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Event wrap up - ACT Champs
Over 160 competitors headed across to the NSW south coast on 4-5 November for the final event for 2017, the 8/24 hour Championships. This was our first event at the coast in 3 years, and was a chance to explore the area in and around stunning Murramarang National Park. The weather was remarkably cool the entire weekend, and there was some light rain overnight but not enough to put off the 24 hour competitors.
 Competitors enjoyed the Park's tall spotted gums, rainforest vines and palms and coastal scenery, and tried to avoid ticks and leeches where possible. Some teams headed underneath the Princes Highway to collect the controls in South Brooman State Forest, experiencing shady gullies and dry spurs. The National Park had an incredible range of vegetation, which had been a challenge for event setters, but the final course proved to be enjoyable for teams, with a range of challenging and scenic controls taking in the best bits of the area.
Competitors in the 8 hour event pushed hard to maximise their points, resulting in a number of teams arriving back late, including 3 of the top 10 placed teams. Lee Rice and Craig Cowan were one of these teams, collecting the most points but arriving back 16 minutes late, meaning Harry Andrews and Thomas Larkin took out the overall win, collecting 1730 points in a tidy 7:52, ahead of Lee and Craig with 1650 points after penalties.
.jpg) In the 24 hour championships, mixed competitors David Baldwin and Julie Quinn took out the overall win with 4000 points. Ronnie Taib and David Williams came in 2nd overall and are the 2017 mens champions, collecting 3860 points. The 2017 womens champions are Ellen Braybon and Nicole Mealing, who collected 2960 points. Special mention should go to Vic Sedunary and Merv Trease, who with an impressive 3390 points are champions of the mens ultravets, mens supervets and mens veterans categories as well as placing 2nd in the mens open.
Well done to all competitors and to all the champions. A big thanks to all the people and organisations who made the event happen, including Dane Roberts, Graham Atkins, Jonathan Miller, Keith Conley, Tom Brazier, Glenn Bridgart, Jiaying Goh, David Jenkins, Jean Douglass, Hartley Lifecare, NSW NPWS, NSW Forestry Corporation, and the ANU Kioloa Coastal Campus.
Teslin maps here to stay!
The maps used in the World Rogaining Championships (WRC) in 2016 were the introduction for many to Teslin, a synthetic waterproof paper. Teslin has made frantically contacting rogaine maps a quickly fading memory at ACTRA events. WRC2016 used digital printing (think heavy duty colour laser printer) for the A4 model map, and traditional offset printing for the huge 65x90cm competition map. Digital printing is readily available up to SRA3 (45x32cm) size which covers all rogaines except 24 hour events. ACTRA holds its own paper stock, bought in bulk, and uses a local printer in Belconnen.
In 2017, ACTRA ran two 24 hour events. For the Australian Championships in May, we returned to the offset printer used for WRC (which had print run of 900 maps). The May event only needed 400 maps, and the cost was around twice as much as WRC - offset printing has a large upfront setup cost. Offset printing would have been $25-30/map for the ACT champs for 200 maps, so was not an option. Fortunately digital presses are now available up to B2 size (50x70cm), just not in Canberra. A willing printer was found in Melbourne, and the map printed for under $10 each for 200 units.
We can all breathe a big sigh of relief that we will have Teslin maps for all ACTRA events in the future!
Presidents Soapbox
 Thanks for being part of rogaining in 2017, whether you came to one event, all events or helped out. It's the sum of all of these that makes our sport a friendly and fun thing to do. If you tried rogaining for the first time this year, I hope you enjoyed the experience and are thinking of which events you might try next year. The calendar is on the website so you can put dates into your diaries.
Do you ever think about seeds and weeds when you get home from a rogaine? Chances are your shoes and gaiters have collected a few seeds from plants around the course, especially grasses. It's pretty important that you clean them off and put the seeds in the rubbish before the next time you venture into the bush so you don't spread weeds to new places. As a rogainer I appreciate being able to go into places in the bush that are relatively intact and enjoy the diversity of plants. Have a think about it when you head into the bush over the summer break and make sure your socks, shoes and gaiters are clean!
See you in 2018.
Julie
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