Twin Creeks Metrogaine (Sunday 16 August 2026)

, Sunday 16 August 2026

A suburban metrogaine starting from Darebin Park a short walk from Alphington Station.

Final Instruction now available.  Click the button below.

Original Led Rogaine – Saturday 8hr Day & Night + Sunday 6hr Day Rogaine (18 & 19 July 2026)

, Saturday 18 July 2026 , Sunday 19 July 2026

Out on Course. Photos Gayle Cowling

Live donkeys or dead lions

The Original LED was challenging for all and route planning and execution was not for the faint hearted. Based out of Ballarat the first few controls were arranged along a narrow strip where there was no choice but to go up one side and back along another. For most teams route planning required a dash to the north where the course opened up and allowed for more freedom of movement and a race back along the narrow area to the finish. Much like polar explorers of the past, judging your turning point was key.

I think every team would have been looking at their watches carefully to judge when to turn and our team left 240 points just out of reach, deciding to be live donkeys rather than dead lions to paraphrase Ernest Shackleton. On the return we spent the first hour thinking we had turned too soon and the last hour wishing we had turned sooner. The number of teams arriving after 8 hours suggested many left the turn late and struggled back to base camp at the Brown Hill cricket ground.

The beautiful winter weather was in keeping with the Antarctic theme with a cool clear day and temperatures plunging as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon. Thanks to Ian and the setting team for setting a challenging course with well set controls in tricky terrain with the words regarding all tracks not being mapped and not all mapped tracks being present. Careful attention was required to read the map and the contours to successfully navigate.

Well done to every team that competed. Saturday’s overall winners in the 8 hour event were Elizabeth Dornom and Shelley Bambrook with 1740 points. The Sunday (6 hour) event was won by Thomas Maffett and Sam Maffett with 1560 points and they also won the Family category. Well done Thomas.

Our podium was:-

Original LED Saturday 8hr*
1st – Elizabeth Dornom, Shelley Bambrook. (1740pts)
2nd – Lingshu Liu, Robert Springer. (1710pts)
3rd – Morag Stewart, Hamish Dixon. (1660pts)

Original LED Sunday 6hr*
1st – Thomas Maffett, Sam Maffett. (15600pts)
2nd – Alex Monks, Jackson Monks, Paul Monks. (1350pts)
3rd – Amanda Bush, Peter Hield. (1130pts)

Thanks to the wonderful event team led by Ian Gordon with lots of assistance from Rod Gray. To our whole Volunteer team including Ian Gordon, Rod Gray, John Weir, Peter Taylor, Alex Merchant, Grant Jeffrey, Peter Chen, Marcelle Gannon, Holly Jackson, Sue Noy, Phil Giddings, Tonya Hackett, John Hackett, Cathy Weir, Neil Phillips, Pierre Brokner, Lauren Hayes, Eleanor Weir, Anna Gordon, Lingshu Liu, Ben Hazell, Chay Guest, Ainslie Cummins, Robert Springer, Rob Peel.

As always, click the links to download the full results as well as the individual tags for each competitor.