Newsletter Highlights

The President's Report ~ July 2003

Welcome to the second half of 2003. Hope you have all enjoyed the past events and are keen for more.

Thank you to all those involved in making the Paddy Pallin event a great success. It was enjoyed by participants and volunteers alike. Paddy would have been proud. The participation numbers w ere once again high with many hopefuls unfortunately having to be turned away. When the Oxfam Trailwalker was washed out in May and rescheduled to the same weekend as the Paddy Pallin event, there w as some concern that it would impact on our numbers. This wasn’t the case, and in fact a number of participants walked the 100kms of the Oxfam Trailwalker, finishing by Saturday night AND competed in the 6hr Rogaine on the Sunday.

One negative incident at the event soiled the otherwise successful event. An understandably irate landowner who’s land was off course and therefore out of bounds, and from whom w e did not have permission to access his land, rang me the week after the event to protest. He apparently found "two young boys playing silly buggers" on his tractor. He also claimed one of the boys was very rude when he approached them. A number of his newly planted seedlings were damaged and rubbish was left scattered around his land. I offered my sincerest apologies for this invasion of his property and informed him that this sort of behaviour was not typical of rogainers in general.

This years Bushwalker Wilderness Rescue NavShield was held in the Gardens of Stone National Park two weeks ago. The area featured some fascinating topography and varying vegetation. While the events primary aim is to provide a training exercise for volunteer rescue organisations and the professional emergency services, a category for rogainers is also included. Many regular rogainers compete as members of bushwalking clubs, SES members, and the like. This year saw the two day event won by a large margin by a New castle Bushwalking Club team, w hose six members are all regular rogainers (Wil de Sain, Bert van Netten, Rob Vincent, Shane Trotter, Mike Hotchkis and Ian Dempsey).

The 6th World Rogaining Championships are taking place in Tucson, Arizona in May 2004. If you are interested you can find out more at http://rogaine.tucsonorienteering.org . The NSWRA, on behalf of all the members is putting in a bid to host the 7th World Champs in 2006. We are the only Australian state doing so, and w e believe it is time that the event returns to Australia. The last World Champs held in Australia w as the 2nd WRC in 1996. If w e are successful w e w ill be looking to all members to assist w here they can to make the event an international success. More news in coming newsletters.

The biggest issue of the second half of 2003 that w ill affect all rogainers is the large increase in the Public Liability insurance cover for the sport nationally. Our Australia-wide insurance premium has risen by over 250%. There was doubt over the last few months that the sport in Australia would be able to acquire the necessary coverage to continue. Thankfully we will be able to continue to grow, although we must accept an increase in the cost of participation. Your annual membership fees primarily cover this insurance and the 6 newsletters you receive per year. The committee will be discussing the issue at length at an upcoming committee meeting and will make a decision on the best course of action. It is likely that any increase in memberships will not reflect the 250% increase in the premium, as early discussions amongst the committee members appears to favour an across the-board increase in event entry fees. The most likely outcome will therefore be a small increase in membership fees combined with larger increases in event entry fees. The thought is that this would be fairer, particularly to those members who only enjoy one event a year. You will therefore begin to see an increase in event fees commencing with the New South Wales Champs in October. In defence of these upcoming unfortunate yet necessary increases, by comparison to other similar events such as mountain bike races, adventure races, and even triathlons, the sport of rogaining still offers the cheapest organised outdoor sporting events. Another requirement of this new insurance coverage is the disclaimer / waiver that many of you would have been required to sign at last months Paddy Pallin event. This document will now become a standard across all future events.

The next event on the calendar is the annual Lake Macquarie 6 or 12 hour event on the weekend of the 23rd August. Commencing with a mass start at 12noon Saturday, either time period option w ill provide an excellent opportunity to enjoy either your first experience of navigating at night, or to hone your skills before the State Champs in October.

I look forward to seeing you at either or both of these upcoming events.

PADDY PALLIN WINTER 6HR EVENT REPORT:

In 1964 Paddy Pallin, the man, first conceived the idea of an organised navigational event as a way of improving the skills of bushwalkers in map and compass navigation. That same year he held the first 'Paddy Pallin' navigational event. Held at Euroka that event perhaps involved no more than a couple of dozen participates. Now in 2003 at this year’s 40th annual event, 650 participants and 20 volunteer staff enjoyed perfect weather in and around Popran National Park.

