Discussion: 2014 Rogiane World Champs (in South Dakota) Requirement: complete a 24hr within the last 2 years. (D

Hey North American AttackPointers,

Did you scratch the 2014 Rogaine World Champs in the beautiful black hills of South Dakota on your schedule?

Did you know that in order to participate, at least one teammate must have competed in a 24hr rogaine within the last 2 years??

MerGeo Nav Races (in Washington State) asked the nav community if they'd like a 24hr event added to our 8 & 4 Hour Nav Race on Cleman Mountain on October 5th so folks could meet this requirement-- and we got very little feedback.

It's too late to add the 24hr at this point, but we were left wondering: do nav folks KNOW about this requirement to compete at World Champs?

Should we put on a 24hr in the spring to help N.Amer folks meet this requirement?

You can join the conversation on our Facebook page: facebook.com/navigationraces

If this ridiculous requirement is actually being enforced, then yes we should add loads of 24 hour rogaines this winter and spring.

Sorry, I don't do FarceBook.

The requirement isn't ridiculous; its principal objective is to raise attendance at non-Championship rogaines. It is only reasonable that someone who wants to do a World Championship in something should have actually tried that same something fairly recently.

Ummm... (I could say something about MTBO Worlds here but I may offend the original poster)

We have a long history of rogaining and many organizers who can put on a 24-hour rogaine, and venues that permit rogaining, in this country. None of these apply to MtbO, especially the venue part.

A spring rogaine would be too late for the 2014 world champs, unfortunately. You need to have done one in the two years prior to the entry period in late 2013.

The organiser has announced that one thousand participants will be accepted for WRC South Dakota 2014 - Rogaining Calendar, IRF!

To be clear, having completed a 24 hour rogaine gives one priority over one who has not it does not prevent you from entering.

I wouldn't be surprised if the limit of 1000 sells out. There are about 75 Automatic and Preferred Status Pre-Qualifying Entrants in the U.S. and Canada, most of these will want to take part. There are similar or larger numbers of Automatic and Preferred Status Entrants in the other 7 IRF member nations. Each Automatic and Preferred can take a non-Automatic, non-Preferred teammate (or two) along. The Automatic and Preferred Status categories together comprise up to 70% of the field, i.e. up to 700 people. It will be fairly close.

it does not prevent you from entering.

It does not, but your teammate must have participated in a 24-hour rogaine within 2 years. The current entry criteria say

At least one member of any team registering in this Non-Pre-Qualifying Entrant category must have competed in at least one 24-hour rogaine in the two years immediately preceding the opening of entries.

There are categories of entrants other than Automatic, Preferred Status, and Non-Pre-Qualifying, and they are wildcards and teams from underrepresented countries. These are the only kinds of entrants for whom the requirement for at least one team member to have participated in a rogaine does not appear to apply.

These requirements have been public since a bit before registration opened in 2009 for the first sold-out World Championships in 2010. Those rogainers who I know who are serious about training and participation in Championship-level rogaines have been keeping very close track of these requirements and of qualifying for WRC 2014.

If there were more 24 hour rogaines available, I wouldn't consider the two year requirement so stinky. Why not three or five or ever? Why not also include 24 hour adventure races, which also demonstrate endurance and navigation ability?

Under the current criteria for entries, I would argue it's more about who you know rather than your ability or what you have on your dance card.

Although I've known about this requirement for several years and have qualified for WRC 2014, I have argued in favour of allowing organizers to use their judgment to decide whether a team has equivalent experience. As most people on this thread know, the new rules would have prevented Kloser/Tobin (world champion adventure racers) from entering - and winning - the last WRC in North America in 2004.

I asked this snakily in an earlier thread, but what does "complete a 24-hour rogaine" mean? Can I go to an "official" event, find one checkpoint, and hang out at the HQ for 23 hours? Can I set a rogaine in my backyard and have a friend compete? Can the Cleman Mountain organizers keep the 8-hour course and have a "24 hour" category which involves sitting around for 16 hours? Can I set up a 24-hour 'Hood Hunt?

