Discussion: Rogaining rules and typical strategies

On a 24 hr race you are not supposed to leave the venue, correct?

What percentage use the hash house to sleep? Of the remaining what percentage biviy up in the field?

In a typical West Australian event, I'd say roughly:
-Visit and/or sleep at HH: 90-95%
-Sleep in the field: 0%
-Continue for 24hrs: 5-10%

As long as a piece of string.

I've slept in the field a couple of times, the first time in a hammock and later just a nap on the ground.

A couple of friends of mine once went to the hash house, handed in their punch card for safekeeping, drove to a nearby motel for a few hours sleep, then drove back and resumed. Probably would be frowned upon for serious contenders at a significant event, but for these guys, nobody objected.

I can’t sleep in the field in a 24 hr race but two of my teammates have taken naps during rogaines when they felt sick.

Anna and I slept in the field during the High Sierra Rogaine a few years back. I had a ground cloth, lightweight sleeping bag, and military-issue poncho liner for the two of us (she was a bit smaller then). We considered coming back to the tent at the HH, but liked the route options better if we stayed out all night.

Of course, Anna's decision may have been influenced by a desire to avoid sharing a tent with her little brother Peter, who was doing the shorter version with Jon. Probably not a factor in most team's planning strategies.

I remember seeing you and Anna setting up camp as darkness fell. Glen and I continued on and struggled down some tough hillside terrain for an elusive control right after that.

Out of the past 30 rogaines, I've hit the hashhouse 3 times, mostly because it was on a logical route. Only slept at the HH on my first couple events. Never have slept enroute.

I've always come back and slept at the Hash House. Usually for at least 3 or 4 hours, occasionally for more, depending on my partner. I definitely know teams that have slept in the field, but usually only for an hour or two. If you want to be competitive, that often means staying out to have a more optimal route.

I have fallen asleep while walking in the early hours and wandered into a ditch

Before plantar fasciitis my strategy for 24 hour rogaines was to wait until the next 12 came up instead.

@Lost Richard: bingo! done the same.

Actually, there's nothing in the WARA Rules of Rogaining that specifically prevents leaving the venue for a more comfortable kip.

How about driving out onto the map during the planning phase, as one team was sighted as doing during the Dambusters event back in 2014?

R6. Competitors shall not enter the course until the official start is signalled.

Arguably, it wasn't yet 'the course'. They should clarify that there is an embargo over the area.

After all these years, I continue to be baffled by the motivation behind Rule R23. I have yet to hear a sensible reason for that rule to exist.

Maybe in case they didn't go out again, forgot to check out later and went home.

Simmo, they had the course map so when does it become 'the course'? Maybe I should have been more specific and said 'during the 3hr period prior to the event commencing'.

Coming from an Ultra background (and haven't done a rogaine yet), I can say that running long distances takes a lot both physically and mentally, and add in having to navigate as well, it is very taxing on the body and mind. Ultra runners rest at aid stations, as well as fuel up. Yes, they do also sleep on the trail (though it is advised if you do the later, you lay down with your head facing your direction of travel so as not to get confused when you wake). It's also a mind game, so doing simple things, like changing out socks and shoes after 12 hours or so, makes a world of difference to the mind thereby the body can carry on longer because you 'feel' better. Of course, everyone is different, but in my experience with distance running, a hot meal, with some rest and possibly a change of clothes and shoes makes me feel refreshed and ready to go again!

Also, did I read somewhere that you can leave drop bags at Rogaines? That would suffice in a pinch.

At the hash house.

You can drop your pack and pick it up later during the event. Like, if there's a control on top of a hill and you're going to be coming right back down the same way, you don't have to carry your pack up the hill. Doing a leg or two unburdened like this can be very refreshing.

We lost a pack once doing that, years ago. Not lost as in couldn't recall where we stashed it. Lost as in an animal took it because it contained food.

Ah lonely back packs - there is a NSW, AUST rogainer who at some stage in his career may have or should have been called Rocky for the additions he made to lonely back packs. All done with a smile.


