The 2025 Australasian Rogaining Championship - Murrumbidgee Wayfaring - proved to be a championship-level event, testing planning, navigation, route choice, and endurance. A large course had overall winners Tiaan Mckinnel and Jonty Mckinnel collecting 59 of the 91 controls on offer. Some may say the course was over-set, but if you watch the Strava flybys this meant that everyone really did choose their own route and went in all directions - 8 different first controls just for starters! This spread of routes was pleasing for the setters.
A thank you to Ron Simpson, Ryan Stocks and David Baldwin for awesomely accurate vegetation on the map. We know some of you still managed to find some challenging vegetation in the dark on the eastern side of Skaines Mountain and Tom O'Rourkes Peak.
A few random observations:
- Maps were handed out to all teams at 9AM within two and a half minutes!
- We apologise for that muddy hole very near the finish that several of you fell in - we didn't know it was there!
- Some teams explored the Murray and Cooleman Caves on the course between 101 and 72. That's another good reason to carry a head torch.
- Nearly 1500 litres of water was used at the Hash House, another 1000 litres at water drops and probably lots more taken from streams on the course and purified using tablets supplied.
- Hot water at the HH from Friday to Sunday was mostly heated in a 40 litre urn using 21kWh of electricity from the organizer's EV - that's enough power to boil a kettle continuously for over 10 hours!
- All controls were visited (phew!).
- The European wasp presence explodes in March. There were almost none observed during hanging 3 weeks before the event. A wasp nest was found and eradicated on Friday less than 10m from the catering tent
- The large marquee was very popular for planning and post event gathering and presentations. Apologies to those people on Friday night when the inside was being mown with a line trimmer. It ran out of line after mowing the catering tent and new line only arrived Friday evening.
Event catering was a joint effort by ACTRA volunteers, with a thank you in particular to head chef Leanne Haupt, and Spit Shack for post-event feast.
There are a lot of photos now in the event gallery. If you have any to contribute, contact the organisers to share. We'd also love any event reports that you have written and willing to share here.
Congratulations to the winners of the three open categories:
- Mens Open: Tiaan Mckinnel (NZ) and Jonty Mckinnel (NZ) 3640 points
- Womens Open: Shelley Bambrook (Vic) and Elizabeth Dornom (Vic) 2960 points
- Mixed Open: Thorlene Egerton (Tas) and Jonathan Sutcliffe (Tas) 2820 points
Other category winners and full results are on the results page.
An important part of the Australasian Rogaining Championship is the Interstate and Trans-Tasman Challenge. This event proved again that the smaller rogaining jurisdictions can kick some goals in this! Congratulations again to Tasmania.
Some stories from competitors are on the website. Contact David if you have one you would like to add.
The setters hope the rogaine has provided you with a sample of the terrain of the high country in northern Kosciuszko National Park around the headwaters of the Murrumbidgee River and invite you to come back to explore further. The event map is available as a free download in the Avenza store if you are in the area.
Finally, a thank you to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service for allowing us to rogaine here and use the Cooinbil Hut Campground for a Hash House. Also to Paddy Pallin for sponsoring the event.
Julie Quinn and David Baldwin.
