Rogaining Tasmania

Upcoming Events

The Midlands Muster - Tasmanian Rogaining Championships, 5/6 November 2022

Entries are now open for the Midlands Muster, Rogaining Tasmania’s next bush rogaining event. There will be three event durations to choose from: the 24-hour State Championships, a roving 15-hour (explained below) and a 6-hour. All events are on-foot. There is no mountain bike category.

This rogaine will challenge champions with plenty of distance, interesting navigation and ample hilly bits. It will also offer novice entrants an opportunity to practice their navigation skills in beautiful farmland and natural environments, and everyone in-between will find a great mix of terrain, vegetation and chances to spot herds of deer as well as unique Tasmanian wildlife.

The event is being held entirely on privately owned properties. The terrain is varied, from open rolling paddocks and native grassy meadows, through to open forested hills, wet gullies with the occasional historic bush hut. The event area extends from near Ross almost to Lake Leake.

For budding rogainers who have only entered metrogaines so far, this event will be a great opportunity to test out your bush navigation skills. The organisers have catered for newcomers and there are plenty of checkpoints close to the hash house.

The Hash House is approximately 2.5 hours by car from Hobart and 1.5 hours from Launceston (Midlands Hwy roadworks dependant). RT won’t be providing a bus to and from the event, but if interstate entrants are struggling to find a hire car or transport across that pesky Bass Strait, RT can assist with carpooling. If you are going hard, then please don’t drive tired and organise someone to drive you home.

Your entry fee includes catering during and immediately after the event for the 24-hour and 15-hour entrants, and Saturday dinner for the 6-hour entrants. 6-hr entrants can optionally order meals on Sunday. Participants can camp for free at the Hash House on the Friday and Saturday nights.

For the many keen metrogainers about to embark on their first bush rogaine, RT Prez Gary Carroll has some hot tips. Peter and Robyn Tuft are organising a training day in October. See the articles below.

Entries close on Sunday night, 30th of October.

10 reasons you should attend the Pyrenees Ponder Australasian Rogaining Championship, 8-9 October 2022, Avoca, Victoria

1. You’ll help defend Tasmania’s grip on the Interstate Trophy (and make RT Prez, Gary, very very happy).
2. There’s a bus to and from the Hash House (HH) from Melbourne city and Tullamarine airport, making it super easy to get there. The bus will get you back in time to connect to flights home. Jetstar, Virgin and Qantas have flights on Sunday night to Hobart and Launceston, and Qantas has one to Devonport.
3. For those coming from the Australian Orienteering Championships, the rogaine is following weekend and just over an hour’s drive away.
4. You’ll get to experience the excitement of a massive rogaine event and meet rogainers from other states
5. All 24-hour entrants receive a very cool technical t-shirt and 6-hour entrants receive a buff. Entry also includes food and water during and immediately after the event, as well as free camping at the HH before and after the event. Bargain.
6. You can swap stories with fellow Tasmanian rogainers at Tullamarine on the way home. Just look for the group hunched over maps (and optional celebratory pints).
7. It’s such a terrific environment that the Pyrenees is soon to become a National Park. Better still, the spur gully systems will be familiar to Tasmanians (unlike 2021’s foreign mallee scrub and dry rivers).
8. It’s good training for the Midlands Muster Tasmanian champs, particularly for participants who have only experienced metrogaines.
9. You can enter either the 24-hour championship event or the 6-hour event.
10. You don’t need to be an expert, a pro athlete, or a serious competitor to enter. Rogaining is fun, friendly, and encourages participation from people of all ages, abilities and levels of ambition.

Entries are open now. Entries close 30 September. What are you waiting for?

Tasmanian rogainers at the 2021 Australian Rogaining Championships in South Australia.

University of Tasmania students Bridget White and Jaymee Knoll are off to the 2022 Australian Intervarsity Rogaining Championships

Bridget White and Jaymee Knoll have been selected as the Tasmanian recipients of the Nigel Aylott Memorial Sports Foundation (NAMSF) funding to attend the 2022 Australian Intervarsity Rogaining Championships (and Australasian Champs) in Victoria next month. Each year, the foundation pays for the travel and entry costs for a team from each state to participate in the intervarsity champs.

Bridget and Jaymee are postgraduate students at the University of Tasmania and are keen bushwalkers and trail runners in addition to their interest in rogaining. They competed together in the Lenah Valley Hop and Marieville Mayhem metrogaines and are keen to test their partnership in the 24-hour championship event with the assistance of the NAMSF grant. Well done, Bridget and Jaymee.

Bridget and Jaymee

Going Bush

‍By Gary Carroll

For those who have only entered metrogaines previously, there are some important differences to be aware of for a bush event:

