By SARA’s volunteer hot water urn overseer, Jim Casanova

By 1990, I knew of rogaining as my daughter, Jenny, had been to events with Kay Haarsma, and maps had been displayed, but that was all. As part of the 1990 Easter Orienteering Carnival, my wife, Dorothy, and I were entered in the 12-hour rogaine at Dutchman’s Stern. This resulted in a steep learning curve in larger area/smaller scale map reading, plus working out distances, pace counting and re-locating. Our night navigation left a lot to be desired (and we left rogaining alone for a few years after that).

The next contact with rogaining was when Dorothy was asked to help on the hash house for the 1996 12-hour at Karinya, near Truro and therefore I was present as her transport. Standing there, and not knowing what to do, I gravitated to the hot water urn like a moth to a lighted candle or a fly down the chimney of a lighted kerosene lamp. I thought I could be useful by looking after it – a simple job and I should not get into trouble.

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We’re excited to have you as our new President of SA Rogaining.

Thanks, it’s an honour to be part of such a great committee, and humbling to follow past President, Kate Corner, and Mark Porter before her. 

What/where was your first rogaine?

My first rogaine was an Adelaide University Mountain Club event in 1982, I was 16 and went with some friends from school – we were in our school running group together and were also all keen on bushwalking. The event started at Strathalbyn. I could barely tell one end of a map from another and was really just along for the adventure. Our team became completely lost late at night in Kuitpo Forest, complete with mist and full moon. I had recently seen the film ‘American Werewolf in London’ and having a vivid imagination, I was quite frightened! We never found the control we were looking for and headed out into the farmland where we came across local farmers out spotlighting. That also had me worried. We then had about 10 km along a dirt road to get to the compulsory stop at the all-night soup kitchen at the Finnis Hall. We were meant to be there at midnight and were docked all our points for getting there at 4 am!  I remember we jogged parts of this road and I found it interesting that we could still run after all that time on our feet. (While I was keen on running, in training for a marathon at the time, I had never done anything that lasted this long before.) After we had a few hours’ sleep, we had to jog to make it back to Strathalbyn for the midday finish. I think we were pretty close to last in the results. I had never done anything like it and as you see I still remember it after all these years. The same school mates and I participated in another rogaine at Parawa a year later, but I insisted we were back at sunset that time for a good night’s sleep and best pickings at the Hash House.

After your first rogaine, did you jump in ‘boots and all’ or did you take it more slowly?

After 1983 my next rogaine was in 2000 with Andrew Murphy, the 6-hour ‘Mt Misery’ Metrogaine based at Lenswood, so it was a slow transition!  After this event though I was pretty well hooked.

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By Peter Milnes

The Naracoorte Rogaine earlier this year was a milestone for me, being my 100^th event (excluding Minigaines and Cyclogaines). My first rogaine was a 12 hr at Mt Crawford in 1994 when I partnered my son, Mark after his partner withdrew.  Since then I have averaged 4 events a year.  Below are snippets from basic notes I have recorded over the 25 years.

Total distance covered

approx. 4,600km.

Best result

1^st in the 2002 Metrogaine with Steve Cooper and Ross Dawson.

Toughest terrain

World Championships in Alice Springs in 2016.  Also had the largest map.

Most difficult traverse

“The spur” at the Oz Champs in Tassie in 2011.  Took about 1½ hours to get between 2 controls down a rocky spur at night, with several 2m drop offs to negotiate.  Obviously not a good route choice.

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One of the key elements (and to be honest, difficulties) in running rogaines is land owner access. SARA plans carefully to provide interesting and often unique access for rogainers to enjoy. This only comes after much work building a long term reputation for caring about the land as much as the owners do. To assist in making and maintaining this SARA often asks local community groups to be involved. Mostly this is in the purchase and preparation of food or running the hash house.

One of the more important rogaining relationships has been in the southern Flinders Ranges, where the members of the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association (ICPA) are often the actual landowners we are working with. Over time more access has become available as more neighbours get involved!

Each year SARA makes a modest donation from the income derived from events to a good cause related to our sport. The Committee is very pleased to say that our 2018 donation was $200 to the Isolated Children’s Parent’s Association, SA branch (ICPA). Most recently the ICPA helped out by running the hash house for the Holowiliena 24 hr State Champs. This included not only cooking and food, but firewood, water and the gun shot to start the event.

You can see the ICPA’s activities on their website: https://sa.icpa.com.au/.

2018 Rogainer of the Year

Evelyn Colwell
Evelyn has had a memorable year full of highs and lows. Some rogaines were completed with grit and determination, such as the 6-hour Lofty Explorer where Evelyn found herself at the bottom of the mountain with half an hour to go, experiencing severe cramping in her legs. With her focus being on just making it back to the Hash House, she and her husband, Craig, managed to walk straight past a 50-point control on the track then, still breathing heavily once she had finished, 11 minutes late, Evelyn hyperventilated and required some medical assistance. They still managed to win 1st in the Mixed Supervet category and come 10th overall.

At the Velogaine, Evelyn was in a moon-boot so settled with helping on Admin while Craig rode away into the sunset. Valuable RoY points were still accrued by volunteering.

At the roving 15-hour Gum Creek Country and the 4-hour St Patrick’s Day Saunter, Evelyn and Craig raced around the maps, coming a handy 3rd overall and 1st in Mixed Supervet in both events.

The grit and determination certainly came into play in Evelyn’s final rogaine, the Tea Tree Minigaine, where she competed with a knee that had only been operated on two days prior to competing, and a broken wrist. Yes, she’d lost a fight with a moving vehicle only days before, but still managed to compete with the aid of a walking stick and her patient husband, Craig. They came in 8th Mixed Supervet and 79th overall. Not a bad effort, when most sane people would have stayed home!

The highlight of Evelyn’s year was her role as the primary setter for the 24-hour State Champs, Hello-wiliena Again. All teams were hard-pushed to complete an error-free course on a map that encompassed areas of very tricky navigation and well-placed controls. Many experienced rogainers have tales to tell of lost time spent wandering around the landscape searching for orange and white controls.

Congratulations to a rogainer who consistently did her best, whether competing or volunteering.

2018 Runner-up Rogainer of the Year
Craig Colwell

What a year Craig has had! As a partner to his wife, Evelyn, he’s experienced the same highs and lows as her and has been a fantastic competitor in his own right. We think he should actually win a ‘Best and Fairest’ award for his selfless and long-suffering support of Evelyn!

At the 4-hour Velogaine, Craig competed with a friend – neither would be considered dedicated cyclists – but they still managed to crack 1000 points to finish 2nd Male Supervets. Then at the 24-Hour State Champs, he ably assisted with the setting and produced the map, gaining him valuable RoY points.

Congratulations, Craig, for a stellar year.

This year Alex MacAdam and Steve Holden will be representing SA Rogaining and the University of Adelaide at the 2018 Australasian Rogaining Championships in Queensland.

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