2018 Autumn 12 hour Rogaine (Sat 20 October 2018)

I decided to put up my hand to set the event, 6 weeks prior to the event, as no else seemed to be stepping up to the plate. Wil had the area picked out, sent me the map that was used two years ago, was in discussions with dpaw to obtain permission to hold the event, and there was a readymade HH site, provided we could contact the landowner. Roped in Dick and Stan to give me a hand with the field work, and made our first visit to the area on Monday 17th Sept. Introduced ourselves to Denis and Joanne Luelf, obtained permission to have the Hash on their property, and also obtained the contact details for the owner of Gunapin Ridge, the farmland in the southern part of the map. Visited the Hash House site, then the Gunapin Farm area, but unfortunately there was nobody at home, so did a general reconnaissance of the map area. Set in a few controls near the Hash and then headed home. Did an armchair set before heading off again on Friday 21st to set as many controls as we could, while we still had Stan with us, as he was off to Melbourne, driving across for the Eagles grand final, with his mate Dave.

We welcomed aboard Ken Maxfield and Nathan Seal to help with the setting and vetting field work, and as they both had 4wd vehicles, it was a big help. Their first foray into the field was quite eventful, as they managed to get both 4wd vehicles bogged in a particularly soft, wet, muddy section of a track. Fortunately both vehicles did not get bogged at the same time, more by good luck than good management, but it just goes to show that unforseen situations can happen at any time.

The only other small hiccup we had, was that part of the farmland that we thought was owned by the Luelf's, and had placed preliminary controls there, was owned by the neighbouring farmer, Max Edwards, whom we managed to track down, and obtain permission to traverse his land. Only to discover that part of the land that we wished to use was covered in Lupin crop, so the necessary control positions were suitably adjusted.

Hung the controls on the Friday and Saturday, prior to the event, and obtained permission to have a HH fire, which was kindly made by Brendon Luelf, Thank You Brendon. Brendon was the farmer cutting the hay near the HH on the Saturday morning.

We did have one incident while hanging the controls on the Saturday morning, a week before the event. Chris and I were walking in off West Talbot Rd, to hang control 42, we had left Dick in the car, and we came across a chap and his partner, in a 4wd ute which had 3 very large dogs on it. The owners were about to give the dogs a swim in the nearby dam, and they were not expecting to see other people. Two of the dogs charged at Chris and me, and jumped up on us, but did not bite us, but gave us a terrible scare. The heart rate for both of us certainly shot up, and the thought did cross my mind that the Rogaine name, was may be about to come true???? In my opinion, the thing that saved us from getting seriously injured, was the fact that we did not run, we just stood our ground. Fortunately the owners managed to get the dogs under control and assured us they would not be there the following weekend when the event was on. The dogs were some Sth African Mastiff breed I think.

Dick, Chris and I travelled to the event on the Friday morning, set up our camp, and placed the direction and No Shooting signs out, carried out a bit of maintenance on the track in to Hash, and waited for the truck to arrive.

The event went off very well with no major mishaps; all competitors seemed to enjoy the course and as all the controls were in the correct place, there seemed to be a lack of discussion around the campfire disputing the "where a bouts" of a certain control. However there were several comments made about control 100, but all good, and that it was a great location. For the record, it was also my favourite control position.

It was good to see Brendon, Sarah and Jack(1yrs old) Luelf, enter the event and enjoy a walk around part of their farm and some surrounding bush, even though Brendon did have trouble with the sole of his boot coming adrift before they had even set off.

Congratulations to all the category winners, and for the record, the overall winners, Shane Lewis and Tom Chadbourne, covered almost 67km and visited 53 of the 64 controls, a great effort. I hope that all who participated enjoyed their experience and will continue have fun in the great outdoors in future events.

Thanks to all who volunteered to collect controls, it was greatly appreciated, and to those who volunteered, but were not required on this occasion, thanks for offering. Thank You also to all who helped pack up and clean the site, a job well done. It would be remiss of me not to thank John Herzfeld for his mighty effort and tireless energy with nothing being too much trouble to organise. So a big thank you John for all your help and expertise in helping to make the event a success.

A big, big thank you to the landowners, a tremendous bunch of people, who gave us permission to traverse their land, with special thanks to the Luelf family for allowing us to camp on their land.

I must also thank my fellow setters and first time vetters, Ken and Nathan, who have done a mighty job in the short time available to bring this event together. Also thanks to Chris for helping with control hanging and event chores and helping to make this another memorable rogaine.

John Tanner
Event Setter