Slept during a NSW Championship Event HH at Capertee, NSW however we were out here https://goo.gl/maps/MmyShwrJdNCJdFnt9 somewhere and the elusive knoll at the top of a spur was eluding us. Slept on the ground for not long around midnight for 20 to 40 minutes before the cold defeated sleep - woke and we must have been some 40 to 50 metres form the control, though we had not seen it prior to napping.


The Bushwalkers Rogaine - 48 hours based out of the Tallowa Dam Picnic Area, NSW - some of/much of the World Adventure Championships held recently was about here. Arrived two hours after the official start, spent thirty hours on the course, left the HH some 4 hours before the event finished for the drive home. Had a fantastic time. Slept in a sandy, dry drainage ditch off a road for I can recall how long woke before sunrise and had swim. spar in a nearby fast running creek that laid on a spar pool - such opportunities are rare in that sort of open Australian Eucalypt forest, at least in NSW. https://goo.gl/maps/65axazB4BXn9PweN7
Fantastic, little traversed country apart from the fire trails.

Somewhere else Wellington, NSW way- tired, cold however sleepy - kipped in the open where we stopped under space blankets, we were an irrestible site for a team to make considerable noise opening and closing a gate. Kip did the trick though.

Do babies and toddlers who fall asleep in the minutes before the start of event count when you are a parent hoping to do something and some hours later! Does that count?

@southerncross - I've heard of people going without sleep long enough that they start seeing things. I suppose it's just as logical people in the same circumstance might stop seeing things... such as nearby controls

slow-twitch -- yes you do wonder -- my recollection, my language was imprecise above, it was a knoll at the top of a relatively significant spur, so there was no desire to miss it.

I've missed a control on a "summit" before sometime just before dawn but to be fair we also missed the previous control so weren't exactly sure where we were. One of the two was worth 100 points too (I think from memory there were 12 x 100 point controls in WARA's 100th rogaine and we got 11 of them).

@slow-twitch - find yourself someone who's done military training similar to Ranger School in the US and mention hallucinations. You'll probably get some good stories.

Now that I think about it, the tales I heard generally occurred while sleep- and food-deprived and moving, whether navigating or just trying to follow they guy ahead. Trees that became Coke machines (complete with Ranger candidates trying to put quarters into them), following people who didn't exist (off into nowhere)...

I haven't hallucinated in a rogaine, but I usually dream of sighting controls for a day or two afterwards.

I've hallucinated in multi-day ARs but not for many years. I think I got used to it.

We once lost one of our teammates during the day time on a MTB leg because he hallucinated riding alongside us and didn't realise for ages that he wasn't actually chatting to us. Worse is that none of the other three of us noticed he wasn't with us anymore until we no longer knew where he was but somehow we were all reunited after a short time.

Rogaine in southern Arizona, a few miles from the Mexican border, and it was bitterly cold, sports drink freezing in our bottles. On the long march back to the hash house, I kept seeing patches of thorny vegetation in the middle of a dirt road, and also saw a nonexistent person dart across the road and disappear into the bushes.

Thorny veg is everywhere in Arizona. I did one Rogaine there and regretted the choice of shorts over long pants after about 5 minutes and for the next 23 hours

Did you come back early? No commitment.

Was anyone at said southern Arizona rogaine a few miles from the Mexican border picked up by the authorities as a suspected illegal immigrant?

No, but at a previous one about the same distance from the border, we were warned about what to do if we encountered smugglers (drug or human).

Ref cmpbllv's post - having done Ranger School (and other similar crazy things) I can absolutely confirm those tired/hungry types of hallucinations! I have a very clear memory of stepping off the trail to pick up a roasted chicken - not stopping for a moment to wonder why there would be a beautifully cooked chicken in the jungle! I've seen people (and likely participated in) numerous conversations with trees, boulders etc. Following shadows also very common (and very dangerous).