Course Description
The 2005 spring event revisits some of the terrific rogaining country used in the memorable 2002 "Naasty but Clear" Australian Champs. This area, about 75 minutes easy drive south from Canberra, is also the only substantial chunk of Namadgi not burnt in the 2003 fires. The terrain is a nice mix of open valley floor and native woodland, making for easy running or walking. There is little tight undergrowth. Gradients are easy to moderate with some steeper slopes for those favouring more adventurous route choices. There are several well-defined tracks and pioneer structures.
The people who brought this event about
| Coordinator | Setters/Vetters | Admin | General Help | Catering | Control Collection |
| Leone Jansen | Ian Booth Wayne Gregson Jim Sawkins |
Colin Mock Colleen Mock Stephen Huang |
Emma Murray Amy Davidson Stephen Huang |
DEWR Hartley Crew | Emma Murray Paul Veldkamp Gillian Whiting Dave Osmond |
Full Results of the ACT Spring Rogaine Rogaine held on 12/11/2005 at Grassy Creek
12hr event results Overall Category/Age Place MO MV MS XO XV XS WO WV WS J F Score Time In Team Names 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - 1800 1121 64 David Singleton, Adrian Sheppard 2 - - - 1 - - - - - - - 1620 1144 42 Susan Sprague, Mark McDonald, Selina Stoute, Heather Logie 3 2 - - - - - - - - - - 1570 1149 87 Keith Conley, Adrian Keough 4 3 - - - - - - - - - - 1530 1154 94 Paul Floro, Steve Dowlan 5 4 - - - - - - - - - - 1500 1203 97 andrew black, john dennison 6 - - - 2 1 - - - - - - 1330 1201 34 Anna Booth, Phil Creaser 7 5 1 1 - - - - - - - - 1280 1146 96 Hugh Moore, Daryl Erbacher 8 - - - 3 - - - - - - - 1220 1142 45 Jasmine Elson, Craig Mottershead 9 - - - - - - 1 - - - - 1220 1156 1 Leone Jansen, Leanne Wilkinson 10 - - - 4 - - - - - - - 1200 1139 16 Madeleine Schultz, Matthew Hollingworth, Chuck Magee, Ann Palmer 11 - - - 5 - - - - - - - 1160 1153 44 Natalie Chan, Chris Hatherly 12 6 2 - - - - - - - - - 1140 1204 21 Zac Zaharias, Peter Lambert 13 7 3 2 - - - - - - - - 1110 1100 3 Glenn Bridgart, Norm Johnston 14 8 4 - - - - - - - - - 1110 1201 63 Michael Challen, Don McLean 15 - - - 6 - - - - - - - 1070 1123 18 Nick Earl, Rebecca Wilkins 16 - - - 7 2 - - - - - - 1070 1217 10 Jean Douglass, Ron Simpson, Lorraine Tomlins 17 9 - - - - - - - - - - 1020 1211 39 Garth Coghlan, Chris Geelan, Michael Peoples 18 - - - 8 3 - - - - - - 1000 1120 24 Michael Harrap, Margaret Harrap 19 10 5 - - - - - - - - - 980 1139 46 Joss Haiblen, Glen Kraemer 20 11 - - - - - - - - - - 970 1107 36 Callum Eastwood, Jonathan Holland 21 12 - - - - - - - - - - 970 1156 28 Rob McManus, Rob Sharpe, Geoff Moon 22 - - - 9 - - - - - - - 960 1138 15 Philip Keaton, Debbie Saunders 23 - - - - - - 2 - - - - 950 1139 69 Benita Sommerville, Tracey Crooks 24 - - - - - - 3 - - 1 - 940 1158 47 Snowy Haiblen, Hannah Cliff 25 - - - - - - 4 - - - - 880 1116 31 Annabel Battersby, Alexa McAuley 26 - - - - - - 5 - - - - 870 1139 56 Christine Butzer, Sara Hely 27 - - - - - - 6 1 1 - - 830 1143 13 Pat Miethke, Rene Lays, Kathy Saw 28 - - - 10 4 - - - - - - 820 1158 99 Mark Leonard, Kathy Hays 29 - - - 11 - - - - - - - 750 1126 80 Alex Ramsey, Sally Ramsey 30 13 - - - - - - - - - - 740 1112 79 Rick Whyte, Mick Adams 31 - - - 12 - - - - - - - 710 1104 48 Patty Correll, Barry Drake 32 - - - 13 - - - - - - - 710 1125 103 Rewa Nolan, Andrew Nolan 33 14 - - - - - - - - - 1 690 1114 52 Chris Eddes, Bruce Eddes, David Coysh 34 15 6 3 - - - - - - - - 690 1156 38 Trevor Lawrence, David Pederson, David Clark 35 16 - - - - - - - - - - 630 1122 40 Josh Bobruk, Greg Castle 36 - - - 14 5 - - - - - - 600 1140 37 Greg Knight, Kathryn Mortimer 37 - - - - - - 7 2 - - - 510 1014 98 Robyn Cleland, Karin Ahrling 38 - - - 15 - - - - - - - 410 1203 62 Sean Baker, Prita Jobling 39 - - - - - - 8 - - - - 290 750 95 Penny Biggs Late 1226 8 William Landers, Megan Oaten 6hr event results Overall Category/Age Place MO MV MS XO XV XS WO WV WS J F Score Time In Team Names 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - 1000 546 101 Vince Craig, Trevor Jacobs 2 - - - 1 - - - - - - - 690 551 25 Jonathan Miller, Melisah Feeney 3 2 - - - - - - - - - - 690 601 14 Anthony Bennie, Joe Reid 4 3 1 - - - - - - - - - 680 548 70 tony garr, chris wall 5 - - - 2 - - - - - - - 660 546 7 Lucy Condon, Brian Vowels 6 4 - - - - - - - - - - 630 556 32 Michael Bortz, Norman Oelkers, Andre Stoffel 7 - - - 3 1 - - - - - - 590 544 59 Alan Sargeant, Valerie Barker 8 5 2 - - - - - - - - - 590 605 11 Grant McDonald, John Scown 9 6 3 - - - - - - - - - 560 549 65 Paul Cheeseman, Michael Aylott 10 - - - 4 - - - - - - 1 530 552 43 Mary Adams, Martin Hartley 11 - - - 5 - - - - - - - 530 555 33 Sue Brown, John Brown, Nerida Gibb 12 7 - - - - - - - - - 2 520 549 75 Shane Russell, Chris Swansborough 13 8 - - - - - - - - - - 520 551 83 M. Fogarty, P. Scanlan 14 - - - 6 - - - - - - - 510 552 53 Denis Vanzella, Joanna Vanzella 15 9 - - - - - - - - - - 500 556 71 Brian Evans, Dane Evans 16 - - - 7 - - - - - - - 480 549 82 Christine Henry, Con Costa 17 - - - 8 - - - - - - - 470 555 41 Sandra Collin, Liza Quinn, Stephen Mattingley 18 10 4 - - - - - - - - - 460 551 77 Tony Edwards, Stewart Murray 19 11 - - - - - - - - - - 450 556 104 Adrian Jones, Matt Renshaw 20 - - - 9 - - - - - - - 450 558 30 Richard Stanaway, Sandra McLaren 21 12 - - - - - - - - - - 440 541 51 Johnny Bazorak, Orjan Stenflo 22 - - - 10 2 1 - - - - - 440 550 58 Tim Pulford, Lynn Pulford 23 13 5 1 - - - - - - - - 440 558 102 David Clarkson, John Kelly 24 14 - - - - - - - - - - 390 539 35 Byron McColl, Mark Goodman 25 - - - 11 - - - - - - - 370 532 6 Sheryl Tank, Gordon Tank, Tracey Wilson, Jason Lee 26 - - - - - - 1 - - - - 370 549 66 Michelle van der Voort, Maria Kubik 27 - - - 12 - - - - - - - 370 556 67 Paul Knight, Liz Marvin, Ed Trenchard-Smith, Ben Meyer 28 - - - - - - 2 - - - - 360 531 50 Karen Burton, Michelle Greenwood 29 - - - 13 3 - - - - - - 360 613 2 Michael Sullivan, Jennifer Sullivan 30 15 - - - - - - - - - - 350 559 91 Matthew Whittaker, Paul Lloyd 31 - - - 14 4 - - - - - - 350 601 74 Doug Collier, Angela Gilbert 32 16 - - - - - - - - - 3 330 609 90 Bryant Allen, Rakaan Allen, Marcus Cameron 33 - - - - - - 3 - - - - 310 554 84 Leanne King, Megan McCann 34 17 - - - - - - - - - - 290 545 92 Andrew Peters, Ram Ganesalingam 35 - - - 15 - - - - - - - 280 516 5 David Longman, Louisa Longman 36 - - - - - - 4 - - - - 270 539 55 Catherine Stevens, Shona Batge, Sarah Bishop 37 - - - - - - 5 - - - - 240 600 26 Leanne Aust, Sally Holder 38 - - - 16 - - - - - - 4 220 457 73 Ruth Evans, Rhys Evans, Murray Campbell, Julieanne Dempsey 39 - - - 17 - - - - - - - 220 535 93 Tim Raupach, Tanya Ewing 40 - - - 18 - - - - - - 5 220 606 86 Anne Baynes, Laura Baynes, Chris Gunn 41 - - - - - - 6 - - - - 210 552 20 Kerry Taylor, Bronwyn Davis 42 - - - 19 5 2 - - - - - 200 610 4 Grant Battersby, Ian McAuley, Helen McAuley 43 - - - - - - 7 