2003 Paddy Pallin 6hr Event
Paddy Pallin 6hr Rogaine, Bungendore - 30 March 2003
Our plan was for Roland to come by my place and give me a lift over to Dave's. Then we would travel with Dave to the start. Anyhow, Roland must have been extra keen as he turned up an hour early - either that or he forgot about daylight saving. Fortunately the dog heard him going up and down the road and came and woke me up. So at least we weren't going to be late. After eventually getting my stuff together we headed over to Dave's and proceeded to warm up for the event by pushing his car down the road, a pretty auspicious start to proceedings.
When we got our maps we thought we would get about half the course, with Dave having a crook calf we didn't want to push our luck, and in the past our navigation skills have enabled to us to enjoy parts of the course that everyone else misses.
Anyhow down the south east side of the map there was all this area marked in brown with a lot of closely grouped points. The legend described this as "rough" so we decided to start off by heading north into the "open forest" and then to head to the south east towards the end and if we ran out of time, rather than hacking through the "rough" stuff, we could make our way back via a road that traversed that part of the course. We then looked at some minor details as to which direction we would do the loops in etc to make the navigation as easy as possible and even decided that if we were well ahead of schedule we might try to pick up some points that were grouped together on the south-west side in amongst the "rough " stuff.
Anyhow the result of all this was the three of us had different routes marked on our maps, mine the most conservative then Rolands and Dave’s, but even Dave's included only about 75% of the controls. We adopted the tortoise tactic at the start as we figured if we were behind and got lost there wouldn't be anyone else about to notice. About ten other teams seemed to have the same plan for the first three or four controls as us so it was a bit like a mass bushwalk with everyone trying to go slightly different ways, but it removed any challenge in the navigation.
Anyhow we got 46, 65, 20, 58, 49 and to control 63 in about an hour, so we had 350 points by this stage, walking the whole way. We were well ahead of schedule so we started to think about the extra points but we didn't know how bad the "rough" would be. So we started heading south, having left the controls right at the northern end and all down the east side alone. We got 75, 89, 66,74 , 104 , 92, 39 and 57 in quick time drilling the navigation and often spotting the control form a long way off. Ran into Jevon and Kathryn here. They’d spotted some deer, but we didn't see 'em. Just before we got to the tower at 103 we saw Adrian with Trev in tow looking like they had been going pretty hard. I'm not sure exactly where they went but I think we had 900 points at this stage and they would have had 1500 points. So considering we had only been walking we were doing OK...but of course we didn't really know it at the time and they had got the controls that weren't grouped. We climbed the tower at 103 and enjoyed a pretty good view. Shortly after saw Scotty and Dave B hauling up the hill. They were looking pretty easy and DaveB gave us a big smile in between stuffing his face with some sports bar. Scotty looked a bit more focussed.
Anyhow at this stage we decided to go for extra points and chose to go down to 64, 73, 56, 86 etc. It was on this leg that Roland decided it would be fun to navigate using only termite mounds. It turned out to be a brilliant idea which we used the rest of the day. With the map being so accurate we could "hop" from one termite mound to the next always knowing exactly where we were. After leaving 45 we hit some really open ground and decided to do some running. I think this was still before the 3 hour mark but I can't remember. Fortunately Dave's calf was OK.
We then discovered that the person who made the map was a keen golfer and by rough he meant that it was like the edge of a fairway, where the grass hasn't been cut quite as short as elsewhere. We realised then that had we planned for it we could have cleared the course. So we got the next 5 controls in about 15 minutes and immediately started thinking about getting all the controls that we came near rather than picking the easy ones. Things kept going well and despite running we were still drilling the controls, though our route choice was a little bit insane. When we got to the south -east we picked up points rapidly as well, especially since much of it resembled a bowling green. All very pleasant on the legs, with soft grassy surfaces. After collecting the bunching there we picked up 43, 101 then 51, 32, 53.
On the way to 43 Roland had a spectacular trip in the small patch of pine forest, but in true style he turned it into a comando roll and got up as if nothing had happened. Impressed me. The other hazard was the numerous electric fences. I nearly ran straight into one before dropping anchors and pulling up inches short. At 53 I think we had about an hour and a half to go. We went 61, 91, in quick time and therefore decided to try to head back up to the north to get the spares we had left early on. After going to 62 we had a long leg to 40 , on the way up Dave started complaining of ITB problems and Roland was feeling a bit tired despite his extensive preparation for this event. On reflection we had got a bit caught up when we realised how many controls we were getting and we had probably been pushing fairly hard over the last hour.
Around this time Dave's ITB started to pack it in altogether but after a quick physio stop he was pretty keen to keep pushing for points. So we continued to 40 and then onto 93 with our navigation holding up pretty well, though we couldn't really remember if we had already crossed the empty creek on the way to 93. In the end we decided we hadn't which was correct.
So then we had what must have been the longest leg of the day from 93 to 47, about 3km's. I thought we were running out of time, but Dave was casually assured that we had no problem. Meanwhile Roland had decided that uphills were bad so we decided that it was all downhill to the finish. Climbing the last fence I managed to trip myself up, and just managed to avoid a spectacular crash and we got back with a full 30 secs or so to spare. In the end we missed two controls at the top of the course 30 and 105 and two near the HH, 87 and 31 . Trev and Adrian were nearby looking very fresh after having rested for the previous two hours as did DaveB and Scotty whose clearance of the course in 3 and half hours was pretty awesome.
Anyhow I measured our route at 31.2km so even though we didn't get all the controls it may have been the furthest anyone travelled on the day and we probably ran about 21km of that in the last three hours. We had a great time and learnt a lot. Surprised ourselves with our navigation - we all got the same bearing a couple of times! We are thinking of doing the 8 hour in May and Roland is even thinking of doing some training for it.
