News

Updates are usually made early in the month. If you have any news to contribute, please email Alan Mansfield (mansfield-kupina at optusnet.com.au) or send a message to the Facebook page.

  • 02.01.2012 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, December 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 15.12.2011 - Phase 1 of registration to the WRC2012 is over. During the first two weeks of December a total of 341 teams (725 competitors) signed up to the WRC2012 to be held next year the last day of August in the Czech Republic. Of these, 135 teams have a pre-qualified status based on earlier performance. Rogainers that have signed up during Phase 1 come from 26 countries, with largest groups from Russia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia, Australia and New Zealand, while Finland, USA, Poland, Spain and Germany are also represented by more than 10 competitors.
    The entry list promises an exceptionally high level of competition. In MO category we shall see all the very best teams from championships of recent years, including:
    • WRC2010 winners Chris Forne and Marcel Hagener (NZL)
    • WRC2008 winner Evgeny Dombrovski teaming up with WRC2008 bronze Oleg Kalinin (RUS)
    • ARWC2011 silver Aaron Prince (NZL) and Bjorn Rydvall (SWE)
    • ERC2011 winners Rain and Silver Eensaar (EST)
    • ERC2010 winners Seppo Mäkinen and Hannu Oja (FIN)
    • ARC2011 winner Tim Farrant (NZL) with still unknown partner
    • ERC2009 winner Eero Jappinen teaming up with Jukka Pinola (FIN)
    • WRC2010, ERC2010 and ERC 2011 bronze Karli Lambot, Tonu Lillelaid and Rait Pallo (EST)
    • ERC2011 silver Erik Aibast and Andreas Kraas (EST)

    And many winners of 2011 national championships:

    • US champs: Peteris Ledins (LAT) and Murray Maitland (CAN)
    • Czech champs: Radovan Cech and Ondrej Skripnik (CZE)
    • Russian champs: Ilya Ulyanov, teaming with Andrey Rybakov (RUS)
    • Ukrainian champs: Volodymyr Shpetnyy (UKR) and Viacheslav Savchenko (RUS)
    • Finnish champs: Markko and Mikko Vapa (FIN)

    Each of these teams should be able to win a medal at WRC2012, but only three will be available ...

    For the full list of entrants see: entries.wrc2012.krk-litvinov.cz/teams/list

  • 04.12.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, November 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 23.11.2011 - The entry criteria has been published on the 10WRC2012 web site, http://www.rogaining.cz/wrc2012/en/. Applications for entry will be taken via an online entry form that will be available on the WRC website when registration opens. There will be three phases of the entry process. Entries open on 1 December 2011. Download Bulletin One (right click and save document, PDF).

  • 30.10.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, October 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 30.09.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, September 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 08.09.2011 - IRF Newsletter 172, July 2011 ...more (PDF) (Article on Land access and community relationships for rogaining on private land - A New Zealand experience)

  • 08.09.2011 - IRF Newsletter 171, July 2011 ...more (PDF) (Announcement of 2013 and 2014 WRC)

  • 08.09.2011 - IRF Newsletter 170, July 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 30.08.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, August 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 01.08.2011 - 2012 European Rogaining Championships will be held on 5 & 6 May 2012 in Kaunas, Lithuania

  • 01.08.2011 - The 12th World Rogaining Championships (2014) have been awarded to United States of America and will be held in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

  • 01.08.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, July 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 26.07.2011 - 8th European Rogaining Championships were held last weekend, 23-24 July, near Rauna in Latvia. The event gathered 282 teams with 603 participants from 17 countries. While the largest representation was from three hard-core European rogaining countries Latvia, Russia and Estonia all represented by over hundred competitors, also represented were Ukraine, Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Spain, France, Czech Republic, Belorus, Sweden, Israel, Germany, Netherlands, UK and South Africa.
    The course master, WRC bronze medalist in XO category Valters Kaminskis had put on the terrain 79 controls, creating several different route options as evidenced by eventual route choices of teams. The terrain was a mixture of hilly forest, marshes and pastureland. Passability and visibility of the forest was mostly reduced, requiring some careful navigation, in particular during the night. As a skillful rogainer himself, Valters very accurately predicted the speed of top teams the winners score was 95% of the maximum.
    In men's open, Estonian teams collected all medals. The overall winners brothers Silver and Rain Eensaar scored 422 points from the maximum of 446. Their lead over the silver medal winners was an impressive 46 points. With this impressive victory they made a strong claim towards the upcoming World Championships in the Czech Republic and Russia. Their previous achievements have been 4th place at 8WRC2008 in Estonia and silver medals at 6ERC2009 in Finland. Erik Aibast and Andreas Kraas scored 376 points and won silver, leaving Karli Lambot, Rait Pallo and Tõnu Lillelaid bronze medal winners from 9WRC2010 New Zealand and 7ERC2010 Ukraine again on bronze.
    Mixed open and women's open categories were dominated by Russian teams. Andrey Shvedov and Natalya Abramova scored 362 points and won the XO category (5th place overall), while the best WO team Marina Galkina and Nina Mikheeva collected 303 points (27th place overall).
    Results from the European Rogaining Championships in Latvia are available at erc2011.rogaining.lv.
    The next European champs, 9ERC2012 will be held 5-6 May 2012 in Lithuania.

