A0040409P

Newsletter Number 93, November 2003

PO Box 3,
Central Park,
3145, Victoria.
61-3-95721784 fax
E-mail: Neil Phillips

IRF Team

President: Neil Phillips
World Rogaining Championships Manager: Gordon Birch
Promotions and Development: vacant
Secretary/Treasurer: Rod Phillips

Czech Republic: Jaroslav Vavra, Miroslav Seidl
Finland: Iiro Kakko
New Zealand: Pete Squires
Canada: Alan Stradeski
United States of America: Eric Smith, Clinton Morse, Bob Reddick
Australia: Rod Phillips, Gordon Birch, John Berwick, Neil Phillips
Founders Representative: Bob Reddick

Observer status
Estonia: Andres Kaar
New Zealand: Michael Wood
Sweden: Lars-Åke Svenk
Russia: German Shestakov, Sergey Yaschenko
China: Jianping Zhang
South Africa: Pieter Mulder
6th WRC: Peg Davis
7th WRC: Andy Mein

Rogaining in Finland

From report by Iiro Kakko dromen@dlc.fi

One of the earliest articles in Finland on rogaining was one by J. Sirola in an orienteering magazine. He had been an exchange student in Australia in early 1990s and completed one rogaine there. About the same time, Iiro Kakko had found out about the 1992 1st World Rogaining Championships, and planned to take part with his wife as part of their honeymoon. Unfortunately, they were delayed in India, and did not proceed to Australia in time.

Some time passed until Iiro Kakko called Ossi Autio and they tried a mountain marathon in Europe. And then they decided to try the 2nd WRC in Perth. Without much information, they hurried there, but had some bad luck with gear and food. Ossi refused to return to rogaining, but Iiro had made up his mind to do better. For preparation, he competed in the Czech Republic in 1997 with M.Seidl, without much preparation but mainly to check some of their gear (which did not work). Feeling much more prepared, Iiro joined Nigel Aylott for 3WRC. Iiro describes 3WRC as 'relaxed', though they did not exactly follow their plan but still won the world championship.

Iiro has had bad luck in rogaines since, but after the victories (Czech97 and Canada 98) there were several articles in the Finnish media, and people became more interested in the sport. In the 4th WRC in New Zealand, there were several Finns, and the message passed around farther, and people started to attend rogaines in nearby countries. Finns participated in 5th WRC in the Czech Republic, and also the European Rogaining Championships in Perm in 2003, and several smaller races in Sweden and Estonia.

There is demand for organized rogaines in Finland, but so far there have only been 5 hour events. Finland has good terrain for rogaining especially in the north, but also in the south. Land ownership and legislation is also suitable for this type of race. The major barrier at the moment is that the Finnish racers are more interested in racing than organizing.

Finns will take part in 6th WRC in Arizona, and rogaines in Estonia, and maybe in 2005 there will be the first 24 hour rogaine in Finland.

(ed. Apart from being an elite rogainer, Iiro Kakko has been a strong advocate for the sport in Finland and much of Europe, and an important member of the IRF).

Upcoming New Zealand events on the rogaining calendar

New Plymouth 3 hr after-work rogaines:
This is a series of three including Wednesday 12th November and 3rd December. See the Egmont Orienteering Club website http://www.geohire.co.nz.

Colonial Challenge - Saturday 22nd
November, 5 & 10hrs, Porirua, Wellington.
Organized by Tony Gazley for Orienteering HV. The area is between Makara and Titahi Bay, next to the wild west coast! The start/finish will be near Porirua only 30 minutes from downtown Wellington.

Multisport Bike Rogaine & Trail Quest Series - Saturday & Sunday 6/7 and 20/21 December, 3hrs each event, Auckland.
The Lactic Turkeys, Phil Wood and Shaun Collins, are putting on more of their imaginative events. This time it is two events in one weekend - a foot Rogaine one day and a MTBO Rogaine the other. The first weekend is based in Woodhill Forest and the second at Riverhead. For details see their website
http://www.lacticturkey.co.nz

New Zealand: Heights of Korowai
Saturday 29th November, 7hrs, Lake Coleridge/Lyndon area.

The Heights of Korowai rogaine is all 'go'. With all 35 checkpoint locations in place, organizers Grant (Heights of Winter) Hunter and Dave Laurie are looking forward to packing you off for the delightful spots they have found. Though several planning trips were hampered by knee-deep snow, they swear this is now over until next July. We can offer lodge type accommodation within a kilometre or ten of the start for any out-of-towners, and there is free camping in the area.

Grant says they will colour code a subset of relatively accessible checkpoints so the event offers a good rogaining starter-pack, as well as the more usual challenge.

http://www.rogaine.org.nz

Arizona - site of the World Rogaining Championships

History and Culture

Arizona became the 48th state in 1912 and at 335 miles wide by 390 miles long, ranks as the sixth largest state in the union.
Arizona's highest mountain is the San Francisco Peaks at 12,670 feet. The largest city is Phoenix, AZ. which has a booming population of more than 2.5 million and is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. Oraibi, a Hopi village built atop an isolated mesa in northern Arizona, is the oldest continuously inhabited Indian settlement in the United States.

The Castilian and Burgundian flags of Spain, the Mexican flag, the Confederate flag, and the flag of the United States have all flown over the land area that has become Arizona.
In 1926, the Southern Pacific Railroad connected Arizona with the eastern states.
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright chose Scottsdale as the home of his western studio, Taliesin West, in 1939.

Local Lore

The clock tower of the county courthouse in Florence, Arizona was erected in 1891 with painted clock faces that are frozen at 11:44. To this day, no clock has been installed.
In the 1850s, the military tested the use of camels to transport goods across the Arizona desert.

Geology

Arizona's most abundant mineral is copper.
The Grand Canyon's Marble Canyon gets its name from a thousand-foot-thick seam of marble and for its walls eroded to a polished glass finish.

Petrified wood is designated as the state's official fossil. Nearly 600,000 people visit the Petrified Forest National Park each year where 225 million-year-old fossils are on display.

Plenty to see before and after 6WRC!…