• Rather than being a question-and-answer scavenger hunt event, you will be searching for checkpoints, also known as controls. These checkpoints are orange and white and are made of stiff corrugated cardboard called corflute. They are three-sided and are about 30x30 cm per side.
• At each checkpoint, there will be an electronic punch that looks a bit like a plastic biro. Some team members will be wearing a little wristband with a circular disc. At each checkpoint, you will touch the disc using the punch. You need to ensure that the punch flashes a red light, which is the feedback that the visit has been registered. This can be demonstrated prior to the event start if you are unsure.
• Each checkpoint has an intention sheet taped to it. On this, you must write your team number, the time of your visit and intended next checkpoint. If your team was to become lost or injured, this information may be vital to finding you. Going to the checkpoint you indicated is not essential. You may change your mind, or perhaps never find it.
• Teams must stick together and be within voice contact at all times. All team members need to visit the checkpoints, and shouldn’t rest close to a checkpoint except for those that are also water drops.
• The checkpoints are located mostly on topographic features (watercourses, spurs, knolls, gullies). If you are in the correct location the checkpoint will be visible and easy to find.
• You’ll need to be able to read the map. Understand the contour lines and understand the colour scheme used for the vegetation on the map. Rogaine maps do not follow a standard, but recent bush rogaine maps in Tasmania have displayed vegetation such that yellow is a clearing – usually grass (eg a farm paddock, or gap in trees) and may include areas of tussock or sagg grassland, which can be slow going; white is forest or scrub and green indicates dense forest or scrub. The darker the green, the thicker the vegetation. A sample of the competition map is shown above. Note you can sometimes see individual trees as small white areas in the yellow. In many cases being able to interpret the vegetation will be very useful for locating the checkpoint quickly.
• You aren’t in suburbia, so there are relatively few tracks and roads on the map. Using the tracks that are there is often advantageous compared with going cross-country. Walking on tracks is normally faster than being in the bush, and the bends, hills and valleys of the tracks will help locate you on the map. A word of caution – The mapped tracks may not be 100% perfect, and event area is covered with minor or overgrown tracks not mapped.
• Pay careful attention to the checkpoint descriptions you will receive. Sometimes there is extra detail which will help you locate the checkpoint.
• You will need a compass. Purchase an orienteering-style base plate compass. How good are you at following a bearing over long distance? Being able to follow or check a bearing is useful to ensure you are on the desired track. Can you pace count? Most adults take about 60 double steps per 100m (more for short people, fewer for tall people). Being able to follow a bearing combined with pace counting will be a useful skill at this event in the flatter areas. The map has parallel north-south lines 1km apart aligned to magnetic north – use these to align your compass.
• Plan your route conservatively. The map area is huge, and only the very best teams will go close to visiting all of the checkpoints. The actual straight-line distance required to visit all of the checkpoints is a closely guarded secret, but it is well over 110kms.
• The use of GPS services is strictly forbidden. Using a GPS device provides an unfair advantage over those who don’t. You should carry a phone (for emergency use) and maybe you want to record your GPS track. For these uses, organisers will provide a tamper-proof bag, which will be checked when you return at the end of the event. If your tamper-proof bag has been opened, you will be withdrawn from the event. This means, if you normally wear a GPS-enabled watch, you may need to buy and carry a cheap watch. We are very strict about this rule at bush events.
• You will need to be more self-sufficient. You may be out there for longer and there are no shops. Carry clothes suitable for a variety of weather conditions, including rain. Depending on the event duration you enter, it may be dark. So have a reliable strong torch (preferably a head torch) and spare batteries. 6-hr entrants should return before night-time, but your team should have a torch in case your plan doesn’t work out.
• It’s highly unlikely that you will fall and be injured to the point that you can’t proceed, but nevertheless it is possible. In choosing your clothing and weather protection consider how you would cope if the worst happens and you are forced to wait many hours for rescue in cold/wet/windy conditions. You can’t expect to be comfortable but you don’t want to suffer from hypothermia (exposure).
• Some roads will be regularly patrolled. If you are sick or injured make your way to the patrolled route (shown on the map) or a waterdrop. Extra details about the safety patrol will be provided at the event.
• The same basic principles of the sport still applies. Your team is trying to get the most points in the available time. For a bush rogaine, particularly if you are doing the 24-hr or roving 15-hr you will need to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your team. When do you visit the hilly bits? Where is the best place to be at night particularly if you can’t find the checkpoint and need to relocate? Do you want to stay out the full 24 hours or would you benefit from a few hours rest overnight and/or a hot meal at the Hash House?
• If you enter the 24-hour event, it doesn’t mean you have to walk for 24 hours, particularly if you’re new to endurance events and/or bush rogaining. Many excellent rogainers like to have a rest overnight and perform better for it.
• Food will be available at any time from 5pm to after the finish of the event at the hash house. At this event, the hash house is not perfectly centred on the map due to constraints with finding a suitable campsite, and landowner permissions. However, it will be possible to do “loops” in and out of the hash house.
• Take enough food with you. Your planned route may “loop” back though the hash house to eat, but consider that you may fall behind schedule.
• There are water drops on the course. Please bring enough water for your camping needs, and enough to fill up whenever your teams departs the hash house (assembly area).
  
• Event organisers have allowed for entrants with limited bush experience. There are numerous easier checkpoints close to the hash house. Also – organisers will be providing advice to novices on using compasses and route choice at the event. If you need help please ask when you register on the Saturday morning.
• The detailed event info provides a list of mandatory items. Make sure you have these as they are required for your safety.

These links may be useful, despite some variations compared to a Rogaining Tasmania event:

• Video introduction to Rogaining, by the South Australians
• Rogaining Tips & Tricks, by the South Australians
• Night Navigation, also by the South Australians
• Beginners Guide to Rogaining, from Snowys (outdoor stores)
• Navigation Guide – from Queensland
• Equipment guide, from NSW
• Novice Guide, from Western Australia

And there are so many more. Have a search on Google.

Rogaining Novice Training

Peter and Robyn Tuft will be running a training day at Coningham in October. They will select the date for the training that best suits those interested in attending out of Sat 1st, Sun 2nd, or Sun 16th. Theory topics covered include route planning, what to take to a rogaine, and what to carry while you are competing. There will be several practical navigation exercises showing you how to set and follow compass bearings, recognising contour features and how to relocate.

If you are interested please contact as soon as possible, but not later than Saturday 17th of September.

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