This is what faced Jack, my 11yr old son, and I on Sunday morning with the much appreciated start of the 52nd Paddy Pallin 6hr NSW Rogaine. As the sun rose, on what would be a glorious day, you could see the heads starting to pop out of the numerous hiking tents pitched all over the Bendalong Camping Ground where the race would soon begin.

team-mein

Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross-country navigation, in which teams of two to five people visit as many checkpoints as they wish in a set time period. The traditional Rogaine is 24 hours in duration, however, there are also shorter events of 3, 6, 12 and 15 hours. Most rogaines are on foot and held in attractive bush and farmland locations.

Of the 500+ participants competing you could see the serious racers, rough and ready bushwalkers and the many family teams. The Paddy Pallin Rogaine is planned to give opportunities to young families with strollers and to challenge the avid bush runners. With checkpoints accessible by both 4WD track and bush bashing. That’s what I love about this event and why my family come back year on year.

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The terrain we all walked or ran sent us along stunning beaches and headlands, and through mixed forest and heath. Its truly amazing what ground you can cover and scenery will meet you in only 6 hours.

NSW Rogaine Headland view

With 16 categories there where plenty of place getters which can be found here with the over all the top 3 consisting of:

  1. Julie Quinn & David Baldwin
  2. Greg Barbour & Steve Todkill
  3. Andrew Haigh & Nicole Haigh
NSW Rogaine Team of Volunteers

NSW Rogaine Team of Volunteers

A special thank you to the many volunteers from the Waitara Scouts for the great feed on Saturday night and post event to the Event Coordinator Trevor Gollan and his team, Anita Bickle, Ian Almond to name a few.

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Photo’s: James Stuart, Joslyn Van der Moolen, Chris Mein, Kaz Duerden, Trevor Gollan & Chris Mein.

About The Author

Chris took his childhood passion for the outdoors to a job in outdoor education. Which saw him work all over Australia, Solomon Islands, Indonesia and USA. After 4 years he moved to the more comfortable work of outdoor retail. His travels has taken him trekking, cycling or simply exploring many countries including Vietnam, Thailand, NZ, Fiji, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, Peru and Bolivia. His outdoor passions are strongest in bushwalking, trekking and mountain biking. His currently Paddy Pallin’s Operations and Marketing Manager.

One Response

  1. Sylvia Burgess

    I bet Anita did a great job. Thanks to all Rogaines in the past for help in building my school in West Kenya

    Reply

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