Live Wire 24 Hour Winter Rogaine Report

It seems the bigger an event is, the longer it takes me to get around to writing about it. Seems like the way life goes. Anyway...

The camping/hash house area. So beautiful down there.

My first 24 hour rogaine was quite interesting. Both Shan and I were quite confident since our last exploits in the 12 hour rogaine and our walk of madness. We rocked up to a farm just out of Lowden, which is east of Donnybrook, on the Friday night before the start. Set our tent up and tuckered in for a nice little sleep. It got down to -5 C that night. For all those reading this from the Eastern States, see, it does get cold here sometimes!

After slumber came waking up, always an ominous sign. Maps were corralled and courses were plot. When I say plot, I really mean we spent the whole 4 hours discussing where the hell we were going to go, and what the hell we were going to do. We set quite an ambitious course, which you can see below (still coming). It looks a bit like a bat. Or a killer wombat, if you squint hard enough.

So at 12 noon on the Saturday, we were off. We had an incredible start; we completely missed the first control. So much for the following the crowd theory. We followed them to the second control though, so it wasn't too bad. Shortly after, Shan got stuck climbing a barb-wired fence, which also happened to be electric. I would have helped sooner, but laughter was slowing me down.

 The lovely vineyards of the Ferguson Valley, and some punter that got in the road of the camera.

Walk of Madness

So the next rogaine is on the 26-27th of June. Its a 24 hour one, which I suppose means its going to be a tad more demanding than the 12 hour one we did a couple of weeks ago. Now that we've got the navigation down pat (hahahaha.. lies!) we thought we'd see if, you know, we can actually walk for 24 hours. How are we going to do this, you may ask? Well good sir/ma'am, but conducting the inaugural Walk of Madness (the italics are supposed to make it look more impressive than it is)! Well what is that? one may respond. And I would say, hold your horses, I was getting to that.


You see, the team who came first in the Carolless rogaine managed 69km in the 12 hours. We managed about 32km. Suffice to say those guys are some sort of mutant human/horse/google earth creature, but if we can manage the same distance in 24 hours, I'd reckon we'd be doing pretty well. So the plan is to try walking 70ish km in 24 hours. So where could one walk 70km, thats close to perth, without the need for much navigation (cos you know, we kick ass at that). If you said the bib track, you would be correct! If you said anything else, then you're obviously wrong. From the northern terminus in Kalamunda to Brookton Hwy is 69.7km (we might have to walk in a circle for a bit to make up the extra 300m). It passes through 7 huts, so we don't have to carry to much water, and also has some spectacular views, most of which we'll be passing in the nighttime. We're planning to start around 10am on a Saturday and plan to be finished around 6am on the Sunday, which is an average of 3.5km/h including rests. The extra four hours is a bit of buffer for tiredness, injury, mind loss or death resulting from arguments.

Hi, my name is Wagul, and I'll be your guide for this evening

Can we make it? Only time and stupidity will tell. And by we, I mean Shan and me. If anyone wants to come along for a section, you're more than welcome!

The Carolless 12 hour Autumn Rogaine Report

Well I was finally convinced to delve into the world of rogaining. I'm a big fan of hiking, but somehow I thought that all that navigation would take away from the enjoyment of it all. But I think, in hindsight, it kept things interesting.


My partner for the event was Shannan, who I've hiked with many times before, and I can safely say is crazier than I (she did the end to end on the bib track in one go, by herself.. I know, bonkers..). We drove up to the hash house/camping area bit with a few other friends that were participating. For some reason I had it in my head that everyone there would be hardcore, lightweight hiking types. But what lavishness I saw! Caravans, spot lights, the odd generator or three. Wow. I spose it must be to compensate for the harshness of the rogaining. We took a tent and some thermarests to sleep on. Yeah. Next time it'll be mattresses!