Anyone into rogaining?

[Donna Sch]

There is a 6 hour rogaining event starting near my placeon February 20 and it sounds interesting. If I can use my poles I'm in! Never done it so all tips appreciated. I'm not in Camino condition but at least mentally the potential distances don't scare me and I'm happy to be sore the next day.

 

[C clearly]

Haha! I think this is a candidate for the thread on different meanings of words. With the help of google, I have learned that rogaining is a type of orienteering sport. Nothing to do with Rogaine for hair regrowth.

 

[Colopalm]

Haha! I think this is a candidate for the thread on different meanings of words. With the help of google, I have learned that rogaining is a type of orienteering sport. Nothing to do with Rogaine for hair regrowth.

Thanks C clearly. I was wondering and my first thought went where you did.

 

[wayfarer]

A new one on me as well, I had to look it up, thank you Mr. Google, brilliant as always. Here it is also called
orienteering.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Put two and two together: you will have a thick, full head of hair and you will never get lost.

Seriously, I love orienteering, although I have never heard it called Rogaining. I learned orienteering skills in Girl Scouts when I was a child, and they've stood me in very good stead since I began bashing around the back roads and un-waymarked caminos of Spain.

Seeing as your course is for beginners, you may do some climbing and hiking, but you'll also do a lot of stopping and peering at maps and compasses and landscape. No great exertion required, I think. Orienteering gives you a whole new way to look at the landscape, and a degree of confidence you might not have felt before in unknown country.

 

[Donna Sch]

There are a few differences between orienteering and rogaining.
" In Orienteering checkpoints have to be visited in a specified order. The fastest competitor to visit all checkpoints in the right order and return to the finish wins. Orienteering events typically last for 1 to 3 hours but can last for longer.

Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross country navigation. In contrast to orienteering, rogaining is a team sport, with 2-5 people per team. There is no given order to the checkpoints; instead, every checkpoint gives a number of points. The task is to get as many points as possible within a given time limit. Rogaining events usually last for 6, 8 , 12 or 24 hours. Challenges in rogaining are not only to find checkpoints, but also to plan a route that collects the most amount of points, and to make it back to the finish on time - every minute late costs precious points! "



Sounds a bit like hunting for flechas and debating the merits of various routes with friends on the camino. You can go any way you like as long as you end up in Santiago

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Hmmm. According to this, I have never done either. I am not into competition. I just like to get a little lost, and figure out how to get found again. In any case, I recommend learning the skills they depend upon.
GPS is for wusses!

 

[Donna Sch]

Well it's the day after the Metrogaine and I'm still in one piece. I got paired with John, a 69 year old very experienced rogainer and orienteerer who was doing his first rogaine after a very serious accident and Clare, a very fit runner with some rogaining experience down south who has just moved to the tropics. My watch tells me I walked 42354 steps yesterday. About 5000 were before the Rogaine. So that would be 30 km at least of fast walking with no breaks with the occasional jog. I was drenched in sweat all over from about the second minute as it was 34 degrees C and the coolest it got was 30 degrees. The "feels like" temp was 43 down to 38 degrees. My favourite camino sports bra couldn't wick the sweat away fast enough so I've got a bit of chafing. After we got in I drank about 2 litres of cordial and it tasted so bloody good. I was a cheap entry as I didn't feel like eating much more than fruit despite the spread that was put on by the club. There are a lot of water fountains about the place so I topped up on water every chance and made sure I ate something every hour. We figured we would do about 5 km/h between walking at about 6 km/h and then trying to find the answers to the questions about each checkpoint. Didn't bring my poles and I would have to work out what to do with my map which is A3 sized and covered in plastic for good reason. We got 4th out of 18 teams so I'm not complaining about the result. The feet are feeling a bit battered but thankfully no blisters. The rest of me is a little sore but everything works. No worse than after a tough judo session. I probably will cop a bit of soreness tomorrow but it should be okay. And it's been a good day to catch up on TV programmes online and generally do very little.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I also thought rogaine was something people use for baldness...

 

[domigee]

I had never heard of it (either as balding cure or orienteering! ) but... I stand in awe Well done.

 

[Donna Sch]

I also thought rogaine was something people use for baldness...

The hair loss people were probably inspired by the sight of mad walkers constantly pulling their hair out trying to find checkpoints