Map Sports Australia  

What is Rogaining?

Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross-country navigation. The championship rogaine is of twenty four hours duration, but there are several shorter variants. Teamwork, endurance, competition, and an appreciation of the natural environment are features of the sport. Rogaining involves both route planning and navigation between checkpoints using a variety of map types.

Rogaines are generally day and night events in which teams of two to five members travel entirely on foot, navigating by map and compass. Teams normally select their own order of visiting checkpoints, in terrain that varies from open countryside to hilly forest.

At many rogaines a central base camp provides hot meals and teams may return at any time to eat, rest or enjoy the fellowship. Teams travel at their own pace, and anyone from children to grandparents can experience the personal satisfaction that comes from cross-country navigation at individual levels of competition and comfort.

Rogaining aims to support and encourage people to develop respect for and enjoyment of rural and forest environments; and to encourage the development of navigational skills, self reliance, general fitness, and the ability to work in a team.

(from Australian Rogaining homepage)

What is Orienteering?

In orienteering you use a map and compass to find your way across unfamiliar terrain. In a typical event, the organizer places orange and white control markers at various land features found on your map. These markers act as checkpoints along the course. The object of the sport is to use the map and compass to locate the control markers and return to the finish. Using your imagination and navigational skills, you try to select the best route to each control. Once there, you punch a score card which verifies that you found the control. There are many versions of orienteering (on foot, bicycle, or skis; at night; in relays, and so forth), but the idea is essentially the same: the use of a map and compass to find your way across unfamiliar terrain.

Furthermore, most orienteering events are in some way, shape or form a competition (for those inclined). A measure of success is commonly given by time taken to complete a given course or by the number of control flags found during a specific time allotment. A ranking of competitors (including a winner) usually follows. Competition can range from trying to do better than fellows from your club, to elite level where competitors are running and navigating faster than most people can run on a flat road. It's all up to you as to what you want from the sport.
(Text courtesy of NEOC Times and OFA.)

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Created: 04/03/98    Updated: