By Gary Carroll
This year’s Australasian Rogaining Championships were held in my old stomping grounds, Western Australia. It had been 14 years since my last rogaine in WA, so I was excited not only for the event but also to reconnect with old friends.
I teamed up with Andre Morkel, current president of WARA and young supervet. The event had a quintessential Western Australian feel: a single 24-hour competition without shorter options, numerous volunteers working hard on equipment and catering, and over 360 participants (including 81 from interstate and New Zealand). The map scale was 1:50,000 with 5m contours, making the terrain appear hillier than it actually was. Unfortunately, WA doesn’t have access to vegetation data or LiDAR, as we do in much of Tasmania, so the map only included minimal vegetation details, showing just the plantations that made up about 20% of the map area. The majority of the native bush was easy to walk through, although there were some challenging watercourse crossings infested with blackberry. Much of the event area is now a national park, but historically was logged, leaving behind a maze of tracks and tramways of varying quality, not all of which were mapped. The mapping of tracks within the plantations was also challenging. These unmapped tracks ended up being the downfall of many teams.
Our strategy was simple: Go for the high-point controls. While this approach doesn’t always work, it suited this course well. We avoided major mistakes but were stymied by a vague gully without a strong attack point around 5 a.m. which we eventually found. We pushed hard in the daylight hours and skipped several 20- and 30-point controls that weren’t worth the time required. Our route formed a figure eight, passing through the hash house at midnight only for a quick resupply of snacks and fresh batteries (which I forgot to grab but luckily didn’t need). We covered 95 km with 2,200 m of elevation gain.
The clear overall winners were Paul Williams and David Symons from WA. The first-place women’s team was Jenni Blyleven and Anne Frankland from NZ, while our own Thorlene Egerton and Jon Sutcliffe were the top mixed team.
The following Tasmanians participated, enjoying the terrain and spotting local wildlife, including emus and big kangaroos, as well as a wide variety of wildflowers:
10th and 1st MSV, 2770 pts, Gary Carroll and Andre Morkel (WA)
11th and 1st M23, 2710 pts, Xavier Scott and Sam Woolford
13th and 1st Mixed, 1st XV and 1st XSV, 2610 pts, Thorlene Egerton and Jon Sutcliffe
23rd and 3rd Womens, 2nd WV and 2nd WSV, 2200 pts, Christine Brown and Karen Pedley
27th and 3rd XSV, 2070 pts, Simon Allen and Karen Wild-Allen
39th, 1790 pts, Liz Canning and Hugh Fitzgerald
43rd, 1600 pts, Neil Hawthorne and Lucy Hawthorne.
Australian Rogaining Association President Paul Guard, with Open Mixed winners Thor Egerton and Jon Sutcliffe
The Interstate and Trans-Tasman Challenge Trophy, which is determined using a point system for podium positions, was won by Tasmania (19.5 points) ahead of WA (16.5 points) and NZ (13 points). Well done Tasmania! Tassie previously claimed the trophy in 2021 in South Australia, though most Victorians were excluded from that event due to COVID travel restrictions.
Full results, team routes, and a range of statistics can be found on Greig Hamilton’s excellent Rogaining Results website.
The turnaround until the next Australasian Champs will be quick. ACTRA is hosting the 2025 Australasian Champs in the Snowy Mountains, scheduled for March 15th and 16th. The 2025 Intervarsity Champs, for which the NAMSF travel subsidy will be available, will be held in conjunction with the NSW Champs around September.