Australian Championships
Roundup
From the caterers:
What on earth is suitable food for 230 rogainers at an
Australian Championships? For months, Terry and I tried many recipes
in an attempt to answer the question.
One we rejected out of hand as entirely unpractical was Camel and
Rabbit Stew. Who was going to provide the humped beast? I certainly was not prepared to donate my newly acquired furry friends, and
anyway, the recipe suggested that it took several months to prepare and cook and wasn't nutritionally beneficial.
After much deliberation, we settled for 'Pumpkin Soup', from a
Heart Foundation booklet, 'Mexican Beans', a dish devised by Dianne van Netten, nutritionist, 'Vegetable and Lentil Casserole' and
'Chick Pea and Tomato Salad', from the Australian Womens Weekly Oriental Dinner Party Cookbook. The fresh fruit salad completed the
vegetarian fare.
Carnivores managed to devour all the sausages and patties, 600
of them, by 11.55am on Sunday. The teams who had been out for the whole rogaine were, thankfully, mostly vegetarian. There was,
however, an audible sigh from one competitor when he learned the news. Obviously he had kept on running with the vision of barbequed
sausages at the finish line. Oh, the disappointment!
What do rogaine cooks do when the competition is over? Clean up
and go home? Not quite. We managed to relax in a hot bath, have a peaceful night's sleep without the whirr of the food blender
(more pumpkin soup), and than go out for a leisurely stroll to retrieve
four controls on the splendid course. And we talked.
We evaluated the whole process of catering for large groups, but
most of all, we thought of all those helpers who volunteered their
services. Thank you to Peter Tuft, Melissa Collins, Anthony, Brian
and Andrew from the ACT, Eileen Christina, the Victorian policeman,
the admin team of Yvonne, Jack and Michael and organisers Dianne and
Bert - we would not have managed without your valuable assistance.
Feedback from competitors was important too. It boosted our
moral but it also helps us to assist you when you and your friends
volunteer to cater for a rogaine in 1988.
Wendy Davies
From the vettor:
As soon as Robyn and I saw that the area Bert and Dianne had
chosen for the 1987 Australian Championships was just north of the Bungonia area we expected that it was going to be good. The first
day of vetting confirmed our expectations. It was "classic" rogaining terrain: intermingled forest and farmland, beautiful open
bush, and complex topography without excessive relief.
Bert did a magnificent job of almost single-handedly setting the
entire course. As vettors our role was limited to verifying that the
markers were correctly placed - we made very few significant alterations. The most significant change was due to the fact that
rain had filled a dam, completely submerging the stump to which Bert
had tied his preliminary marker tape. As there was nothing else suitable beside the dam, we had to relocate the control to a rocky
slope 100m away.
The fact that there was not one complaint (that I am aware of)
concerning the accuracy of the controls is testimony to Bert's work in setting the course.
The course was just the right length. One of the challenges for
the course setters is to devise a course that will tempt elite teams
to collect all controls, but which will pose them a serious challenge to do so. In this case the winning team of Walters and
Russell got all controls with just five minutes to spare. Rowlands and Church missed just one control and came second, but were-at the
finish thirty minutes early; with a different route choice....?
Peter Tuft
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