Muckleford Spookgaine 6hr Day + 6hr Night (15th June 2024)

After over a decade, we returned to Muckleford on Saturday, with well over 300 rogainers and volunteers descending upon the area for a day & night double rogaine. We were greeted with perfectly crisp, dry and sunny weather and a highly enjoyable course full of tracks and remnants of diggings, cuttings and the Red, White and Blue mine. The forest was pleasant to go through and fast-moving underfoot with some subtle terrain making navigation a challenge at times. A warm welcome to over 40 newbies who took on their first rogaine alongside those returning, many regulars but also welcome back to some familiar faces we have not seen in a little while.

As the day event concluded, the Hash House was abuzz as teams flowed in and we were all rewarded with a fantastic spread: with steak, hamburgers, sausages and veggie patties with salad on offer, ham, potato & leek soup with pasta, and blueberry drizzle cake. Thank you to the Castlemaine Lions Club for the amazing BBQ, the repeat customers and very long queue said it all!

Congratulations to our top 3 for the 6hr Day Rogaine:

1st:  Ed Steenbergen, Andrew Rolland (1590 points)
2nd: Joel Claxton, Adrian Harper (1350 points)
3rd: Glen White, Heather O’donnell (1320 points)

Conditions were rather cool at night for our hardy competitors who set out to tackle it all in the dark, but they were met with a warm fire and piping hot hearty beef stew when they returned. It was a great atmosphere to see the group dissecting route choices over ham & cheese toasties and sitting around enjoying stewed apples & cream, mudcake and brownies at midnight.

Well done to the winners of the 6hr Night Rogaine:

1st:  Charlotte Petersen, Michael Mccluskey (1030 points)
2nd: Grant Kassell, Kiera Kassell (950 points)
3rd: Simon Vandestadt, Lisa Dominguez (710 points)

And to our podium finishers for the double 6hr Day + 6hr Night Rogaine:

1st: Shelley Bambrook, Elizabeth Dornom (2340 points)
2nd: Paul Monks, David Heng, Simin Ngan (2230 points)
3rd: Ed Steenbergen, Andrew Rolland (2140 points)

We are ever so grateful to our wonderful hosts Rob & Debbie, who popped in throughout the day and not only generously provided the picturesque Hash House site but also this brilliant video of the whole event.

Many thanks to setter Wayne Merry for co-ordinating the event, assisted by vetter, map maker, Navlight manager (and plethora of other jobs) Phil Giddings. As always none of this would be possible without our phenomenal contingent of helpers: Grant Jeffrey, Monica Raphael, Paula Horton, Steve Horton, Simin Ngan, Rohan Smith, Colin Hall, Helen Steenbergen, Neil Phillips, Jane Phillips, Stephanie Baker, Nikita Bulach, Anita Karanasio, David Heng, Ellie Gardiner, John Jore, Lucinda Hookey, Andrea Gardiner, John Gardiner, Di Baker, Don Baker, Gen Johnstone, Greg Johnstone, Colin Corbett, Joy Corbett, Paul Monks, Shelley Bambrook, Elizabeth Dornom, Heather Zeckler, Ron Zeckler & Tim Greenough. It is incredible to have such a lengthy list of volunteers to recognise and gratifying to have had a full roster going into the rogaine – Victorian rogaining is very fortunate as they truly made the event what it was.