Australian Rogaining Association

I'm just about to head off to the rogaine world champs, but before I go I'd like to request responses (e-mail prefered or followup to this post) for a technical review of this year's Australian Rogaine Championhsips by ** 31 October **. Apologies if this post is a little rushed.

At the 2005 ARA AGM the technical subcommittee was given the brief of reviewing each year's Australian Championship. There are no formal terms of reference, so I'll basically call for any issues to be raised and discussed informally and if any major issues arise we can discuss/consult more formally. Please canvas your local committee and/or competitors who participated in the event.

From my perspective as a competitor, the event was memorable for all the right reasons, and run to a very high standard.

There are a few aspects at least worth discussing or noting, and I'd be grateful for any insight from anyone involved - this is not a witch hunt!

* timing of event - Friday/Saturday rather than traditional Saturday/Sunday
* map preparation standards - excellent. Quite a lot of work in adding tracks although still quite a few unmarked.
* use of Navlight - any issues? 10 teams claimed the punch was missing at one control when it clearly wasn't. The punch wasn't attached to the flag itself.
* water drops - availability, location, accuracy - any issues? Two drops with no points were quite distant from any control.
* under 23 categories - not awarded at the event, but well represented, again boosted due to NAMSF sponsored intervarsity championships.

There are undoubtedly other issues others may want to raise. Equally, if there are any other technical issues to discuss, let me know. I will start a separate discussion on other matters raised at the AGM when I get back.

Thanks, David.
e-mail david.baldwin@bilbys.org
ph 02 62511163 H / 02 62147830 W / 0402 270790 M