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ACT ROGAINING ASSOCIATION BULLETIN‍

M‍ay 2026

In this edition:

• Realm of the Owl Virtualgaine 23 May - 8 June
• Paddy Pallin 6 Hour Results
• Annual General M‍eeting
• 2‍027 World Rogaining Championships Bulletin 1
• Call for Nominations: Intervarsity Scholarship
• South Australian Rogaining Championships 27-28 June
• Winter 4 Hour Rogaine
• President's Piece
• ACT/NSW Calendar

Realm of the Owl Virtualgaine 23 May - 8 June

The virtualgaine is back for another year, this time in Belconnen.

Pick the day with the best weather, or take multiple attempts to get around the course in the four hour time limit. Teams and solos allowed. You will need the MapRun app on your phone to find the control locations. Also, please enter on the event page and to upload your score in MapRun to be officially counted.

Physical maps will be available from the Braddon Paddy Pallin store from 21 May.

Paddy Pallin 6 Hour Results

An icy-cold start turned into a stunning blue-sky day in the Orroral Valley for the Paddy Pallin 6 hr event. Ryan Stocks set a great course, with fast travel up the valley, rock-ing views, and opportunities for some adventurous crossings of the Orroral river.

Congratulations to overall winners Oscar Woolford and Nicholas Brennan, who cleared the course with over 40 mins spare! Tristan White and Ivan Koudashev were second with 2,260 and Elizabeth Reid and Stewart Hancock third with 2,100. Well done to the family category winners Craig and Archer Mottershead with an impressive score of 1600 points, just 10 points ahead of Jasmine, Leo and Violet!

A huge thanks to the volunteers: Ron, Jean, Nina, Grant, Miranda, Tom, Andrew and Dan! Thank you to Hartley Lifecare for providing catering, and Paddy Pallin for sponsoring the event with lucky draw prizes.

Ollie James - Event Coordinator 

Annual General M‍eeting

The Annual General Meeting was held after the Paddy Pallin rogaine. Thank you to the 300 something ACTRA members who attended, giving a healthy quorum (perhaps the Paddy Pallin prize giving afterwards helped entice attendance).

Like many community organisations, ACTRA relies upon volunteers to put their hands up and donate their time and efforts to the community. Thank you to everyone who put themselves forward.

President - Oliver James

Vice President - Daniel Harvey

Treasurer - Nick Lhuede

Secretary - Leanne Haupt

Immediate Past President - Stephen Goggs

General Committee Members

David Baldwin

Jean Douglass

Julie Quinn

Wendy Emerton

Kelvin Peh

Erin Ronge

Oscar Woolford

Thomas Etheridge

2‍027 World Rogaining Championships Bulletin 1

We're already counting the days until the 2027 World Rogaining Championships, which will be held in our backyard in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia.

Althought it's still sixteen months away, information is already being published to help you decide if you are going to attend and to do some planning.

Check out the information using the link below.

Call for Nominations: Intervarsity Scholarship

About the Intervarsity Championships

To participate in an Australian Intervarsity Rogaining Championships, students must be in teams consisting of 2-5 students from the same university. Both part-time and full-time students are eligible. There is no age restriction, ie. under-graduate, mature age and post-graduate students qualify.

Travel bursaries are available to cover the travel costs of one team from each state/territory to compete at the Intervarsity Rogaining Championships. The 2026 Intervarsity Championships will be held in conjunction with the Australasian Rogaining Championships on 29-30 August in Qld.

The Nigel Aylott Memorial Sports Foundation (NAMSF) provided a perpetual trophy for the winning Intervarsity team named ‘The Nigel Aylott trophy’. For many years the Foundation paid the travel costs for one university team from each state so that there can be a well-represented national competition. The Foundation left a generous legacy to the Australian Rogaining Association to enable continuation of this support.

ACTRA will select a team to receive the ACT bursary. To apply, please contact Kelvin Peh using the form below. Briefly outline who you team is, what university you are representing, your rogaining experience and why you believe you would do well at the championship.

If multiple high quality nominations are received, we may opt to give partial bursaries to multiple teams.

Nigel Aylott Memorial Sports Foundation

The Nigel Aylott Memorial Sports Foundation was set up in memory of Nigel Aylott to encourage engagement in the outdoor sports of rogaining and adventure racing. The Foundation left the Australian Rogaining Association a generous donation to enable us to continue the valuable work of the NAMSF in the promotion and development of youth participation in rogaining.

Who was Nigel Aylott

Nigel Aylott showed some talent as a long-distance runner at school but at university got into the full range of outdoor activities available through the Monash BushWalking Club, which included skiing, kayaking, and rogaining. As his endurance and navigation skill developed, so did his success at rogaining, eventually winning the World Rogaining Championships in 1998 and the Australian Rogaining Championships in 2000 and 2001.

As adventure racing developed, Nigel saw it as the natural progression from long-distance running and rogaining. He loved experiencing the different locations in which the adventure races were set. Nigel competed in several Southern Traverse and EcoChallenge events before teaming up with Tom Landon-Smith, Alina McMaster, and Matt Dalziel to form the successful team AROC. Nigel was tragically killed in the 2004 Primal Quest race after being hit by a large boulder dislodged at the top of a gully.

Nigel was highly regarded in the community and friends encouraged Nigel’s family to set up the foundation to leave a legacy by supporting the sports Nigel loved and gave so much to.

South Australian Rogaining Championships 27-28 June

This year's SA champs are in a very accessible area of the Flinders Ranges, only 4 hours drive from Adelaide, at Bendleby Ranges. It's still classic Flinders Ranges with gum-lined creeks, rocky ridgelines and stands of callitris forest on rugged hills - a perfect entree to the type of terrain you might find on the course at next year's World Rogaining Championships.

Winter 4 Hour Rogaine

The winter 4 hour rogaine will be held on Sunday 19 July from 10:30am in Kowen Forest, a short drive from Canberra.

If you would like to volunteer for the event, please contact Leanne using the link below.

President's Piece

I’m excited to be heading into my second year as President. There are plenty of great events coming up to keep us warm as the Canberra weather cools down, including the opportunity to head interstate for the SA Championships in the stunning Flinders Ranges.

Thank you to everyone who came along to the Paddy Pallin event – it may well have been ACTRA’s biggest bush event yet, with more than 400 entries.

I’d also like to thank our outgoing committee members, Nat and Tom, for their contributions, and warmly welcome the new members joining the committee.

Happy rogaining,

Ollie

ACT/NSW Calendar