Just a heads up that there is a 6hr Rogaine coming up on 20th and 21st of June that is perfect for some trail running.
The event is outside Ballarat in Linton, and the terrain is mostly tracks in Eucalypt forest from 10am-4pm. The Rail Trail runs through that area, and the navigation is reasonably straight forward as it is a Schools Event on the Sunday. Most of the checkpoints are within 500m of the tracks. Navigation training is available for people who have never rogained before on the Sunday. For those interested in a good run, the course is challenging (hillier and harder checkpoints) further out. With good route selection and nav, about 55km will see the course get cleaned. The event is the largest Vic rogaining event of the year, with about 200-300 entrants per day.

The event details are here:
Linton Rogaine

The entry form is here:
VRA June Newsletter and Entry Form

If anyone is interested then please give me a shout.

mrs sol and I are doing the saturday event. Looking to be competitive in the mixed, if all goes to plan

I can't get the site to open-I'm trying to find out what a rogaine is!
I'd look at it-my father lives in Linton so I could go up Friday night and stay with him and be fresh on Saturday.

This links worked for me. Hmmm ...

What is rogaining? Somethign I wrote a few years ago now can be found here.

http://vra.rogaine.asn.au/About/what.php.

Lots of fun

I can't open anything on the http://vra.rogaine.asn.au/ site for some reason. I'll try later from home.

The VRA site has probably been swamped after Pastyboy's posting here and can't keep up with the demand.
I might see if Spoonman's interested in this one.
Maggotman

Maggot, Sol,
Say hello if you are there.

Wombat,
You should come out and give it a go. Essentially this event is a 6hr course with 50+ checkpoints placed around Linton.
Some are close, some are far away. You get a map at the start, decide where you want to go, and visit as many (or few) checkpoints as you can in the 6hr period.
Each checkpoint is worth various amounts of points, and at the end of 6hr, the person with most points wins. Lots of families, school groups, and also some hard runners take on the course. You get a good feed at the end of the day back at the Hash House. Entry fees are relatively low. What more could you ask for?

Rogaining is like orienteering only longer and more painful...and I love it! It's a bit like a choose-your-own adventure; in that you get planning time with your teammates before the start, to look at the map, work out how far you want to travel, and decide which control points you will go to, in the time available to you. Some ability to read a map helps, and you'll probably end up going cross country, and it's more about determination and time management, rather than being super-fast. There's always a sense of achievement no matter how many points you earn, and there's always fabulous food at the end. And rogainers are really enthusiastic and encouraging about each other's results, no matter how much they score, and we just love to indoctrinate newcomers

Linton....will there be a control on the dam wall?

Nope, if you mean "the dam" about 1km to the NW of Linton; but plenty nearby for the beginners, and a checkpoint on "a dam".

Hey Pastyboy, I'm very keen.

Never ever done Rogaining before but have always wanted to give it a go! Especially with the bonus of 6 hours out on the trails with only self-imposed pressure to ruin the day!!!

Is it teams only or singles?

D.

Hi Di,

Teams between 2-5 people. This is for safety.
There is a Partner Finding Service if you need someone.
But it's probably best to find someone with similar endurance and nav ability.

The best description of what Rogaining is all about is this
Which Way's North

An update on the Linton event, which is outside of Ballarat.

About 500+ entries so far, with most on the Sunday (there is a 6hr Public and 5hr Schools event on Sunday).
The course is set, with a few neat checkpoints out there that caused the course vetters some interesting navigational challenges.

Comments have been that the course is very balanced and fair - so that is good. The rain has made the tracks wet, but still easily traversed. The creeks are not really running yet.

So all is looking good for the 20th and 21st June.

OK, barring any unforseen circumstances (i.e. babysitting arrangements falling through) I'm there both days. More serious attempt with mrs sol on Saturday, then a nice family experience with my 8yo daughter on the Sunday.

Who else is in?

I'll wear my CR cap, so look out for me and say hi!

Cheers,
sol