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Off the Beaten Track in Estonia

Russ Ladkin, Team CamRacers / 21.09.2008

This was my first time at the Rogaining World Championships, having twice been across to the Rogaine Ireland event held in the Wicklow Mountains organized by Setanta Orienteers. The only qualification for the World Championships was to be organized enough to get an entry in early enough to secure one of the 800 places available, which filled up rapidly. As teams can comprise of 2-5 members, this resulted in just over 350 teams competing. Entries were dominated unsurprisingly by the host country Estonia and by neighbours Latvia and Russia. Australia, where the sport first started, was well represented alongside New Zealand and North America, with 23 different countries in total.

Those coming from Adventure Racing will find the prices low as it is organized by volunteers and the regulations even stipulate that competitively priced buses must be laid on from the nearest large town. The most refreshing thing of all for this 24-hour competition is the mandatory kit list – just a whistle each! This is possible because the start and finish is a camping area where teams can return to sleep, and hot food and drinks are available. This format also makes the event inclusive to a range of abilities and ages. There were competitors from 14 to over 80 years grouped in classes of male, female and mixed over age ranges of juniors, open, veterans and super veterans.

Score to Win

Anyone familiar with the score format from foot sections of short adventure races will feel at home, just scale it up: 24 hours of foot navigation using a specially prepared 1:40 000 scale map compiled from orienteering maps and larger scale surveys. Having said this, it still doesn’t really prepare you for the brain overload of being handed a map covering 20 by 20 km with 63 checkpoints worth between 2 and 9 points. Fortunately this is presented 2 hours before the midday start and was the source of frantic head scratching. The vast differences in the competitor’s route choices were testament to the planner’s skill. Every team is issued an extra map to plan their route and this is handed in at the start as a safety measure.

Beyond even the route choice, there are key strategic decisions to be made. Which area will be easiest during darkness and at the end when you are tired? To take a rucksack each, or share one? Go out for the full 24 hours or go fast and light, returning to pick up lights, warmer clothes for the night and have a feed before heading out again? All of these different strategies were used by those achieving podium places while trying to gain an advantage over their rivals.

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