Also -- can you enter the 24-hour corn maze rogaine, complete it in about 15 minutes, and say you've completed a 24-hour rogaine??? :)

Also -- can you enter the 24-hour corn maze rogaine, complete it in about 15 minutes, and say you've completed a 24-hour rogaine??? :)

Can't see any reason why not. Some of the folks running were really good. :-)

From a personal point-of-view (and not an organiser's), due to my blurry understanding of the requirements to enter the World Champs in South Dakota, and my resulting uncertainty that I can compete-- this event has unfortunately fallen from "will definitely do and bring all my friends too," to "not planning on it."

Also, to make a comparison to another sport- Half Ironman events are often used to qualify for Full Ironman events. I think it would be appropriate to do the same here- if you have competed in a day-long (8 hours or more), then you can compete in the 24hr.

For the benefit of those of us who don't know much about the history of rogaining, how many 1000+ participant events have there been? And what was the largest rogaine ever?

650 is about the biggest I can recall - but I remember the number rather than where the event was I'm afraid.

WA got 640 in 1996. NSW got 690 in 2006. Estonia had 790 in 2008. Arizona had a whopping 380 in 2004, showing that more Americans thought of it as a hair loss product than a sport.

Russia had 314 teams this year so roughly 660-670 people.

@ Run_Bosco: Over here you don't need to complete a half ironman before a full ironman to enter a full Ironman, however it is 'reccomended'. If someone can't finish then they will be kicked off the course at some point.

you don't need to complete a half ironman before a full ironman to enter a full Ironman

True, but you have to earn a qualifying spot by placing well (not time) at a designated IM half or full to get in to Kona (World Champs)

Teams with experience (AR etc) but no qualifying races can petition their national governing body for one of the allocated wildcard spots, but those are limited with no guarantee of entry.

Since only one member of a team needs to have a qualifying event the easiest thing to do is team up with someone who has done one in the past two years.

This is a World Champs after all and the rules have been in place for a number of years... seems reasonable to me. It does suck that there were so few US 24 hour events in 2013, but for various reasons very few clubs came forward to host this year. Looks like quite a few more US rogaine events in the queue for 2014, but unfortunately too late to use for South Dakota, but plenty of opportunity to pre-qualify for Finland 2015...

And fair enough! It just seems a bit precious to me, but if the world champs does have very limited spots then the system makes sense.

Yes 1000 is really limited for such a high profile sport.

:P

Does the "world champs" in it's current form, have any real meaning or credibility?

In comparison to the Kona? Or just generally? :P haha

What are you trying to gian with that question?

Does the "world champs" in it's current form, have any real meaning or credibility?

Credibility isn't bestowed, its earned. And to do that one needs to have consistent event quality and rules/criteria at the top level. Since my first WRC in '98 (I've only competed in the one WRC, but have watched the sports development since I started in '95) we have seen the interest and attendance at World Champs increase fairly steadily. No, its not Kona, but I doubt Kona suddenly appeared on the stage as such a prestigious event when the sport of triathlon is where rogaining is today. And Rogaining will likely never reach that level of popularity but it does seem to be growing, particularly in the european region but also more slowly in other areas.

the new rules would have prevented Kloser/Tobin (world champion adventure racers) from entering

This argument, repeated ad infinitum, is incorrect. They would have been covered by the wildcard system.

Another major concern that the IRF and the organizers have with participation numbers is the first checkpoints. There are only reasonably about 6 or so that are closest to the start. For a 750-person event, that's 100 to 150 people (everyone has to punch) per checkpoint. So, the World Championships may be decided by a 10-minute wait that the best teams have to endure while the novelty participants are punching. This is not theory, this has happened multiple times.

Then there is track formation and landowner concerns.

My strong feeling is that those who view the World Champs as a novelty event in which they'd like to participate, but can't be bothered to enter a 24-hour rogaine every now and then, almost certainly don't belong.

If there were more 24 hour rogaines available, I wouldn't consider the two year requirement so stinky.