Vince Craig
Read MoreOur plan was for Roland to come by my place and give me a lift over to Dave's. Then we would travel with Dave to the start. Anyhow, Roland must have been extra keen as he turned up an hour early - either that or he forgot about daylight saving. Fortunately the dog heard him going up and down the road and came and woke me up. So at least we weren't going to be late. After eventually getting my stuff together we headed over to Dave's and proceeded to warm up for the event by pushing his car down the road, a pretty auspicious start to proceedings.
When we got our maps we thought we would get about half the course, with Dave having a crook calf we didn't want to push our luck, and in the past our navigation skills have enabled to us to enjoy parts of the course that everyone else misses.
Anyhow down the south east side of the map there was all this area marked in brown with a lot of closely grouped points. The legend described this as "rough" so we decided to start off by heading north into the "open forest" and then to head to the south east towards the end and if we ran out of time, rather than hacking through the "rough" stuff, we could make our way back via a road that traversed that part of the course. We then looked at some minor details as to which direction we would do the loops in etc to make the navigation as easy as possible and even decided that if we were well ahead of schedule we might try to pick up some points that were grouped together on the south-west side in amongst the "rough " stuff.
Anyhow the result of all this was the three of us had different routes marked on our maps, mine the most conservative then Rolands and Dave’s, but even Dave's included only about 75% of the controls. We adopted the tortoise tactic at the start as we figured if we were behind and got lost there wouldn't be anyone else about to notice. About ten other teams seemed to have the same plan for the first three or four controls as us so it was a bit like a mass bushwalk with everyone trying to go slightly different ways, but it removed any challenge in the navigation.
Anyhow we got 46, 65, 20, 58, 49 and to control 63 in about an hour, so we had 350 points by this stage, walking the whole way. We were well ahead of schedule so we started to think about the extra points but we didn't know how bad the "rough" would be. So we started heading south, having left the controls right at the northern end and all down the east side alone. We got 75, 89, 66,74 , 104 , 92, 39 and 57 in quick time drilling the navigation and often spotting the control form a long way off. Ran into Jevon and Kathryn here. They’d spotted some deer, but we didn't see 'em. Just before we got to the tower at 103 we saw Adrian with Trev in tow looking like they had been going pretty hard. I'm not sure exactly where they went but I think we had 900 points at this stage and they would have had 1500 points. So considering we had only been walking we were doing OK...but of course we didn't really know it at the time and they had got the controls that weren't grouped. We climbed the tower at 103 and enjoyed a pretty good view. Shortly after saw Scotty and Dave B hauling up the hill. They were looking pretty easy and DaveB gave us a big smile in between stuffing his face with some sports bar. Scotty looked a bit more focussed.
Anyhow at this stage we decided to go for extra points and chose to go down to 64, 73, 56, 86 etc. It was on this leg that Roland decided it would be fun to navigate using only termite mounds. It turned out to be a brilliant idea which we used the rest of the day. With the map being so accurate we could "hop" from one termite mound to the next always knowing exactly where we were. After leaving 45 we hit some really open ground and decided to do some running. I think this was still before the 3 hour mark but I can't remember. Fortunately Dave's calf was OK.
We then discovered that the person who made the map was a keen golfer and by rough he meant that it was like the edge of a fairway, where the grass hasn't been cut quite as short as elsewhere. We realised then that had we planned for it we could have cleared the course. So we got the next 5 controls in about 15 minutes and immediately started thinking about getting all the controls that we came near rather than picking the easy ones. Things kept going well and despite running we were still drilling the controls, though our route choice was a little bit insane. When we got to the south -east we picked up points rapidly as well, especially since much of it resembled a bowling green. All very pleasant on the legs, with soft grassy surfaces. After collecting the bunching there we picked up 43, 101 then 51, 32, 53.
On the way to 43 Roland had a spectacular trip in the small patch of pine forest, but in true style he turned it into a comando roll and got up as if nothing had happened. Impressed me. The other hazard was the numerous electric fences. I nearly ran straight into one before dropping anchors and pulling up inches short. At 53 I think we had about an hour and a half to go. We went 61, 91, in quick time and therefore decided to try to head back up to the north to get the spares we had left early on. After going to 62 we had a long leg to 40 , on the way up Dave started complaining of ITB problems and Roland was feeling a bit tired despite his extensive preparation for this event. On reflection we had got a bit caught up when we realised how many controls we were getting and we had probably been pushing fairly hard over the last hour.
Around this time Dave's ITB started to pack it in altogether but after a quick physio stop he was pretty keen to keep pushing for points. So we continued to 40 and then onto 93 with our navigation holding up pretty well, though we couldn't really remember if we had already crossed the empty creek on the way to 93. In the end we decided we hadn't which was correct.
So then we had what must have been the longest leg of the day from 93 to 47, about 3km's. I thought we were running out of time, but Dave was casually assured that we had no problem. Meanwhile Roland had decided that uphills were bad so we decided that it was all downhill to the finish. Climbing the last fence I managed to trip myself up, and just managed to avoid a spectacular crash and we got back with a full 30 secs or so to spare. In the end we missed two controls at the top of the course 30 and 105 and two near the HH, 87 and 31 . Trev and Adrian were nearby looking very fresh after having rested for the previous two hours as did DaveB and Scotty whose clearance of the course in 3 and half hours was pretty awesome.
Anyhow I measured our route at 31.2km so even though we didn't get all the controls it may have been the furthest anyone travelled on the day and we probably ran about 21km of that in the last three hours. We had a great time and learnt a lot. Surprised ourselves with our navigation - we all got the same bearing a couple of times! We are thinking of doing the 8 hour in May and Roland is even thinking of doing some training for it.
Vince Craig
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