Dinden Bush Rogaine Report – Tony Webster

After crossing the International Date Line a week out from this event and getting thoroughly confused as to whether I lost a day or gained a week, I managed to get my head sorted with a little prompting from Renee Wilson and got to the task of getting this rogaine sorted out. The site was chosen and scoped some weeks ago, with the northern section forming a part of last years Quoll night rogaine (which no team got through). The site is characterised by a couple of very pretty running creeks, plenty of gullies and water courses and a good sized ridge complex on the western side of the course. From the hash house there was also a nice loop track that would give new rogainers confidence they weren’t going to get badly lost.

As the first rogaine of the year, and being so close to Cairns, we were hoping to get a number of new teams, so had a six hour and a three hour event. I planned the course with the philosophy that every team should enjoy themselves – and basically set a course that I would enjoy doing. This meant controls were not hidden or tricky (with the mild exception of #36) and on prominent features that should be easy to find if the navigation was correct. I wanted a good mix for new rogainers (by putting the controls nearer the hash house closer to each other and not too far from the loop track) and the experienced (by putting the further out controls well spaced with multiple navigation decisions to be made). Hopefully this was achieved and everyone had a good time. Sitting at the hash house when teams returned the main complaint was the heat that everyone experienced – and I hope everyone has recovered happy and healthy from that.

The winners of the six hour event was the White Lightning pair in team “Green Ant” (click the image to see there course map), who managed to clear the courses 31 controls (1680 points) with 15 minutes to spare. Green Ant are off to the Aust Champs this weekend so good luck to Chris and Shane. The three hour event was won by the perpetual motion trio in “Team TAS”, with Darren, Brice and Jason scoring 700 points. Mixed events were won by Kirk and Kerry (team “Anything but studying”) in the six hour and Mary and Muzza (team “Muzza ‘n’ Mary”) in the three hour. The women’s events were taken out by Louise, Rebeka and Jordan (team “The Party has Arrived”) in the six and Kylie and Renee (“Stimpz and Koolz”) in the three hour. There were a number of novice teams in the three hour event that did really well and hopefully we’ll see these teams next time.

As always a rogaine is the result of many peoples great work and time investment. The more people that pitch in the better (and most helpers get to do the rogaine too). Adam Fletcher was monumental at the hash house, and Brett Wilson was a big help there too in setting up and sorting the six hour teams. Other thanks must go to Mike Coleman (as always), Sharon and Barry Cavanagh, John Harders, Jason Cambieras, Nancy Caceres, Sean Browne and Muzza. The event was sponsored by the strong ongoing supporters of rogaining in north Queensland “Adventure Equipment” and “It’s Extreme”. There were some terrific spot prizes very kindly donated by Mark from “Adventure Equipment” so get in and support our sponsors when buying your rogaining and outdoor adventure gear. Last but not least a very Happy Birthday to Kim McClelland, perhaps Terry can make you breakfast in bed next year.

Mike Colemans’, John Harders’  & Jason Cambieras’ rogaine course and elevation below: