils etc. well in advance so that we don’t get derailed after a lot of work has gone into the planning.
If you have ever thought that you could organise or set a course, but don’t know where to start, there’s plenty of experienced rogainers out there who are only to happy to share their knowledge. A good place to start is by dropping an email to the Volunteer Coordinators, Robin and Katherine at volunteer@nswrogaining.org or myself at president@newrogaining.org.
Whist 2024 is our focus at the moment, we’re also looking further ahead to 2025 and beyond. If you’re not quite ready to take on something in 2024, were always happy to look at new locations and teams for the future.
We’d love to .. NEED TO .. hear from you!
Event Calendar for the rest of 2023
Further details on https://nswrogaining.org/coming-events/
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Saturday 30 September 2023 |
Australian Championships |
Goobang NP, Parkes |
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Saturday 28 October 2023 |
ACTRA 12/6 hr Spring |
TBA |
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Sunday 29 October 2023 |
Surprise Rogaine |
Newcastle Region |
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Sunday 19 November 2023 |
Socialgaine |
Sydney Harbour |
Email b_inglis@bigpond.com
Dale Thompson, Editor