1 - - - 190 546 29 Mary Vanzella, Merilyn Souter 44 - - - - - - 8 - - - - 190 557 27 Amelia Souter, Renai Booth, Penny Godwin 45 - - - 20 - - - - - - 6 190 559 19 Allan Smailes, Rebecca Smailes, Hannah Smailes 46 - - - 21 - - - - - - - 180 531 12 Rachel Blackwood, Simon King 47 - - - 22 - - - - - - - 160 546 57 Horst Punzmann, Sieglinde Punzmann 48 - - - - - - 9 - - - - 160 551 100 Evelyn Chia, Anika Schumann 49 - - - 23 - - - - - - - 150 540 76 Danielle Chubb, Matthew Zammit 50 - - - 24 - - - - - - - 140 530 17 Yi Chen, Louisa Van 51 18 - - - - - - - - - - 140 532 88 Alex Readford, Jia Dong Xu 52 - - - 25 - - - - - - - 110 550 54 Sean Cunningham, Katrina Spencer Late 648 61 Paul Flemons, Ingrid Flemons, Lillian Flemons, Jack Flemons Late 648 60 Arthur Watson, Debbie Watson Late 649 22 Julie Taylor, Alison Clegg Late 652 49 Saravan Peacock, Katie Mclean
First 12 hour and still standing
ACT Spring Rogaine, 12th Nov 2005
Heather Logie, posted on 18th Nov 2005
Feeling brave and ambitious in the lead up to this 12 hour event, I managed to negotiate my way onto a team with Selina Stoute, Mark McDonald and Susie Sprague. I was a bit worried that the 4 person train going through the bush might not be the most efficient combination but a few training runs in weeks leading up revealed that we were all close in fitness and seemed to have a similarly competitive but fun approach to the event.
In days leading up, I was struck down by the most evil of lurgy�s and spent 2 days at home in bed - it wasn�t looking good. After all my bargaining and promises that I wanted to �have a real go at it�, I just had to get out there though. Saturday morning was a slow start with 3 stops en route to the HH - Brumbies for chocolate croissants (we were too early and had to set up the tables while they fired up the cash register), CSIRO so Susie could water her fungus and finally McDonalds for a decent grease coating to the stomach for the day.
We�d decided to camp after the event so had to swing by Mt Clear campground on the way to set up tents. The nice couple just waking up for their breakfast looked a little confused at the sudden arrival of people who pitched and disappeared again - many apologies to them also for our arrival into camp at midnight�
Anyway, our eagerness to get going had us at the HH � hour before registration was due to open so we gallantly offered to set up the catering tent - I can only assume that someone came along to reinforce everything after we�d left because it was still standing when we arrived that night.
Onto the event�
When we first looked at the map, we thought that a clockwise loop might be the way to go with quite a few of the controls in easy reaching distance from a good quick exit path along a road running down the east of the map. Setters notes hinted that one of the controls at least in the north-east was going to be pretty tricky to get to (53 I think). The idea of trying to find it in the dark had us revise our plan and map out an anti-clockwise route instead leaving controls in the flatter south west for the dark hours. We had estimated about 4km/hour pace and planned a route covering about 40km. Mark even mapped in target points - 12km (CP90) in 3 hours, 20km (CP60) in 5 hours� we were pretty happy with the race plan until we saw Keith�s course-clearing plan 2 mins before the start - had we been too soft? Oh well, too late - the buzzer sounded and we traipsed off with 100 others toward CP39.
