Newsletter Number 62, November 2000
PO Box 3,
Central Park,
3145, Victoria.
neil.phillips@bigpond.com, 61-3-95721784 faxIRF Executive
President: Neil Phillips
Secretary/Treasurer: Rod Phillips
Promotions and Development: David Stephens
World Rogaining Championships Manager: Gordon BirchIncorporation
The International Rogaining Federation is now incorporated which provides legal protection for office bearers of the IRF. It also places some requirements on the IRF such as an audited financial system and the keeping of a register of members.
Incorporation is a major achievement and has not been reached without considerable work on the part of the IRF Executive. It is the culmination of a process begun over two years ago which involved rules, a financial system and incorporation.
IRF Newsletter 47 in November 1998 reported upon a meeting with the Australian Rogaining Association at Wartook. From the then ARA President Peter Taylor:
“ The outcome of this meeting is essentially summed up in the following message (Ed. point 3 only is repeated here):
… 3. A complimentary development path would be pursued by Nigel and Neil who would address several aspects of the current IRF that Peter felt needed change. These specifically were:
· a representative membership (so members can be voted out if necessary)
· a financial system (raising funds from WRC and government)
· legal safeguards (possibly to mean insurance and incorporation)."
The first of these suggestions is in place. The second is underway with the agreed levy on 6WRC, a presentation to venture capital sources being planned, and approaches to government. Achieving incorporation obviously places the IRF in a much stronger position than it was two years ago at the time of this ARA statement.
Record number of participants at the 3rd annual Fjällräven Rogaine in Sweden
(Lars-Åke Svensk, the representative for Sweden on the IRF, reports on another successful Fjällräven rogaine).
The third annual Fjällräven Rogaine, hosted by Täby Orienteering Club, took place just outside Stockholm on 18 November, a rainy but mild day with temperatures around 8oC. The competition area consisted of both technically difficult terrain requiring strong navigational skills and some easier areas with roads and tracks close to a town. The event was sponsored by Fjällräven, Sweden’s largest outdoor equipment manufacturer, as well as by Maxim, a sports drink and sports food company.
A record number of entrants, 65 teams and 149 participants, lined up for the start at noon, thus more than doubling the number from last year’s event. Two maps with the scale of 1:15,000 were used and there were 31 control points widely scattered, with the Hash House being centrally located in the middle of the competition area. As darkness comes at 3.30 pm this time of the year, some had already put on their headlamps at the start.
Between 3 pm and 4 pm, around 20 teams returned to the Hash House to change clothes and to put on headlamps. As this was a 6-hour rogaine, there were 2.5 hours of challenging darkness navigation and the best teams took advantage of the somewhat easier southern part of the competition area during these hours.
Although some teams in the Veteran’s class finished between 3 pm and 4 pm the majority of the teams used as much as possible of the allocated six hours. 50 out of the 65 teams finished in the last 30 minutes whereas 29 of the teams finished within 10 minutes prior to the deadline at 6 pm or, as in the case of two teams, just after 6 pm, rendering these two teams penalty points.
Overall winner was Team Powerbar with the Britons Nick Barrable (silver medallist at this year’s World Rogaining Championships in New Zealand) and Eric Roller, who collected 29 out of the 31 controls and thus earned 1970 points out of the maximum 2010 points. In second place, same as last year and only 10 points behind, came Mattias Abelsson and Ali Kuosko (Järfälla), with 1960 points; whereas the winner of the 1998 and 1999 events, Lars Palmkvist, (Järfälla), together with Christian Mohn, came third with 1940 points.
In the women’s class, Lina Bäckström (Täby) and Elisabeth Bäckström (Hestra, Borås) won with 1680 points, whereas the Mixed class saw the same winners as in the previous two years; Hellas with Vidas Armalis, Maria Nordfjäll, Peter Nyberg and Mikael Nyberg with 1760 points. Finally, the Veteran’s class was won by OK Södertörns Veteraner with Ronny Hedlund, Kjell Holm and Olle Nygren with 770 points.
Amongst the participants, there were orienteers, long distance runners, multi-sport enthusiasts, military groups and people generally interested in outdoor activities, who all took on the challenge of endurance, navigation, and tactics.
We are looking forward to next year’s event and the future of Rogaining in Sweden, which should be boosted by the fact that the next WRC will take place in the Czech Republic, as well as by the strong interest in the sport shown from the sponsors.
Land access project
The IRF is continuing to assess the issue of access to some of our more important rogaining areas. Any feedback from rogaining associations is welcome.
At a recent Victorian Rogaining Association rogaine in the Strathbogie Ranges, the VRA and IRF worked together to target rural newspapers with information leading up to the rogaine, and continued the practice of the IRF formally thanking landowners in addition to what was done by the state association.
This initiative is in response to changing land ownership trends that are potentially reducing the area of private land available to the sport. The effectiveness of this approach will be evaluated over time.
Rogaining in Russia
German Shestakov, the Russian representative on the IRF, has forwarded newspaper articles, a small rogaining badge made for their event, and photos of teams proudly wearing their 'Rogaining' sashes. The sport is obviously doing well especially in the Perm area just west of the Urals. These will be on the IRF website shortly.