  • 04.07.2011 - The 12th edition of the World Rogaining Championships (2014) has been awarded to USA. The event will be hosted by the Black Hills Orienteering Club in South Dakota.

    United States of America has been awarded the 12th World Rogaining Championships in an announcement from the International Rogaining Federation. The championships are planned for 16-17 August 2014, and will attract several hundred elite cross-country navigators from all continents. The site selected is the Black Hills of South Dakota in the north central part of the country.

    IRF President, Neil Phillips, said that this will be the second time that USA has hosted the World Rogaining Championships following the 6th World Rogaining Championships in 2004 in Arizona. Rogaining in the USA started in 1989 when Bob Reddick organised a 24 hour rogaine east of Seattle, and shortly thereafter, Eric Smith and colleagues led many rogaines in New York state and surrounds in the east of the country. More than half the other states of USA have held rogaining events since. The 12th North American Rogaining Championships were held last year and are rotated between Canada and USA.

    IRF Promotion and Development Manager, Alan Mansfield, who leads the whole selection process for World Rogaining Championships, said that the award to USA was fitting given the growth of the sport in so many states, and USA’s long involvement in international rogaining activities.

  • 01.07.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, June 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 27.06.2011 - IRF Newsletter 169, May 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 26.06.2011 - South Africa's Nicholas Mulder and Ryno Griesel have won the 24hr Rogaine Ireland 2011 event. This pair placed second at WRC in New Zealand last year. "We had a stronger run than in New Zealand last year. We got all the controls and made it in to the finish with 10 minutes to spare. Mixed weather: not too cold, slight drizzle and strong winds sometimes," says Mulder.

  • 20.06.2011 - Lithuania will host the European Rogaining Championships in 2012. The event will be held 5-6 May 2012 near Kaunas. It will be coordinated by Gediminas Trimakas in cooperation with orienteering club Jalle and sports events organising association Grukas. The terrain is dominantly pine-tree forest with some marshes, contours featuring Nemunas river slopes and small and middle-size sand dune forms.

  • 01.06.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, May 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 17.05.2011 - Russia awarded 11th World Rogaining Championships
    Russia has been awarded the 11th World Rogaining Championships in an announcement from the International Rogaining Federation. The championships are planned for 27-28 July 2013, and will attract several hundred elite cross-country navigators from all continents. The site selected is the Pskov region, Pustoshka district, Alol village which is 500 km west of Moscow and 400 km south of Saint-Petersburg.

    IRF President, Neil Phillips, said that this will be the first time that Russia has hosted the World Rogaining Championships. Rogaining in Russia started in 1998 with a 24 hour rogaine in the Perm area under the leadership of the late German Shestakov. The sport has since grown such that there are now 50 rogaines each year of which seven are 24 hour rogaines.

    The first Russian Rogaining Championships were held in the Perm region in August 2001, with subsequent championships near Nizhny Novgorod in 2005, 2006 in Tolliatti, 2007 and 2009 St. Petersburg region, 2008 Moscow region and 2010 Pskov region. Other rogaining centres include Ekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, Kostroma and Krasnodar. The first European Rogaining Championships were held in 2003 at Perm, and the 5th ERC at St Petersburg. The Russian Rogaining Championships for 2011 will be near Chelyabinsk.

    It is characteristic of the sport of rogaining that champion competitors are also willing volunteers, and the leading organisers for the 2013 World Rogaining Championships include several outstanding cross-country navigators led by Alexey Nikitin and Alexey Layshev of Pskov, and Alexander Yakimov and Sergey Yashchenko of Moscow.

    IRF Promotion and Development Manager, Alan Mansfield, who leads the whole selection process for World Rogaining Championships, said that the award to Russia was very fitting given the strong growth of the sport in so many centres, Russia’s strong support for international rogaining, and their involvement at previous international rogaines. Russian rogainers have proved themselves to be extremely competitive in World Rogaining Championships including in semi-desert of Australia and forests of Estonia. At the 8th World Rogaining Championships in 2008, the Russian team of Evgeny Dombrovskiy and Pavel Shestakov won the overall championship in a field of 800 participants. The current World Rogaining Champions are Chris Forne and Marcel Hagener from New Zealand, and Russian rogainers are sure to test the New Zealanders on Russian soil.

    PDF of this release can be downloaded for distribution in your own countries.

  • 16.05.2011 - The first South American Rogaining Championships, in Brazil, in September 2011 will not be held on that date due to the relocation of the key organiser. The Brazilian rogainers will try to organise 1SARC at a later date.