The first 3 hours were pretty solid moving up the east of the map. Highlights included pleasant surprise at the ascent to CP90 (not as bad as we expected). I must confess though that only being able to breath through my mouth was interesting - I certainly wasn�t very talkative� The next climb up to CP101 was �hotter� and particularly so as we were all running very low on water. The drop down from CP101 was scrubby and rough as promised (I certainly wouldn�t want to go up it) but not as bad as we had anticipated from notes. It was an odd experience to come down this ridge and arrive at CP60 along with about 5 other teams all going the other direction - must be the mid-way point! This is the site of biggest post-event impact I think as well. Just after 60 we crossed a boggy swamp and everyone�s feet got wet and gritty. From various reports I�m not the only one who has been unable to wear shoes for the past 3 days because of the fabulous blisters that we all sustained.
Controls from here were reasonably easily checked off and we were moving fast in an attempt to get around to the �tricky gully� at CP80 before dark. En route we struggled up a messy ridge to CP55 where I had to stop to tape down a toenail that was desperately trying to wrench itself off my toe (not fun!). A key route decision had to be made here. This was our first (and only) instance of disagreement in the ranks. After the messy climb up the ridge, there was a suggestion that we go back down to the road and up again to the saddle rather than trashing down the other side of the ridge. This is where an even number of team members is not so useful! The extremely scientific strategy of rock, paper, scissors was called upon to break the stalemate and we hurtled off along the ridge. Just past here is where we finally hit a marked water-spot swarming with mosquitos and had an interesting time trying to fill water bladders from a shallow cutting through the scrub. Next highlight was managing to hit CP34/37 just on sunset for a spectacular view across the valley. 2 seconds of ooh�s and ahh�s and we were off again.
Our next challenge was CP80. We were racing the dark. As we marched into the gathering dusk, we disturbed a pair of lyrebirds (big excitement for Susie, our resident bird-buff) - very cool. Anyway, it was about 8pm by the time we hit the junction just above and Mark started pacing out. We spotted one team heading back up the creek (success) and heard a number of other teams off in various gully�s to the right as we got nearer. In the end we did jump off too soon and in the quickly gathering dark ground to a stop within minutes. A good chance to take stock, get the torches out and reassess. Control was obviously not far from the creek. Mark and Selina headed back toward the creek while Susie and I teetered on top of a boulder trying to get torches out and shift into night gear. We joined them a few minutes later and all had a seat while we looked again at the map. Looking a bit more carefully (not in such a rush anymore), we picked out the small knoll above the �tricky gully� and looking up, realised that we were just above it. Mark pulled out his �super-torch� and we ducked around the knoll. Very comforting to hear his secret call ahead a few seconds later to indicate that he�d spotted it. In the end, we probably lost 10 minutes at most but it was the right time to stop and shift gear anyway.
From here we headed back out into the valley for the road which we planned to follow around to the south-east and back into the HH. Controls along the road were going to be pretty easy and we were still doing well for time so decided to tackle a few extras off to the south. Susie put her foot down here and said that if we were going for these, there was no way in &*#$ Mark was going to make her bolt for CP29 (thanks Susie!). The extra 40 and 30 pointer were no challenge for the super-torch and we were back on the road heading for the main Boboyan road by 10:10 with a couple of 20-pointers collected on the way into the HH. Crawled in with about 15 mins to spare only to hear that Adrian and David had, oh so casually, cleared the course without any route planning and with 40 mins to spare (sigh). At least we look better in cocktail dresses (or 3 out of 4 of us anyway).
On my assessment, we had only dropped 6 controls and 180 points but I really struggled to add up points from the control card (my fingers just couldn�t hold the pen). Selina and I managed to get completely different totals so gave up and handed the card over to the trusty organisers. They ended up with a different number again� Anyway, we got either 1510, 1540, 1590 or 1620?
The rest of the night was a bit tragic - sore feet and cold temps made our morning in the tent pretty uncomfortable and we were all up and off back to Canberra at about 6:30 Sunday morning.
In hindsight, I am quite surprised that I managed to keep these guys in sight for 12 hours - they are all amazingly tough competitors who kept me honest throughout. It will be interesting to see how we go up against each other in the coming AROC race on 2 December (Fugahwe vs. Control Freaks). I�ll know where to look for explanations to mysterious flat tyres� This was also my first rogaine involving night-navigation (other than the torrential downpour experience of the women�s workshop). I was definitely appreciative of Emma�s words of wisdom and impressed that we managed to hit 6 controls in the dark - nice to realise that it is possible.
A big thank you to Mark, Susie and Selina for an awesome day and also to all the organisers and course setters for a fantastic event - the area was beautiful and the course had lots of options so you weren�t playing tag with the same teams all day.
I�m hooked - my wine glass is going straight to the pool room!