Popran NP was a Park I was unaware of up until the event course-setter, Ross Duker, took myself and Belinda and Andrew Pope (the event administrators) for an initial visit in January of this year. (See Ross' article later in this newsletter.) The ease of access from Sydney in comparison to the last few years of Paddy Pallin events was certainly the initial appeal. Early discussions with the owners of Glenworth Valley, the original proposed Hash House site, clearly ruled out the use of the valley. They run a successful horse-riding business within the valley, something that would not coexist with 650 rogainers. The owners of Glenworth Valley kindly offered us an alternative valley on the western side of Mount Olive. This became the events Hash House site. And from this site we began our months of work creating the 40th Annual Paddy Pallin 6hr Winter Rogaine event.

Once consents had been negotiated and finalised with the numerous concerned parties, Ross Duker (setter) and Eric Smith (vetter) busied themselves creating a course worthy of a 'Paddy Pallin' event. The Park contained numerous significant aboriginal sites, pristine waterways, and a number of rare and threatened plant species. We worked with the NPWS and the managers of the adjacent Crown Land to ensure our impact was minimal, particularly to those sensitive areas. Our thanks to Richard Colbourne (Ranger for Popran NP), and Rowan Berecry (Secretary for the Mangrove Mountain Flora Reserve Trust) for their assistance throughout the process. As you are now all well aware, the thick scratchy scrub on the course was at times extremely challenging. The geographical features were however well defined making for easier navigation, something that perhaps excuses the thickness of the scrub. Although from my visits to the course, I admit that there were times I had trouble finding the creek lines through the scrub! The 4WD and walking tracks on the plateau south of Mount Olive, would have provided some relief from the scrub for many of you. While the course area looked small on the map, we were certain that no team would be able to clear the points in the 6 hours. This was the case, although the top teams did travel further than we anticipated. For those of you who enjoyed the event as an opportunity to discover new places and environments, I am sure you were not disappointed, although were somewhat relieved to emerge into the open valley of Ironbark Creek at the end of the event.

Ironbark Creek was a superb location for an event Hash House. Surrounded by pristine bush land with reasonably straightforward road access. With the exclusion of the numerous cow paddies, the grassed valley floor was an ideal campsite come car park. The king tide that accompanied the full moon on Saturday night was the only unpleasant aspect of the site, particularly for those that established their campsites on the banks of the creek and were woken by the over-running waters. Last years stomach turning discovery of two missing participants at the conclusion of the event at Newnes, was something not to be repeated. At 3.30pm Sunday, half an hour after this years finish, 23 teams had not returned. All these teams thankfully were eventually accounted for by way of the safety measures we had perfected since last years event. Most of the teams were radioed in by the course marshals as being on route to the Hash House, or had elected to make use of the emergency mobile number by sending an SMS message informing us they were OK and were also on-route to the Hash House. Our thanks go to the following course marshals who volunteered their time and energies to ensuring the safety of all the participants:

• CP66 - Tanya Chivers, Kristy Bond, Rob de Jong

• CP64 - Chris Mein, Anthony Hutchings

• CP62 - Neil Prosser, Hisako Shiraishi

• CP104 - Alan Scott

Managing the administration of such large numbers of participants, from processing the initial entries to preparing the final results, is a big task. This year we once again have Belinda and Andrew Pope to thank. There are and were many challenges to this role and they took them all in their stride, while juggling their two young boys (figuratively speaking!). Thank you to you both. Every rogaine event would not be possible without the assistance of the volunteers. This year we have all the following to thank for their roles in making the event a success:

Andrew Introna
Dianne Saunders
Julian Dryden
David Coysh
Carol Chivers
Jim Mein
Gill Mein
Lee Lowe
Rodney Davies
Catherine Watts
Jan Smith
Merle Goyen
Marcelle Gannon (& friends)
And anyone I may have forgotten.

1st Waitara Scouts didn’t disappoint once again with this years catering. We are very fortunate that they happily take on this mammoth task feeding so many. And for those carnivores that were present on Saturday night the smell of roast lamb filling the valley was a definite mouth waterer.

A final note of thanks to the events sponsors. Paddy Pallin Outdoor Equipment has supported this event throughout the many years, among other things covering the cost of the event brochure, and most importantly, ensuring the event has adequate insurance cover. They also provided via the events co-sponsors, Ultimate and Black Diamond, a superb array of quality prizes. I know you all enjoyed the approach we took to awarding those excellent products. Thank you to Paddy Pallin, Ultimate, and Black Diamond.

A testament to the enjoyment of all who participated is visible on the Event Photo Gallery .  There are smiles on every face.

Andy Mein  (Event Coordinator)

FINAL NOTE: Next year we will need a new coordinator and/or willing team to continue the events success, so if you are interested please contact Andy (see committee listing for contact details).