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IRF - 12th January, 2009 Rogaining – the fact sheet Background on the sport of Rogaining Rogaining started near Melbourne during the 1970s and by word-of-mouth extended across Australia, then to NZ, USA, Canada, Germany; 20 countries are now affiliated with the International Rogaining Federation based in Melbourne, and thirty countries send participants to the World Rogaining Championships. There are an estimated 15,000 rogainers worldwide. Rogaining is a gender-blind team sport of cross-country navigation suitable for most age and fitness levels designed to provide mental and physical exercise in a natural location. Rogaining has similarities with bushwalking, cross-country running and orienteering, but has its own unique character and rules. Rogaining grew out of a realisation that most sports don’t cater for varying and changing circumstances of family, physical capacity, and psychological desire to compete. What if a sport could be developed that tested mental ability as well as physical, and do this in a warm social setting where families with young children could also enjoy it? A Rogaining event, or a rogaine, involves 200 or more people in a beautiful rural setting, volunteers establishing a base camp to supply food, drink and support; and a number of identified locations that have to be found by navigation. Some are easy, some are hard (do we climb over the mountain, or go round it?), and in championship form, some are very hard. Participants are in teams and each team does as much or little as it is comfortable with. For those fiercely competitive, there are challenges aplenty; for a young family there is enough to stretch the kids physically and mentally (with the navigation) for everyone to have a good time. How often can relaxed families play the same sport with high performance athletes, and both enjoy it? Usually Rogaines are held on private rural properties and state forest and may utilise 100 square km or more. The first stage of organising is for experienced rogainers to design the course. A series of checkpoints is established of varying difficulty, the higher the difficulty, the higher the score. The second stage is the establishment of the camp and the provision of food, drink, first aid and communications equipment. The third stage is the holding of the event, which usually runs for 24 hours. The final stage is the cleanup. Rogainers pride themselves on leaving the site at least as good as they found it. Interesting facts about rogaining
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