eNewsletter 226 - Friday 11^th September, 2026

G'day fellow rogainers,

In this newsletter

• Ferrygaine entries close this Monday
• The Saturday before the Ferrygaine: a good time to try orienteering!
• Entries open: Join the Spring Challenge, Gurnang SF, 17^th October 2026
• NSW teams did well at the Australasian Championships
• NEW Calendar: what's left of 2026 & a first peek at 2027

3^1/2 & 6^1/2hr Ferrygaine, Sunday 20^th September

Entries close on Monday

With just over a week to go, 168 teams (464 participants) have entered the 6.5 hour Socialgaine and 94 teams (235 participants) have entered the 3.5 hour Minigaine.

Due to the early popularity of the 6.5 hour event the cap on both rogaines has been raised from 450 to 490, but this has to be the upper limit to avoid overcrowding the ferries.

This rogaine will be one of a kind. It will combine ferry travel with urban navigation. Picture yourself on a ferry crossing one of the world's most spectacular harbours and then strategically alighting to collect controls on a rogaine, all within sight of awesome city views. What an experience, so enter now and avoid the regret of missing out on an event that your friends will be talking about for years.

You'll need to be quick though if you want to enter the 6.5 hour event, and not dally too much to enter the 3.5 hour event either.

Enter Here

Over 150 rogainers will be camping on the Saturday night. Glamping tents and units are fully booked, but there are still a few BYO tent sites left. Again, you will need to be quick to secure a site - Camping and accommodation Cockatoo Island and enjoy a Spring evening under the stars on an island in the middle of Sydney Harbour with your rogaining colleagues – bliss.

And don’t forget to order your Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast, provided by the 1^st North Sydney Scouts - Ferrygaine Food.

The Saturday before the Ferrygaine:
a good time to try orienteering

Contributed by Julian Ledger

Who me! Try orienteering?

You’ve received this newsletter as a rogainer. But have your ever tried orienteering? The upcoming Ferrygaine on 20^th September is coupled with a Cockatoo Island orienteering event on the Saturday afternoon, the day before the Ferrygaine.

Orienteering and rogaining are sister sports but have different origins. The former came from Scandinavia more than 100 years ago and is well established internationally. The latter came from bushwalkers right here in Oz and has gained a presence internationally – after being overseas in recent years the World Championships are back here in the Flinders Ranges in September 2027.

Many of the best rogainers also go orienteering. You can spot them at rogaines – when they reach a control flag, they already know which foot to press off from to set off for the next control (whereas novice rogainers have a small committee meeting to discuss). Orienteering is usually a solo sport which can be a challenge for beginners. Events are either ‘score’ (mini rogaines) or ‘line’ (one control after another along a set route, fastest back wins). Orienteering maps are higher scale and typically 1:10,000 or 1:7,500 whereas rogaines are most commonly 1:25,000. The orienteering maps include a lot more detail which takes getting used to.

The Cockatoo Island orienteering map is a classic. The rocky island comes with different levels, includes ladders, a heap of industrial archaeology, ship building, convict barracks, two tunnels right through the core and no shortage of complexity and fun, all right in the middle of Sydney Harbour. The map which will also be used in Sunday's rogaine is only 1:3000 scale so it might take getting used to by some rogainers.

The Big Foot orienteering club is organising the orienteering ‘line’ event on the Saturday afternoon. For more event information and to enter click on the Cockatoo Island orienteering link on the orienteering site Eventor Australia.

Join the Spring Challenge, 6 & 12 hours in Gurnang State Forest, 17^th October 2026

For your calendar: add the event date & add entries closing reminder

Entries are now open

The 2026 NSW-ACT Spring Challenge will be set in the Central Tablelands on Saturday 17^th October. Centred in the Gurnang State Forest and extending into the western edge of the Blue Mountains National Park, it is just west of the site of the 2025 NSW Championships near Mt Werong. The course is well positioned for the Challenge, being about 3.5 hours drive W of Sydney and 2.75 hours from Canberra.

Course details

This event offers competitors access to truly superb rogaining country. Participants will navigate through a beautiful mix of native eucalypt forests and mature pine plantations, both featuring a remarkably open understory. The terrain varies from flat with subtle features to steeper hills with well-defined spurs and gullies. The course has been set with navigational challenges tailored for both novice and experienced teams alike. Whether you plan to walk or run, the open terrain makes moving through this unique landscape an absolute pleasure. The area is home to some amazing wildlife, and if you are lucky, you might spot wombats in full daylight, or greater gliders after dark.

Key info at a glance:

There is a limit of 300 entries

Course times:

Enter Here

Timings of map availability, novice briefing, final briefing and prize givings will be confirmed closer to the event date. Final Instructions will be available on the website from Monday 12^th October.

Team finder service

If you are looking for a team to join, or would like to start a new team for this event, go to our new Team Finder page.

Key info for novices

Info for novices with advice on what gear to bring for a bush event and other information can be found on the website.

For more info, visit the Event Website.

NSW teams did well at the Australasian Champs

Contributed by Julian Ledger

The annual championships event rotates around the states and territories, and this year was in Queensland. The event incorporated the Australasian challenge with some strong teams from NZ. A lively posse pf NSW rogainers made the trek north to take part on the last weekend of August. The 24-Severn event was held near Stanthorpe on a mixture of farmland and the precipitous Sundown National Park bisected by the Severn River. The country was dry, the bush mostly quite navigable and the temperature perfect with a not too warm day and a mild night. An enormous full moon appeared not long after dark and was still there before dawn.

In the interstate challenge NSW came a creditable third behind Queensland and NZ.

NSW teams and their places include the following:

Gill Fowler & Andrew Brown 2^nd in mixed open

Graham Field & Martin Dearnley 3^rd in Men’s Ultra Veterans

Also:

Ivan Koudashev & Xanda Kolesnikov 4^th Men’s and 4^th overall

Ronnie Taib & David Williams 5^th Men’s and 7^th overall

The winners from north Queensland, Mitch Nissen and Murray Macpherson, covered 135km and 5000 metres of ascent! WOW! Perhaps the biggest results ever? It is people as fit as this who make course setters work so hard to make courses big enough.

Yours truly along with Ted Woodley had an enjoyable event. We stuck mostly to the farmland and returning to the Hash House for decent rest overnight and then a spectacular dawn after a 5.00am restart. A couple of navigational blunders impaired our result – one poor distance estimation and the other drifting off the bearing. We can only improve for next year’s Australian Championships - The Tiers of Joy in Tasmania on 17/18 April 2027. See you there! Tassie being the only state or territory where I have not rogained.

More about the event including photos, the map and a heap of interesting analysis can be found on the event website: 2026 Australasian Rogaining Championships.

Rogaining calendar: 2026 & a first peek at 2027

Below are the details currently available for events coming up on the NSW and ACT calendars for the remainder of 2026 and into 2027. Be aware that it is still early days for the 2027 calendar and many gaps remain to be filled in yet so for the very latest always visit the calendar page on the website. Most newly listed events are many months away and there could be changes to come.

Planning an interstate trip? Check out the ARA's National Rogaining Calendar.

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