Rogaining was wicked fun!!

And no for all you weirdos out there the day isn't about replacing your missing hair follicles!! To satisfy your wondering here is the official definition of Rogaine from my friends at Wikipedia:

Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross-country navigation. It is closely related to orienteering and many people enjoy both sports. For all participants, compared to an orienteering meet, a rogaine:
is a much longer event, usually 6, 8, 12 or 24 hours
is a team sport (important for safety, given the long duration)
has checkpoints (controls) assigned point values reflecting the distance from other checkpoints and the technical difficulty (terrain, navigation) of visiting them
requires each team to plan the order in which to visit checkpoints, so route choice is a very important element
For event organizers, a rogaine differs from an orienteering meet in that:
it requires a far larger map area, but not necessarily a highly customized orienteering map
a 24-hour rogaine benefits from being scheduled during a full moon, and needs an organized food service and space in which participants can sleep
ROGAINE is also a backronym for "Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance". The word however predates this definition; it was originally coined as the first few letters of the founders' names (Rod, Gail and Neil).

Right, thats the technical stuff out of the way! Nadia and I headed up to Cheviot this morning to take part in the 6 hour Heights of Winter Rogaine event. Race start was 11am, with registration from 9.30 and race briefing at 10.45. We got there in plenty of time, even managed a wee detour so Nadia could check out the terrain at Greta Valley. I must say Rogaine type people are very nice and friendly, we told them we were new so they made sure we understood how everything worked cos they have these nifty wee Navlights that you have to tag your wrist tag with at each checkpoint and this calculates all your points and works out how long it took you to get from one point to another which is pretty flash! We spent about half an hour planning where to go and having a bit of a guess at how long it would take and coming up with alternate routes in case it all turned to custard! I think we must both be a bit competitive cos we both saw the 100 pointer and decided we had to go after it, it was the only one on the course and was way out on a spur near the ocean! We had to hand in a 'flight plan' which is an outline of where we are intending to go, that way if we don't come back they know where to start looking for us, very safety conscious which is nice. We had to carry heaps of safety stuff just in case, I am now the proud owner of things such as survival blankets and whistles! We also had to carry extra thermals, gloves, hats etc in case the weather turned bad, we were very lucky and it was a lovely warm day, almost springlike! Peeled off a few layers at one stage so had more stuff to carry but hey, better safe than sorry out there.

The start was funny, everyone sprinted off which is kinda hilarious since we have 6 hours, its not as the first back over the line wins! Things were a bit congested for the first couple of checkpoints as everyone aimed for the ones near the start, we had a few challenges finding our 3rd checkpoint, since when is a 'tree' (supposedly distinctive and on its own) one of 2 skinny wee trees hiding in the corner of a valley? Oh well, by this stage we had seen the next checkpoint we needed so it was quick going to get to that one. Then the mission to get across or around the forest. We had a bit of a chat about the best way to go, I wanted to go around, Nadia suggested we just go through as it would be quicker...... Next time we are going around. It was blimmin' interesting going through and definitely not quicker, I think I still have prickles in my clothes after going through the forest. This forest wasn't smart like the plantation, no 23rd Avenue and Whiskey Rd here. All good though, we didn't fight about it, just kinda looked at each other and went 'yep, let's go round next time'. Jeepers but there were some hills in the day! Lots and lots of up and down dale, some of those hills were just damn nasty. I looked at one to try and figure an easy way up and figured straight up was the only way to go, I figured it was the quickest and therefore less painful way to go! Poor Nadia, I don't think she appreciated some of the lines of navigation that I took, she muttered something about the path of least resistance, I just see a landmark or direction and try and go straight so that I don't veer off course and go round in circles, apparently this is easier to do if you have long legs like me as I could just take long strides to get over annoying obstacles. Lots of fence climbing today as well which was interesting, especially getting a bit of a zap off one fence on the top of a hill, had a tingly leg for a bit there. We did really well finding most of our checkpoints, Nadia is a dab hand with the old compass which helps. We had a contingency plan and decided we needed to be at certain points by a set time or we would need to change plans. After it took a ridiculous 45mins to travel what should have been about 1km we decided we better rethink our plan. This worked out ok and we ended up following sheep tracks along the stream to find the next couple of points. We worked out that we could get a couple more on our way back, we were looking for one and find another couple looking for it as well, they tried to tell us they hadn't seen it down in the valley which we thought was a little odd as the clue specifically said it was in a valley yet they were looking on top of the hill?? Never mind, we found it. Then did a bit of a mad scramble to try and score another 50 pointer before heading for home, luckily we bumped into someone who pointed us in the right direction, it still took us awhile to find it tho. Then with 15mins left we had to find our way to the finish, being late causes you to lose points so it was critical to get back on time. We could see a road in the distance so scrambled down the hill and through a farmyard and jogged the rest of the way home. I'm quite impressed that after 5 and a half hours of run/walking over some crazy terrain we were able to run to the finish! Signed back in with about 6-7mins to spare so that was pretty cool. Got a printout of our results and we scored 700 points which apparently is pretty good! A few folk were impressed that we got the 100 pointer, tell you what it was easier then the 40 point one we went for after that! So an awesome awesome day out! I'm definitely keen to do another one or two or ten! My legs are feeling pretty sore at the moment tho, put my compression tights on when we were done so hopefully they do their job!

Quote for the Day:

Choose a job that you like and you will never have to work a day in your life

- Confucius