The very first Wicked Northburn Rogaine, held last January, was such a resounding success, it paved the way for an annual event. 

The summer deluge of the past few days hasn’t stopped the event at Northburn Station – Saturday will be a sunny day of rogaining fun for all.

Organiser Nora Audra said almost 180 people had entered so far.

“The weather forecast is looking great for tomorrow,” she said.

“We hope to see lots of families with young kids there as we believe learning how to read the map is a great life skill.”

Nora said they would offer help to first timers.

“Adventure racer and Coast to Coast winner, Steve Gurney will also be there to help people with some basic map skills.”

Wicked Rogaines has been organizing rogaine events for over 10 years, but last January was the first time they had held one in the Cromwell area.

“We were driving past one day and thought this is just such a lovely area.

“So, we were very excited to be able to hold a rogaine on the Northburn Station - the views from the top of the course are just so beautiful.”

After last year’s successful event, Wicked Rogaines vowed to be back in 2021 – and they’ve kept their word.

The 2020 event was a resounding success.

“We are very excited about hosting our second event at Northburn Station.

“The place it’s simply amazing and this year we decided to make it a longer course with an additional 6-hour event option.

“The views from the top of the course are stunning and it is going to be fun for everyone.”

Nora said rogaining is fun exercise for both body and brain. They have designed courses for all abilities on the Northburn Station property.

“We are grateful for the use of Northburn Station and would like to thank the landowner and farm manager for granting us access.”

She explained the event as a kind of ‘treasure hunt’ with a social side, where teams collect as many points as possible, armed only with a map and compass.

“It’s so much fun, you don’t even realise you’re exercising.

“The lake and mountain views are amazing – it’s a great way to see parts of the Central Otago landscape you wouldn’t normally see.”

Rogaining is something anyone can do, Nora said, and there are different courses to suit all ages and levels of fitness. There are 6-hour, 4-hour and 2-hour options, and a fun kids’ event.

The course is ready to go for tomorrow.

Teams have an allocated amount of time to collect points from as many controls as possible. Controls are worth varying amounts of points, which brings in strategic thinking combined with time management.

The team names last year were very creative, ‘Older but No Wiser’, ‘Stampeding Turtles’, ‘Too Much Gaming’, ‘Legs Miserable’, ‘Mums’ Day Out’.

Looking to the future, Nora said they would love to expand to twelve-hour events here to suit a wider range of people. However, this year like last year, they were happy offering a rogaine event that was family-friendly and accessible for everyone.

For details about tomorrow’s Northburn rogaine, click here.

Photos supplied