Technical Standards for Organizers:

C1. All championship rogaines shall be of 24 hours duration and shall start and finish at 12 noon or such other time as may be agreed that will give a similar duration of daylight both before and after the period of darkness. It is recommended that organizers provide optional bus or similar transport to the event site for participants who choose not to drive.

C2. The course shall be designed so that the winning team is likely to visit most but not all checkpoints.

C3. The organising team shall include one or more Course Vetters who are suitably experienced rogainers approved by the organising association. The Vetters shall ensure the fairness of the event and that the style, balance and length of the course are appropriate to the event. The Vetters shall also inspect the course looking for any unwanted problems that it could present to competitors, including the location and number of water drops, any inaccuracies in checkpoint placement or description, and potential safety hazards. The Vetters, operating independently of the person who set that checkpoint, shall check the location of each checkpoint. The Vetters shall check to ensure the map, the checkpoint description, the terrain accuracy and checkpoint locations are fair from all obvious attack points in all reasonably expected light conditions. In the event of an unresolved dispute, the Vetters shall refer the matter to the organising association.

C4. Each competitor shall be provided with a copy of the event map. The map shall:

a.         Be at a scale between 1:24,000 and 1:64,000.

b.         Have a contour interval that is not more than 20 metres and is suitable for terrain legibility.

c.         Be clearly readable under natural and artificial light.

d.         Be pre-marked with grid or magnetic north lines, magnetic north, checkpoint locations and numbers, water drop locations and known out-of-bounds areas.

C5. Advance information for the event sent to each team shall state the map scale and shall give a brief description of the terrain. It shall also state the starting and finishing times, the time at which maps and checkpoint descriptions become available and the points penalty for finishing after the nominated finish time.

C6. A copy of the Rules for Participants (Part B) shall be included with the pre-event information sent to competitors. In addition, a copy of the Rules for Participants shall be on display at the administration area from the time that maps become available until the finish of the event.

C7. Each competitor shall be provided with a complete list of checkpoint descriptions. Descriptions shall follow the guidelines in the IRF "Organizing a Rogaine" manual. In particular, features explicitly shown on the map are prefixed by "the" and other features are prefixed by "a".

C8. Maps, checkpoint descriptions, any known map changes, and other essential information shall be available as written handouts at least two, and not more than four, hours before the start time. Every reasonable effort shall be made to ensure that any necessary last minute changes are communicated to all teams. Written copies of last minute changes must be on display to all participants.

C9. The identifying numbers allocated to checkpoints shall be allocated in ascending order of points value in order to facilitate route planning. It is preferred that the first digit of the checkpoint number reflects its points value.

C10. Markers used at checkpoints shall be:

a.  three-dimensional with a minimum of three vertical faces,

b.  a minimum 800 cm2 on each face,

c.  of bright colours, preferably orange and white, so as to be clearly visible in the open in daylight from at least 50 metres.

C11. Each marker shall be placed in such a manner that competitors who successfully navigate to the correct position have little or no trouble finding the marker. Unless located on a specifically defined point feature or otherwise indicated on the checkpoint description sheet, the marker shall be generally visible from at least 25 metres in most directions in clear daylight and shall be between 0.5 and 2 metres above the ground (preferably near eye level) and easily reached. Markers shall be as close as possible to the checkpoint feature. Where it is necessary to place a marker in a position which is either more than 10 metres, or not obviously visible, from the feature then a magnetic bearing and distance to the marker from the feature shall be included in the checkpoint description.

C12. During the event, the organisers shall not release any information relating to provisional results, the progress of any team, or the route chosen by any team.

C13. Competitors shall be able to obtain suitable food and drinks at one or more "hash houses" at all times not later than six hours after the start until at least one hour after the finish of an event. If there is more than one hash house, it is not necessary that all remain open for the full time, but when maps are distributed competitors shall be informed of the times when food is available at each one.

C14. In the event of there being inadequate sources of naturally occurring drinking quality water on the course, organisers shall provide sufficient water drops that competitors do not have to carry an excessive quantity of water. Organisers shall ensure that water is available at these water drops for the duration of the event. Water drops shall be placed on obvious navigational features and described on the checkpoint description sheet. Their locations shall be vetted in the same way as checkpoints. Water drops may be at checkpoints. Organisers may provide fruit or other food on the course at either water drops or checkpoints for the use of participants. Any such food points, including the times of food availability at the point, shall be so noted on the checkpoint description sheet.

C15. There shall be three gender classes of competition: Men's teams, Women's teams, and Mixed teams, the latter being all teams that contain at least one female and one male rogainer. Within each gender class, all teams are in the Open age category. In addition, some teams will be eligible for restricted age categories as follows:

a)      Junior: all team members must be under 18 years of age on the first day of competition. (Note: under 20 for World Rogaining Championships)

b)     Veteran: all team members must be 40 years of age or over on the first day of competition.

c)      Super Veteran: all team members must be 55 years of age or over on the first day of competition. (Note: all super veteran teams are automatically in the veteran class also).

C16. The organisers shall determine a team's score by reference to the team's scorecard. If there is a dispute or inconsistency, the organizers may refer to the entries on the checkpoint intention sheets.

C17. The full results of the event shall be published and distributed to all participants as soon as reasonably practical after the event. These results shall show the team members' names, team number and points score for every team, together with their overall placing and their placing in every class for which they are eligible. Withdrawn, late and disqualified teams shall also be shown.

C18. Any report of an alleged rule breach by a team, or protest by a team against the organisation of an event shall be considered and determined by a three person jury prior to the announcement of the results for that event. The jury shall be drawn from a panel of suitably qualified and experienced rogainers nominated by the organising association. The names of panel members shall be made known to the association members either by publishing at least annually in the association newsletter, or by setting out in the pre-event information distributed to participants. The panel members selected for any specific jury shall be selected by the organisers and shall meet the following criteria:

i.          Members of the team protesting, reporting or being reported against shall not be on the jury.

ii.         Members of the organising team shall not be on the jury.

iii.         No member of the jury shall have a vested interest in the jury's determination to the extent that disqualification of any team, who is the subject of the jury's determination, would move that member's team's placing into or within the first three placings in any age/gender category.

The event organiser and Course Vetter shall assist the jury in hearing any report or protest as required, but shall not have a vote in the determination. In hearing any protest or report, the jury shall use all reasonable means to gather as much data as is reasonably necessary, and shall give a fair hearing to both the team making the report/protest, and the party being reported/protested against.

C19. In the event that an appeal is made to the committee of the organising association, any member of that committee who would be ineligible to be a member of the jury under T18 above, shall be ineligible to participate in the determination of the appeal. The committee shall examine all available data in respect of the original report/protest (if any) and the appeal, and shall seek other input as it sees fit in making its determination. The committee shall give a fair hearing to all parties involved in the matter, including the team originally reporting/protesting (if applicable) and must notify the affected teams of their decision within two weeks of the decision. The decision of the committee of the organising association on any appeal shall be final.

C20. The committee decision of any appeal, which effects the final results of an event, shall be published at the earliest convenient opportunity in the newsletter of the organising association.