News

The 2019 Intervarsity was held in conjunction with the ACT Championship in Bournda National Park and Nature Reserve near Merimbula NSW on 18-19 May.

Superb warm sunny weather on the weekend ensured that the scenic coastal terrain was at its best. The hash house was situated at a disused adventure park featuring a scenic lake and golf course.

It was a special occasion for the 50th anniversary of the Intervarsity. David Hogg, who organised the first official intervarsity in 1969, presented the trophies to the winners and placegetters.

ACT again provided the bulk of the 13 Intervarsity teams, with 10 teams from Australian National University (ANU). Tony Newman and Mikey Dimuantes, were first in Mens Open, second place overall and winners of the 13th Nigel Aylott University Championship.

First mixed Intervarsity team was Kelvin Peh and Holly Ashburner of ANU, whilst the women's IV winners were Alice Schacher, Zoe Oldfield and Rhea Papadopoulos from ANU. Results are posted on the: ARA website.

by David Hogg

May 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the first official intervarsity competition in the sport that is now known as rogaining. The origins of this competition, and indeed of the sport of rogaining itself, can be traced back to a weekend in 1947 when the five members of the Melbourne University Mountaineering Club (MUMC) embarked on a competitive 24 hour walk through the hills east of Melbourne. Despite the low numbers, the competition proved popular and was repeated the following year, this time attracting about two dozen competitors in teams of two or more.

The 24 Hour Walk continued to grow in popularity and remained a highlight of the MUMC event program for over 40 years, also attracting participants from the equivalent clubs in Melbourne’s other universities, Monash and Latrobe. The idea was also exported to Adelaide, when an MUMC member moved there and became active with the Adelaide University Mountain Club.

In the early 1960s, MUMC was the only club belonging to the Melbourne University Sports Union that did not participate in an intervarsity competition. The Club therefore initiated a move to establish an intervarsity 24 Hour Walk, with the support of its counterparts at Monash and Adelaide Universities. Unofficial competitions were conducted from 1964, while the Club endeavoured to gain approval from the Australian Universities Sports Association (AUSA) for conducting the event on an official basis.

A major early stumbling block was that the AUSA did not see the 24 Hour Walk as a ‘real’ sport, as there was no national sporting organisation with formal rules for conducting such events. A breakthrough came in 1968 with the discovery of the official rules of the English Orienteering Association, which had been formed when orienteering became formally established in England in the early 1960s. While occasional orienteering events had been conducted in several parts of Australia prior to that time, these were informal events with no standard rules or established organisational structure. (The current orienteering movement began in August 1969, with the Orienteering Federation of Australia established in April 1970 and its first official rules adopted later that year).

Most artifacts from the first official Intervarsity in 1969 have survived, due to the meticulous record keeping by MUMC Historian David Hogg and the Victorian Rogaining Association (VRA) archives setup and managed by Chris Solnordal.

The Intervarsity course was set on the Daylesford 1 inch to 1 mile scale (1:63,360) topographic map.

The course consisted of 25 controls, separate Start (S) and Finish (F), plus 3 Hash Houses. The map can be read in conjunction with the control descriptions and event information: page 1, page 2, page 3.

Details of the Intervarsity event invitation and planned program, the entry form, and directions to the event.

The Mountaineer (MUMC magazine), from July 1969 provides a brief insight of the weekend:
The first official Intervarsity 24 Hour Walk was held in the Trentham - Blackwood - Daylesford area on May 31st-June 1st. The adverse weather conditions which prevailed for most of the weekend undoubtedly dampened the enthusiasm of the competitors and increased the time spent at hash houses, particularly at the University's "Hillside" cottage at Blackwood. Two representatives of the Melbourne team, Ron Frederick and Bob McNaught, survived to the finish to win the men's section; the other members, Tony Kerr and Geoff Fagan having retired to the comfort of the hash houses.

The Melbourne women's team Rosalie Lahore, Joan Holroyd, Annabelle Roth and Judy Whitaker enjoyed breakfast with the Kyneton Shire President after sleeping part of the night in his haystack and finished second to the Monash girls.

Ron Frederick was it top form that year, winning Intervarsity, the MUMC mid-winter 24 hour, and the first "classic" orienteering event in August. He is still very active in rogaining today as VRA Vice President, competing in the Ultra Veteran's class, and organising rogaining and orienteering events.

The Organiser's Report provides a comprehensive summary of the event, providing the knowledge and key information (such as course setting and catering) for the organisers of the Intervarsity to follow in subsequent years. The organisers report: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, page 5.

Subsequently, David Hogg outlined the significance of these developments for Australian orienteering (and rogaining) in the University magazine Farago.

Rogaining Tasmania is excited to announce that the venue for the 2019 Australasian Rogaining Championships is St Helens, Tasmania. The event will be held on the weekend of 9-10 November, 2019. This fantastic rogaining area has terrain ranging from steep areas with extensive granite outcropping to flatter, more subtle terrain that was historically utilised for tin mining. The map includes the sleepy coastal township of Binalong Bay and the world famous "Bay of Fires" area, a mecca for travellers who love the outdoors. The ARC website is now open for entries.

The Australian University Championship for 2019 will be held in conjunction with the ACT State Championship. The date is 18-19 May 2019.
This is the 50th anniversary of the Intervarsity, which began with the first official competition on 31 May 1969 in Victoria.
The rules for the Intervarsity, originally called the 24 Hour Orienteering Contest were the basis for the sport of rogaining established in 1976.

The 2019 World Rogaining Championship (WRC), will be organised by the Iberogaine Association of Spain, on 27-28 July. The event is centred on two of Catalunya's top ski resorts: La Molina and Masella, with the competition area straddling the Spain/France border in the Pyrenees Mountains.
The combination of high altitude, steep slopes and 40% open terrain will be very different from any previous WRC. Currently 49 Australians have entered.
The event website for WRC2019 is: www.wrc2019.cat/en.