  • 02.05.2011 - IRF Newsletter 168, April 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 01.05.2011 - IRF Newsletter 167, March 2011 ...more (PDF) (WRC planning timetable)

  • 01.05.2011 - The event on the Rogaining Calendar, listed as Sage Rogaine, is now the North American Rogaine Championships. The event website can be found at www.orienteeringbc.ca/sage/

  • 01.05.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, April 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 11.04.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, March 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 25.04.2011 - IRF Newsletter 165, February 2011 ...more (PDF) (Index of newsletters since January 2005)

  • 25.04.2011 - IRF Newsletter 166, January 2011 ...more (PDF) (9WRC Results)

  • 04.04.2011 - At the end of March, a three-hour Taranaki Secondary Schools Rogaine in New Zealand. 457 secondary school students attended. The event ran from 18h00 to 21h00, giving students around 90 minutes of night navigation. The area is primarily steep pine forest mixed with native and includes a mountain bike park.
    New Plymouth Boys High and Opunake High Schools dominated winning three grades each. Also winning grades were Spotswood College and New Plymouth Girls High School. Full results. This event is now the largest rogaine in NZ with the exception of the 2010 World Rogaining Champs.
    Search and Rescue planning in what was a difficult area proved to be challenging and we relied heavily on texting to guide a few lost students home. Witness this conversation:

    Student: We lost on the lower lake circuit do we go up or around
    Me: Up and south
    S: We at redwood where nw
    Me: Go up
    S: We on gravel track
    Me: Keep going
    S: Up?
    Me: Yes
    S: Thank You
    S: We still lost
    Me: What was your last control?
    S: We back thanks a lot

    We look forward to next year’s event and are hoping we can break the 600 mark.

  • 26.03.2011 - 2010 President's Report ...more (PDF)

  • 01.03.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, February 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 24.02.2011 - The Estonian Orienteering Federation and the Australian Rogaining Association have been added as National members of the International Rogaining Federation (IRF). They join the New Zealand Rogaining Association and Czech Rogaining Association.

  • 02.01.2011 - Registration to the 8th European Rogaining Championships to be held 23-24 July 2011 in Latvia is now open at erc2011.rogaining.lv

  • 31.01.2011 - IRF Exec Roles & Responsibilities, January 2011 ...more (PDF)

  • 25.01.2011 - From Lauri Leppik
    The first Catalonian Championship in 24-hour rogaining, hosted by 3rd Wild Boar Rogaining, was held last weekend in Les Garrigues region, the olive cultivation center of the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain. The first 24-hour rogaine had a remarkable international appeal with 140 participants (59 teams) from nine countries - Spain, Latvia, Estonia, France, Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden and Finland taking part. The concurrent 6-hour rogaine attracted 140 teams.

    The terrain featured a complex system of ridges and valleys with relative height of some ridges up to 200 meters. The ridges were covered mainly with Mediterranean pine forests with some scrubby undergrowth, while the foothills and valleys featured olive and almond tree orchards, vineyards and crop fields.

    The start and finish were in a village of L'Espluga Calba, about 140 km from the 1992 Olympic city of Barcelona. The hash house, providing food during the event was located in a nearby village of Fulleda. Both L'Espluga Calba and Fulleda are beautiful villages with limestone churches, castles and houses.

    The course was very well set, offering several strategic options and route choices. The map was very accurate. In fact, it was the most reliable rogaining maps I have even seen at rogaining events. Yet, at the same the map was properly generalised, highly legible with 10m contour intervals and printed on a water- and tear-proof material.

    While the days and the night were clear, no clouds, sunshine and moonshine, the temperatures were low, below the freezing point for most of the time and dropping below minus 5C at night. As the nights in January are long, headlamps had to be used for 13.5 hours out of 24. All these natural challenges did not hinder the best teams.

    The overall winners were the mixed Spanish team Vilaraid - Iglesias Urtzi, Fraile Uxue, Abril Saül - collecting 334 points (the maximum score was 363).

    The food was excellent, both at night in the hash house as well as the meal after the event. The prizes were really nice bottles of local olive oil (one of the best in the country), books and sports equipment. Every participant received a warm hat with the logo of the event (very handy considering the chilly weather) and some further presents from sponsors, which there were many.

    Overall, a remarkable achievement by Felip Gili, the IRF observer for Spain, supported by Xinoxano Orientacio and Catalonian Orienteering Federation. Congratulations!

  • 25.01.2011 - The Australian Rogaining Championship was held in Tasmania this past weekend. "A very good attendance that pleased the Tasmanian organisers: they attracted 120 people from Tasmania, which will help rogaining there in future. The weather was fine throughout - up to 25C. There were significant hills of 200-400m - many of them, and some slow, deadfall areas that had been cleared. The Championship was won by the mixed team of David Baldwin and Julie Quinn, with an excellent performance by New Zealand junior men winning the Mens Open. Heavy rain the week before meant the South Esk River cut the course into two and was crossable at two bridges only," says Neil Phillips.

  • 19.01.2011 - Detailed information on a 24hr championship event in the Ukraine, the 'Bukovina Cup' is available in this Word doc (in English, 845kb). The event takes place from 17-19 June 2011. The event website is www.bukovinaorient.org.ua

  • 01.01.2011 - It is not too late to enter the 32nd Australian Rogaining Championships – they are in Tasmania on 22-23 January 2011. ARC2011 website - arc2011.rt.asn.au

>> 2010 News archive