Posted on 09/09/2017 by Chris Stevenson
There are many reasons why you should compete in the 24 hour at the NSW Championship and here are some:
1. It is cheaper than the 8 hour event
Both the 8 hour event and the 24 hour event costs $100 ($75 concession) and therefore the 24 hour event costs $4.17 per hour rather than $12.5 per hour. So rather than subsidising those elite rogainers you can become one and have others subsidise you.
2. It’s good for your ego.
I don’t know about you but after I have been in a 24 hour event I tell everyone and I expect them to be impressed. Even if your ego is not as fragile as mine and you do not feel the need to tell everyone you can still eye yourself in the mirror and say “yeah I did that” to yourself.
3. You will create permanent memories.
I can guarantee you that you will remember the experience. I remember every 24 hour event I ever did. Even when I am a drooling mess in my nursing home and I can’t remember my own children, I reckon I will still be reliving some 24 hour rogaine in my head.
4. You will challenge yourself.
I used to think, if only I were fitter then rogaining would be easier. After 23 years of rogaining I have realised that the fitter you are the harder and faster you go so the rogaine still hurts about the same, and possibly more, because you are driven to try and get a place on the podium.
5. Why drive for 6 hours and compete for 8 when you can compete for 24.
For most of us Mount Werong is a 3+ hour trip each way. It seems sub optimal to drive for over six hours and only compete for 8.
6. You will improve your navigation.
The course setters have assured us that the controls have been set in a fashion commensurate with a state championship. This means that there will be few gifts. Do not expect controls to be on creek or road junctions or on the top of some peak. You will have to work for your points. Every point will be hard won and you can be proud of every point you get, particularly after dark.
As a result your navigation will be challenged and will improve.
7. You will get to know your team mate(s) really well.
It is hard to be your polite, accommodating and jovial self for a full 24 hours of competition. At some stage during the 24 hours your team mates will reveal themselves under stress and you will see a new side of them which, in my experience, will help to cement the friendship (or destroy it).
8. You will see more of Mount Werong.
For those of you who have not done an event at Mount Werong it is a really lovely area of bush with some interesting features and it is difficult to do it justice in a mere 8 hours.
9. You will get fitter.
This is obvious. Fitter people live longer and enjoy a higher quality of life.
10. The 8 hour event is not the Championship event.
You can’t really brag about competing in the NSW Championships unless you enter the 24 hour event. The 8 hour event is not the championship event.
11. Sleep is overrated.
Life is great and I resent the fact that I lose a third of it to sleep. A 24 hour event is a chance to rail against the gods of sleep and get more out of your life.
12. Join rogaining’s upper class.
Your social status in rogaining is not defined by what car you drive or what you do for a living. It is defined by how hard and how long you compete. Competing for longer moves you up the social strata of rogaining. (There will be more about rogaining’s class structure in a subsequent post.)
13. You do not have to compete for 24 hours.
A family friendly weekend can be had rogaining, it is not all about competition. You can grab your spouse and your kids and have a weekend away at Mount Werong, which is a lovely place. In between camping and sitting around the fire you can grab the odd control.
I look forward to seeing you all on the field of battle in the wee hours of Sunday the 8th of October. Even if you can’t do the 24 hour event, make sure you do the 8 since it will be a great event.
Those of you who are observant will notice I promised ten reasons but have delivered thirteen. If this annoys you then you missed your opportunity to stop reading after ten. If this doesn’t annoy you then enjoy the added value. You can pick your top 10 favourite reasons and cite them to your spouse when begging for leave, or better still, while persuading them to join you in the 24 hour event.
2 Responses to 10 reasons why you should compete in the 24 hour NSW Championship
- Trevor Gollan 12/09/’2017 at 10:09 pm says:
Thanks Chris, I reckon one of the most important points is your last – “you don’t have to compete”.
24-hour events must include plenty of camping space, so the NSW Champs become a great opportunity to spend the weekend in the bush, setup a comfy campsite, enjoy good food and hospitality in the hash house, with oodles of time to go out Saturday arvo and Sunday morning to visit some flags.
Leave “compete” to the extremists.
Rogaines are an excuse to get out there and explore new countryside … maybe even get there later Saturday, bag some controls in the dark, a good sleep, a few hours loop next morning, and there could even be some energy remaining to help by collecting a few flags after the event.
- Toni Bachvarova 25/09/2017 at 10:49 pm says:
Not to mention, the chance of spotting a sugar glider or an owl after dark :-).
There are lots of nice places to camp indeed.