By Allan Hood
Tom, Mick and myself teamed up for the recent 6 hour rogaine, held in perfect - even warm ? - autumn weather.
We had initially planned a clockwise loop going to Fern Tree first, but the lure of big points in Sandy Bay as well as faster terrain, prompted us to start with Mount Nelson and continue in a large anti-clockwise loop, giving lots of zig zag options back through the Waterworks and Ridgeway.
Our first hour netted a good 8 controls for 330 points, and just on 10km covered (downhill assisted!) as we made our way back onto Churchill Avenue.
On our way to a planned water stop at West Hobart train park, we decided to miss 53, the effort at this stage possibly not worth the points.
Our main decision point was 104, where we met a few other teams. Two ways to get to Junction Cabin, both worth 180 points - naturally we took the shorter way.
We were actually grateful for some shade as we made the trek up Myrtle Gully. Good to have a three way input as to how many planks were on the bridge!
Heading to the Springs, and revived by some coke from the well sited coffee shop, we headed for home through the Waterworks and Tolmans Hill, deciding to miss out on the Chimney Pot hill option.
Our only navigational hiccup was heading from the Pottery Road water tank to 73, where we lost a few minutes at the first (unmarked) junction we came to, until we worked out where we were!
I think we surprised ourselves by having a bit of a margin over the next team, but I think our choice of an inner suburbs first half worked well for us.
Well done to my team mates Tom and Mick – we worked well together, in Mick's first rogaine.
Thanks again to Paul Liggins for doing a massive amount of work as event planner, organiser and mapper, as well as Gary Carroll and all the hard working Rogaining Tasmania members for yet another superbly well-organised event – the map with magnetic north skewed by 45 degrees made us think! Many thanks also for another amazing feast at the Hash House - the caramel slices disappeared far too quickly!
Results and the winners’ route: rt.asn.au/event-results
