When Jim indicated that he was thinking of setting the 6 Hour rogaine I jumped in and offered to help. Jim is quiet, competent and methodical and I knew it would be a pleasure to work with him.

Jim chose the area, revisiting a map that had been used for a 6 Hour event back in 2000. This was an event set by Gary Carroll and others, and had been partly used for several events since - hence the name of the event - “Been there, Done that”. Jim did all the hard work of contacting the farmers and getting together a list of their contact details and locations as well as reproducing the map and making working copies for setting.

Our first visit to the area in early December 2010 was a bit of an eye opener. The farming country looked like it may have in late March after a bad summer. It was dry and dusty with very little of anything in the paddocks.

Things got busy over the Christmas and New Year season and then there was the Australian Championships in Tasmania to attend as well and, before we knew it, we were running out of weekends to set and vet the event.

Pip Milton kindly volunteered her time to help vet the event and also volunteered her friend, Jutta Birmingham. I think if Jutta really knew what she was letting herself in for she may not have volunteered so readily. No need to worry - both ladies came through splendidly in the end. So, with everyone having busy schedules and social lives, we managed to get the event done and dusted. Jim, Jutta and myself spent one whole weekend setting all the controls which included an interesting meal at the Wandering Tavern the night they were having a Pimps and Prostitutes theme party (no, we did not dress for the occasion). Jim and myself returned a couple of weeks later to vet most of the controls and then Pip joined in to complete the vetting. All in all, a good team effort. Along the way Jim’s car had problems and I managed to damage my car again. I really must get a 4WD. Poor Pip had a long slog to vet some controls because a gate was inadvertently locked. Turns out she could have gone
through another gate which none of us knew about, but these things happen.

Also, somewhere along the way, wedding plans were announced by Gary Carroll for the very same day as the 6 Hour event, but in Victoria. How could he even think of doing that??? That meant that Jim, myself and our respective better halves would be in Ballarat while Pip and Jutta and a couple of very able pinch hitters, Dave Muir and Steve Brown, would be running the show on the day.

The weekend of the rogaine was fine and warm with competitors arriving steadily from mid-morning. With Jim and Ian in Victoria enjoying Gary’s wedding, Jutta and Pip set about delivering water to the water drops. In the meantime, the admin team and a scattering of volunteers pitched the admin tent and organised the hash site. Registration opened at 1 pm and with maps available everyone got to with planning. Prior to 3 pm, President Paul gave a pitch followed by Warren and Pip. The buzzer goes and everyone’s off. Jutta and Pip headed off on the first patrol, got chased by a mad rabid dog but luckily survived and continued on their way visiting water drops. Six hours was patrolled away and 9 pm arrived
with the last of the competitor’s running in. The question on the minds of the top five teams was ‘where’s Ricky?’ 22 minutes after the hooter, in they ran - even the top guns can blow it. Their score was not enough to cope with such a late arrival, and Mark and Shane took out the honours.
Thanks to everyone for a great event.

Pip, Jutta, Ian and Jim.