A0040409P
Newsletter Number 70, November 2001
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 BirchCzech Republic: Tomas Prokes, Jaroslav Vavra
Northern Europe: Iiro Kakko
Canada: Alan Stradeski
United States of America: Eric Smith, Clinton Morse
Australia: David Stephens, Rod Phillips, Gordon Birch, John Berwick, Neil Phillips
Founders Representative: Bob ReddickObserver status
Estonia: Andres Kaar
Sweden: Lars-Åke Svenk
New Zealand: Michael Wood
Russia: German Shestakov
China: Jianping ZhangProfile on our World Rogaining Championships Manager (Gordon Birch)
Gordon Birch is a regular rogainer with the Western Australian Rogaining Association. He has been on approximately 50 rogaines including all four World Rogaining Championships (includes a class win and a third placing in the super veterans category).
Professionally, Gordon is an accountant and has been honorary auditor of the Western Australian Rogaining Association for seven years, and honorary auditor of the International Rogaining Federation Inc. since IRF incorporation in 2000.
His offer to be WRC Manager involves a major sacrifice and commitment to the sport. He meets his own expenses and at the same time makes himself ineligible for WRC competition as he acts as the catalyst to promote better WRC rogaines. He is attempting to travel to each WRC site a year before the respective championships and also to attend each WRC Championships to offer advice, to recognize problems early so they can be rectified, and to maintain some consistency of standards and interpretation between events and countries. He tries to combine a local rogaine (or two) whenever visiting other countries during his WRC Manager’s duties.
Report from 5WRC in the Czech Republic
This is the second of a series of reports leading up to the 5th World Rogaining Championships in the Czech Republic.The event centre will be the little village of Lesna, which is situated on the German border. In talks with the mayor and the Czech organisers, the locals are more than happy to have us, and I would like to thank the population in advance for their assistance.
Lesna is a typical small Czech village with lots of interesting buildings, a few shops and a hotel. There is no accommodation at the village. Administration and registration will be run from the town hall. Parking for vehicles will be available behind the town hall.
The campsite will be at the local soccer ground, twenty metres from the town hall. For those that do not wish to take your own tents, the Czech team are planning communal tents, where you can leave your equipment and/or sleep. They have requested that if you are planning to use the tents, that you give them an indication when you send your entry to help their planning.
The Czech team are planning to have a camp fire at the site on the Friday and Saturday nights so that everybody gets a chance to sit around and talk to other competitors and any locals that turn up. Please do not be afraid to turn up early as most Czechs can speak English. At the site there will also be the hash house and showers, hot for the ladies and cold for us macho males (what happened to equal rights).
The terrain, which I can now confirm, is low rolling hills with about 75% covered with fairly open pine forest. I can also state from experience that these prove a refreshing change on a hot humid day. The course will have just over 60 controls.
The setters have advised that they intend to set some controls on features of an historical interest. The water drops will also provide an interesting experience. With some being the standard water containers, some being fresh water springs with pipes running off, and for those of you that are planning to finish ‘second’, one or two will be at pubs where food and ‘light refreshment’ can be obtained. Overall, you can expect a quality WRC, and a wonderful stay in the Czech Republic.
Essential details of 5th World Rogaining Championships: 26-27th July 2002. Location: within 3 hours drive of Prague.
Organizers: Czech Rogaining Association (CAR), Pod Vrchem 69, 312 07 Plzeň, Czech Republic, Europe. President: Tomáš Prokeš.
WRC contact: Jaroslav Vavra, jaroslav-tax.vavra@deloitte.cz, hhtp://www.top.cz/wrc2002. Gordon Birch gordonb@supernova.com.au
News from around the world
Russian rogaining
German Shestakov reports that the Perm Rogaining Club had 106 entrants at the Perm Region Rogaining Championships on October 21 2001. They are now organizing the European Rogaining Championships.
LITEPAC ROGAINE, TÄBY - SWEDEN
Lars-Åke Svenk
The fourth annual Litepac Taby Rogaine (previously Fjällräven Rogaine) started at noon on Saturday 17 November with 61 teams and 133 competitors in a 6-hour rogaine. The competition area had many roads and tracks, which made the navigational challenge easier compared to previous years’ events. Darkness fell around 4 p.m. and many had head lamps from the start.
Fine weather and dry conditions enabled the top runners to go very fast and last year’s winners Team Powerbar with Nick Barrable, OK Ravinen, and Eric Roller, Järfälla OK, came back to the Hash House at 5.04 p.m. with all 30 control points. The second team returned to the Hash House only 10 minutes behind; Team Helan och Halvan, with Sven Pettersson and Martin Asp, Täby OK. The third team of Lars Palmqvist and Hasse Mård, Järfälla finished the course also and returned to the Hash House at 5.32 p.m.
The women’s class saw a comfortable victory for Lina Bäckström, Täby OK, together with Annika Björk, Domnarvets GoIF, Borlänge, with 1,810 points. In the larger mixed class Pernilla Karlsson Söders SOL and Tomas Albinsson, OK Ravinen, had a very good race and visited all controls except one, thereby reaching the score of 1,940 points.
The Swedish National TV Channel covered the event and subsequently ran a four-minute coverage in the national channel’s sports program with close to 2 million viewers.
Many of the participants are considering the opportunity to go to the 5WRC in the Czech Republic with a view to challenging the Australian dominance in the sport.