A0040409P

Newsletter Number 97, September 2004

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
South Africa: Pieter Mulder
6th WRC: Peg Davis
7th WRC: Andy Mein

NIGEL AYLOTT
16 April 1966 – 22 September 2004

One of rogaining’s champion competitors and outstanding ambassadors, Nigel Aylott, died in an Adventure Racing accident in Washington State, USA. Nigel was competing in the 2004 Subaru Primal Quest when he was struck by a falling boulder on Illabot Peak in the Cascade Mountains part way through the 650 km course. As two teams were descending a steep gully, a 130 kg boulder was loosened, passed several other competitors and struck Nigel on the head.

Nigel Aylott teamed with Iiro Kakko to win the 3rd World Rogaining Championships in Kamloops in 1998, and won numerous other rogaines at national and state level. What is less widely known is the huge amount of time he gave back to the sport in an administrative and leadership sense as a former President of the Victorian Rogaining Association, and the vice-president at the time of his death, as a major contributor to the Strategic Plan of Rogaining in the early 1990s, as an ambassador for the sport in many different countries, and as a helper before, during and after so many rogaines whether it be assisting with equipment, beginners, cooking or collecting checkpoints.

Reflection

The last time I spoke with Nigel Aylott was in the company of Phil Holman, President of the Australian Rogaining Association, after Phil and I had completed the recent 8 hour rogaine. Nigel spoke to us of his increasing commitment to adventure racing overseas, and that we wouldn’t be seeing him at the next few Victorian rogaines.

Two months later, I found myself in the Bunyip state forest after the 12 hour rogaine around a campfire with 50 to 100 other rogainers sharing our emotions surrounding Nigel’s death, recounting what we knew of his action-packed life, and laughing at some of his funnier moments.

The Bunyip state forest was a special place for two reasons:- it was where I set my first rogaine in 1972 with the Surrey Thomas Rovers, and it was the topic of almost my first conversation with Nigel Aylott as he asked about that STR event, how it was organized, and could it be repeated. He was very aware it was a short run from where he grew up in the Melbourne outer suburb of Emerald.

As President of the International Rogaining Federation, and taking part in that special gathering after the Bunyip forest 12 hour rogaine, I became struck by the unusual way Nigel’s death had touched and grieved so many people in different parts of the world. Messages of condolences came from several continents but expressed the same sentiment that people everywhere who had shared some moments with Nigel felt he was a special friend, and that he had made them feel special in a lasting way.
Nigel was special in an athletic sense, a true champion who inspired others by his own remarkable efforts, his dedication and his achievements. In the late 1990s, as he turned prodigious potential into some awesome performances, many shared with him pride that he was able to reach the pinnacle of the sport, and string together a series of great performances.

Nigel was also special as an intellect, one who could listen to your query standing around a rogaine an hour before the start, often suggest an unexpected but sensible solution to your issue, and the whole time be aware that he had to move on shortly to get his map route planned, and more likely than not, also to find a partner for the event.

There are some great stories about Nigel and we chuckled and openly laughed about these after the 12 hour rogaine. Who will forget him as the reigning World Rogaining Champion running around before the 4th World Rogaining Championships in New Zealand looking for a partner? I shared a special time like this before the 6th World Rogaining Championships in Arizona where I sat at the rear of the 6WRC bus with a medical student from Boston who said that he was competing with someone called Nigel Aylott. My job the next morning in one of our larger and more spread out rogaining base camps was to simultaneously locate two moving targets as they prepared for the event, and then introduce Nigel to his partner for the next 24 hours. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall if that partner had introduced himself and then explained to Nigel that his plans were to walk fast the first afternoon, sleep during the night, and see if they could collect some more controls the next morning before coming in early enough for a shower before the finish. For Nigel, a rogaine meant giving one’s all for as close as possible to 23 hours and 59 minutes.

One of the themes that has emerged so clearly for me after Nigel’s death is how much he did in different walks of life (e.g. brass band, long distance running, canoeing) that we weren’t particularly aware of, and how similarly he had touched people in all these spheres. Several speakers at his memorial service gave their stories of Nigel that were frighteningly similar to our rogaining memories. We thought he was a remarkable contributor in our sphere but he was simultaneously active in many other spheres. I won’t forget his contribution to one of our rogaining plans in the early 1990s: he made no fewer than 235 separate contributions to that plan because he thought he could help (and I doubt if anyone else was ever aware of what he did as he didn’t brag about his contributions). For most people, a hand full of suggestions towards that plan was considered a great help.

He will be remembered as a champion athlete, an intellect and a friend who had time for everyone, and made everyone feel special.

Neil Phillips