24 hour event
The Australian Champs are a 24 hour event - starting at midday on Saturday. The challenge is to score points by visiting checkpoints in the 24 hours from noon Saturday until noon Sunday. As well as competiitve teams, there will be many recreational teams participating - your team can come back to the event centre (Hash House) for a sleep or food before heading out again. Catering will be provided at the Hash House during the event with soups, curries and hot drinks to keep your team on the go. Many people will enjoy the event as a fully catered weekend away in the bush.
The championship categories span the three gender categories of women (all female), men (all male) and mixed (any gender mix) - combined with the age categories of open (any age), youth (all 23 and under), veteran (all 45 and over), superveteran (all 55 and over) and ultraveteran (all 65 and over) with age calculated as at 31 December 2025. There will also be an all 30 and under category as a non-championship category - this category has been successfully trialled at the past two ACT championships.
Specific directions to the Hash House will be provided in the final instructions in late February. The event area is all national park with a mix of grassy plains and wooded hills. A few firetrails cross the area, but the course setters think you won't need to use them! The altitude of the course ranges from 1230m to 1600m and most of the area is nicely undulating with a few steep pinches to keep you on your toes.
The rules for rogaining can be read at the Australian Rogaining Association website.
The map
The area is mix of hilly and flat terrain with some limestone karst which means some of the navigation will need extra attention. If you haven't done any navigating lately, a bit of pre-event practice could save you a geographically embarrassing moment (or two). A little bit of the map is shown here to get you in the right frame of mind.
Sun, moon and weather
March typically provides superb clear days with cool evenings. The mean maximum (for Cabramurra) in March is 17.5 degrees and the mean minimum is 8.9 degrees. The mean number of days of rain in March with >1mm is 6.3 days. It is likely to be cold at night so pack some thermals, gloves and a beanie. There is also the chance of thunderstorms, so good rain gear should be packed.
Sun and Moon
The sun will set at 7:25 pm on Saturday and rise again at 7:04 am on Sunday. There is about 30 minutes of twilight after the sun sets and before it rises.
The moon rises on Saturday at 7:46 pm and sets on Sunday at 8:35 am with it being 99% full. The full moon is on 14th March.