SoHo Shuffle, 19 March 2023

Loved the Lenah Valley Hop? Missed the Marieville Mayhem? New to Rogaining entirely? Come on down to Rogaining Tasmania’s next Hobart Metrogaine: the SoHo Shuffle! The course has been carefully planned by a new team of setters and vetters, with much assistance from Leo the Spoodle (although sadly doggos must stay home on event day).

Starting at the South Hobart Community Centre on the corner of D’Arcy and Macquarie Streets, both hardcore runners and laid-back walkers will have the chance to shoot straight up the slopes or foray into the flat suburban sprawl of Hobart. There are two event options: a 3-hour from 12:30pm to 3:30pm and a 6-hour from 10am to 4pm. Allow time for planning before the event and for afternoon tea after the event. During your 3 or 6-hour event, visit some familiar spots: Knocklofty, West Hobart, Sandy Bay or the Waterworks, or explore the path less trodden and venture up Tolmans Hill, Pottery Road or Strickland Avenue and get lost in the foothills of beautiful kunanyi. The navigation won’t be too tricky, but please bring a compass just in case as there is quite a bit of bush on the map. 

Like most of our metrogaines, the Soho Shuffle is a question and answer-style event (for example, ‘what’s the name of the house at number 7?’ or ‘how many swings at the playground?’). Our crafty checkpoints will have you taking a second-glance at that house you’ve walked past a hundred times, stopping by one of countless coffee shops on the map, or marching your family, friends and maybe foes (after the day is done) up that hill for big points and better views. After the event, kick back at the hash house to see where other teams journeyed and enjoy some afternoon tea (provided as part of the entry fee).

This is a great event for rogainers new and old, those looking to hone their skills and improve their fitness, or those wanting a great day out exploring their own backyard. As a team, pick a route that maximises your score while minimising distance travelled (or elevation gained) depending on your strengths and passions. This event is strictly on foot (no bikes or scooters) but you can sprint or stroll to your heart’s content. There will be help for newbies on the day.

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If you can’t enter the event, but you’d like to be involved then why not help us out by volunteering for admin or marshalling duties from around 3pm to 5pm.

Detailed event information, and online entry are now available at https://rt.asn.au/events We look forward to seeing you at the Soho Shuffle!

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Midlands Muster Tasmanian Rogaining Championships, 28 – 29 October 2023

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Rogaining Tasmania’s 2022 bush event has been rescheduled for the end of October. Stay tuned.

2023 Australian Rogaining Championships, 30 September – 1 October 2023

For those who like to plan ahead, the 2023 Australian Rogaining Championships will be a 24 hour rogaine held within the Goobang National Park, which is about 300km north west of Sydney. An 8 hour non-championship event will be held concurrently. Note, the website appears to be a work in progress.

President’s Report – 2022 AGM.

By Gary Carroll , President, Rogaining Tasmania, 3 December 2022

Since the 2021 AGM we have run two successful events:

Lindisfun bike & on-foot Metrogaine which had 236 entrants (158 on-foot and 78 on bikes)

Marieville Mayhem which had 233 entrants (121 is the 3-hr, and 112 in the 6-hr)

However, 2022 was a lean year for Rogaining Tasmania because our major event, the Midlands Muster, was postponed. Flooding and generally soaking-wet conditions made the hash house and camping areas unusable.

In addition to rogaines in Tassie, I encourage all members to look interstate or even overseas for events. On the 8th and 9th of October the Australasian Championships were hosted by the VRA, and held in the Victorian Pyrenees. This event was also impacted by the wet weather. 11 teams from Tasmania were present. Podium positions were won by Thorlene Egerton & Jonathan Sutcliffe (1st Mixed Supervet), Gary Carroll and Ken McLean (1st Mens Supervets), Karen Pedley and Chris Brown (2nd Women Supervets and 3rd Women vets) and Kris Clauson & Ella Clauson (1st Family). Bridget White and Jaymee Knoll received the NAMSF funding to attend the Champs. Rogaining Tasmania came 4th in the Interstate and Trans-Tasman Trophy. Retaining the trophy was always going to be a tough task on the VRA’s home turf.

Looking to 2023. The organisation of the SoHo Shuffle (19th of March) is well progressed, and the postponed Midlands Muster is scheduled for October 28th and 29th. We would like to run a bike/foot metrogaine around early September, but we need volunteers to set and vet this event.

Rising costs, particularly for fuel expenses and catering are impacting on our entry fees and the committee has reacted to this. Event setters and vetters need to mindful of limiting the number of short fieldtrips they make, and we are limiting the prizes awarded at minor events. As a result, bottles of wine as prizes for category winners will no longer be awarded at metrogaines.

Rogaining Tasmania depends on volunteers, and we are grateful to new committee members Bernard Walker, Lucy Hawthorne and Karen Wild-Allen who joined at the last AGM. They all bring their own specialist skills and have all made significant contributions. Thank you also to the ongoing committee members, some of whom have been on the committee for well over a decade.

We are particularly grateful to event organisers:

Lindisfun: Charlotte Blake, Ben Armstrong and David Loveridge

Marieville: Mandy McIntyre, Jacqui Guy, Carolyn Davis, Ashley Carr and Neil Hawthorne

Midlands Muster: Bass Burgess, Diana Cossar-Burgess, Liz Canning, Hugh Fitzgerald, Peter Tuft, Jeff Dunn (and me).

SoHo Shuffle: Jack Marquis, Bridget White and Jaymee Knoll.

Special thanks to Peter and Robyn Tuft for running the training day at Coningham, and to Kristin Raw for regularly running on-line rogaining introductions prior to events.

Successful associations have a steady turnover of committee members with fresh ideas and enthusiasm, so we’d welcome anyone interested in joining us. We are also seeking someone who is technology-minded becoming involved with the Navlight electrotonic punching system.

On behalf of all entrants, I’d like to thank all the volunteers who contributed to events or the running of Rogaining Tasmania during the year.

Citation: Ross Kelly – Honorary Life Member, Rogaining Tasmania

By Nick Bowden, 2 December 2022

Life membership is an honour bestowed on club members whose exceptional and outstanding service has provided a measurable benefit to the club over an extended period of time. Ross has certainly filled all those requirements. He became a member of Rogaining Tasmania in December 2000 when he competed in an event held on Bruny Island. In 2005, he joined Rogaining Tasmania Committee as Treasurer and Public Officer, a position he holds today, 17 years later.

Please remember that in 2005 event entry was done via a printed form which was submitted by post together with a cheque. It was the Treasurer’s job to collect the mail from the post office, bank the cheques, sort out payment problems, make sure the age categories were correct and enter all the information into a FileMaker Pro database that was used for event administration. This system continued for five years until EntryHub arrived and entries could be made online. But this involved interaction with PayPal and Ross had to set up a commercial account for Rogaining Tasmania. This turned out to be a challenging task, but he took it on with great success. His involvement with the event entry system continues to this day with the latest entry system. He is one of the people who receive a notification every time an entry is received. His battles with PayPal continue.

As well as this heavy involvement in the event entry system, Ross prepares an event budget so an entry fee can be calculated. We have held 47 events during his term of office so far. Then there are Treasurers’ reports to meetings, account audits, annual financial statements and the duties of Public Officer. This involves lodging the documents we are obliged to send to Consumer, Building and Occupational Services, as well as the Australian Rogaining Association.

As a member of Executive Committee, he has always provided valuable input, including help with planning major events, such as the two Australasian Championships we have organised in Tasmania during his term of office.

Ross has applied his navigation skills to course setting for three events: Bangor Revisited in 2003, the Skyline Mini 3 hour in 2009 and the Buckland Bash in 2014. He has also been an active and skilful competitor, having competed in 42 events.

He has won the male veteran and super veteran categories many times.

Ross has announced he does not intend to remain Treasurer for ever, and we will have to find a replacement “sometime soon”. He has set a very high bar, so this is going to be a difficult task. We thank him for his outstanding service to our sport.

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