Winter wrap

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by three fabulous rogaines

With apologies to Shakespeare and Richard 3^rd.

Despite Sydney’s coldest winter for 26 years it has been champagne conditions for NSW rogainers with great events in June, July and August.

Paddy Pallin

The first of the winter rogaines was the Paddy Pallin 6 Hour event on a very sunny day on the south coast at Bendalong Point south of Jarvis Bay.

Course setter, Trevor Gollan, had generously set the checkpoints so that there were a number of legs with great beach views. After the start it was a question of either scampering north or south with most heading north up the beach as there were bigger pickings in that direction. Top teams took in extra loops but had a dilemma as to whether to head for two check points on the other side of Berringer Lake with no simple way to incorporate them. Wise heads ruled the day and even the winners gave them a miss.

The setting/vetting team was a whos who of legendary rogainers from past campaigns. Helping Trevor there was Peter Waterson, Maurice Ripley and Ian Arnold. Missing only was the warm and generous George Collins who very sadly passed away aged only in his late 50s late last year.

John Clancy and myself had the satisfaction of completing a good course and finishing up the southern beach with a few minutes spare.  Each of the winning three teams were late indicating the intensity of the competition at the pointy end. Winners were ACT rogainers, Julie Quinn and Dave Baldwin, amongst Australia’s best prospects at the World Championships in Finland’s Arctic Circle on 22/23 August. Second by 60 points were Greg Barbour and Steve Todkill who were 20 minutes (200 points) late. Close behind were the ever competitive Andrew and Nicole Haig followed in fourth by David Willaims and Ronnie Taib

Search and Rescue

In July it was the Search and Rescue Rogaine at Mt Yengo National Park and another story entirely. This is an event with all of its own traditions and a special purpose. Held every year on the first weekend of July in difficult country it is designed to replicate winter search and rescue conditions for missing bushwallkers. Most competitors come from the paid and volunteer rescue services. The events on offer start at 8.45am and finish at either 10.30pm or 2.30pm the following day. Old style control punches are used,

Although not far from Sydney and thankfully near sea level, the dirt road in was still an hour of winding track mostly following the ridges. I had the idea that ridges would be better going than the creeks and so that was our strategy.

In the morning it is hard to put a finger on one thing that went wrong but when everyone was ready for the briefing for the 8.45am start we were not.   We underestimated how long it would take to mark up the map from eight digit grid coordinates. Then there was the water container with a thick layer of ice and frozen tap which slowed filling water bladders. Anyway at the gun we started with a burst and had the satisfaction of being first equal to the first control at the top of a rocky spur. However at the second control things went awry due to a pace counting calibration problem. Just how many paces in thick bush is 100 metres?  We dived down into a gully to find ‘the gully’ but in due course it turned out that our steep gully was the wrong steep gully and a lot of energy was consumed. The 20 metre contours hid a lot of topography.

A short stretch of track gave us a mid-afternoon breather before another climb and then an interminable ridge bash followed by a treacherous decent into a ravine, an open valley walk and another steep climb. Darkness fell and we checked in for our obligatory radio checkpoint before heading in the general direction of the Hash House via two final check points. It was well below freezing and every bit of clothing went on as well as some regrets about no gloves. At about this point I realised the gullies were better than the ridges. In 10.5 hours we had visited only eight checkpoints! Our excuse – no two were joined together by an obvious route!

Next day it emerged that in the overnight event rogainers David Williams and Ronnie Taib had cleared the course with a little time to spare, had won the rogaine category and had the highest score overall. Superb effort.

The Search and Rescue Rogaine is not for the faint hearted but recommended to all those who don’t mind wilder country and night navigation. Don’t forget to take your winter gear.

Lake Macquarie and NSW Champs

August 1^st and  Anne Francis and I got up early for the drive up the freeway to the Watagans, pitch tents and ensure time to study maps before the midday start. A Championship event and only 12 hours – I thought we’d be in with a shot in the Mixed Super Veterans category.  Not long back from the Boston marathon and with a training regime to match, Anne’s fitness was never in doubt. But what about my slowness up hills and Anne’s drop in enthusiasm after dark. How would we go?

Bert Van Netten, Bob Gilbert and team have made such a success of the Lake Macquarie event which has been going for so many years and always finding courses with new twists.

An hour after the start in a canyon with many other teams we agreed that when the other slid off another green rock we would not again ask ‘are you alright’ but wait to be told only if the answer was no. Eventually out of the rough stuff we made good time on tracks in line with Marg and Rob Cook – fellow travellers in the Supervets. The crux of the course was whether to make a major descent down a very steep spur followed by a chaotic gully and then a 200 metre climb back through the only 100 pointer on the course. We went for it.

By the time we had escaped it was dark and we were low on water. An unexpected time hazard had been the amount of timber recently felled by a storm meaning that we had been sliding over, under and through a labyrinth of tree trunks. Skipping two controls we made it to the busy tea and damper stop for hot sweet liquid and slice. Bert was helping to host and warned that the Great North Walk en route back was slower than it looked. Sure enough at each of the four check points off the track back we lost a few minutes – a combination of tiredness and the moon too low to help the dark night. We thought we were cutting it fine and skipped the last 20 pointer but then made it back comfortably although I was exhausted. And the Cooks had beaten us by 130 points – the value of those checkpoints we had skipped. They said training for Trailwalker had built up their strength.

Congratulations went to winners Martin Dent and Susie Sprague who managed to clear the course just in time. Martin is a former winner of the City to Surf and ran the marathon at the London Olympics (2.16 and 28^th). I don’t know about Susie but she must be a very fine athlete. Second were Mike Hotchkiss and Neil Hawthorne only 40 points behind and a great hit out in preparation for their bid at the World Championships. Third only ten points off were, you guessed it, that strong partnership of David Williams and Ronnie Taib. Truly a championship field.

Thanks go to the many many people who volunteered their time to put on these three excellent events. And, we found every control we went for with only a little time lost along the way. Well done too to Sophie Stephenson on her first proper rogaine who took her dad along for the walk. Me, I’m heading for a big trek in the Himalaya and hope that rogaining will have been good training.

Julian Ledger