VETTING “THE EDGE”
It’s always frustrating — and humbling — to make a navigation blue right at the start. No, I’m not talking about a recent rogaine, but my experience while vetting the forthcoming course for the Oz Champs at Goobang NP and adjacent farmland. For those not familiar with the process, the purpose of vetting is basically […]
The Top NSW Champion
Thanks to Covid disruptions, the NSW Championships haven’t run since Yengo 2019, which means we are greatly looking forward to a 24-hour event this year, using a new and exciting area in the far north-west of the state. Thinking of the long history of the Championships, since the original event in Bungonia 1984, a question […]
Get Into Gear Part 7 – Packing in a Section on Bags
Unless you have arms like an octopus, the single most important piece of equipment to have for a rogaine is a good backpack, because without one, it is near impossible to carry the bounty of other essential gear to keep you dry, fed, warm or cool for many hours. Just like almost every other piece […]
Get Into Gear Part 6 – Shedding Light on Headtorches and Night Navigation
I am grateful that I’ve had the chance to go on several night rogaines with seasoned competitors in earlier years. In addition to allowing me to do night rogaines comfortably on my own accord, it has given me the confidence to do night-time hiking, trail running, orienteering and cycling; something that many of my friends […]
Get Into Gear Part 5 – How Cool is Rogaining? (Warm Clothing & Dealing with the Cold)
Perhaps it’s because I’m a reasonably warm-blooded creature myself, but I’m convinced that Sydney-siders are a bunch of cold-weather whingers. As soon as the temperature drops below 18°C, it’s inevitable that I’ll be hearing groans from others about how freezing it is outside as people walk exactly fifty metres between their air conditioned car and […]
Navigation in Low-Relief Terrain
Sections of Gundabooka National Park are flat so I thought it timely, prior to this year’s NSW Championships, to prepare some thoughts about navigation in such country. The map we’re using is a custom prepared map at 1:25,000 scale with 5m contour intervals. (The base map is 1:100,000, 20m contours.) It is not unusual in […]
A University Degree in Rogaining?
A 24-hour rogaine looks a lot like a semester of university. The pace at the beginning is fast, but it doesn’t take long for motivation to drop off and slogging away becomes a test of willpower. And just like the final hours of an assignment, or final minutes of an exam, the adrenaline kicks in […]
Get Into Gear Part 4 – The Rogaining Fashion Parade (Base Clothing)
A rogaine is just about the antithesis to a conventional fashion show. Indeed, if one was looking for an event where they could find the least fashionable looking human beings, a 24-hour rogaine would undoubtedly be a forerunner. But the truth is that rogaining has a fashion of its own. Most rogainers are not intentionally […]
Get Into Gear Part 3 – Giving Dodgy Footwear the Boot
If we were to take a survey of physical ailments that rogainers experience on the course, I would be very surprised if foot problems did not top the list. It would be wonderful if I could give an objective solution to foot problems, but unfortunately our feet are not cooperative enough to be standard sizes […]
Training Regimes & Gear of Elite Rogainers – An Interview with WRC Runner-Up Tane Cambridge
Rogaining is the sport of paradoxes. An integral part of the sport is an appreciation for the natural environment and for the simple things, yet it is full of tech-heads and it utilises sophisticated technology actually developed by some of these tech-heads such as the Navlight scoring system and nswtopo mapping software. It can be […]