There are plenty of clubs and non-clubs capable of putting one on, and most who are capable, have indeed organized at least one. It takes a lot of work and costs $$$$$, and if you don't know that people will come (and most register at the very last moment), you may end up losing a lot of money. And whether you are a club or not, you then end up jeopardizing your other events by having to fund the loss out of these other events' "profits".

Our 2011 Henry Coe event counts (is within 2-year timeframe), as are two CNYO events, MerGeo's 2012 North American Champs, a 2012 rogaine by NSF in Ohio, and a handful of Canadian events. This is a sparse list, but not much sparser than what someone living in say Central Europe would have on offer within 2500 km within a similar timeframe. We will also apply to IRF to have the Henry Coe Adventure Trex count; it's not strictly a 24-hour rogaine, but in most aspects is more. I expect a positive decision.

Can I go to an "official" event, find one checkpoint, and hang out at the HQ for 23 hours? Can I set a rogaine in my backyard and have a friend compete?

One of the goals of the requirement, as I stated above, is to have an active, vibrant rogaining scene, promoting the concept of a rogaine as something worthy of training specifically for, setting aside time on the calendar and money to travel to compete, and so that people don't view a World Championship as a curious novelty worthy of attention whereas the same people can't be bothered to attend a 24-hour event within a couple hundred miles. So yes. If you enter a 24-hour event and pay the entry fees, you are good to go. If you enter an 8-hour event, that doesn't pass. For the same reason, a private event wouldn't count.

P.S. Orienteering USA gets about 13 wildcards for WRC 2014, the Rogaine Committee intends to use them wisely. The criteria say "The IRF recommends that at least half [of the wildcards] should be allocated to individuals who are playing a major role in the development of the sport and/or the organisation of rogaines in that country." In particular, I would think that one of the course setters of the 2011 U.S. Rogaine Championships and a staff member of one of the premium rogaine organizers are definitely in the running.

P.P.S. I personally am not prequalified nor have participated in any 24-hour rogaines since 2010 due to being sick and then untrained, nor do I want to take away a wildcard, and that's why I'm teaming up with someone who is prequalified. I know of at least a dozen prequalified rogainers who are looking for compatible partners for WRC 2014, outside of the prequalified pool of about 75 U.S. and Canadian athletes.

Be aware, too, that there have been Rogaines in South Dakota in the past, and will likely be again if Rick Emerson isn't burned out by next year's event. We enjoyed participating in the one at Custer State Park in 2012.

how many 1000+ participant events have there been? And what was the largest rogaine ever?

There are thousands of rogainers in Central and Eastern Europe who weren't there as of 2004; the sport exploded in the mid-2000s. All these souls probably appear no larger than the product of one of them deerfiles from say the Rocky Mountains, but I can vouch they are there since I've seen them in action, the most impressive of it being at the first CP in New Zealand in 2010. And the parking lot at WRC 2008 in Estonia was full of Audis and BMWs, so they can certainly afford to make it over the pond; rogaining in Central and Eastern Europe is the sport of middle managers, sorta like what AR used to be in the U.S. before it met its fate, not of penny-pinching professors.

Barring an armed conflict with, say, Latvia, I would expect about a hundred participants from each of the 7 other IRF full members to show up in South Dakota; some will be prequalified, some will enter as non-prequalified with one or more 24-hour rogaines under their belt in the past two years. So, the 1000-participant limit seems to me entirely appropriate.

So the answer to the first question is 'zero', then?

Yes and unless something magical happens in the next twelve months, I am of the opinion that this one won't reach capacity either.

Yes and unless something magical happens in the next twelve months, I am of the opinion that this one won't reach capacity either.

Quoted so that you can come back in twelve months and make fun of me if necessary.

I wouldn't be surprised if the limit of 1000 sells out.

And there's the competing statement from T/D, which you'll notice is a somewhat milder claim than yours. Personally, I expect to be doing my part -- I confirmed last night that my intended partner has a recent 24 under his belt, so we can send in our entry. Maybe we should start a thread where people submit their guesses as to how many people will show up at the start line.

--->>>>the new rules would have prevented Kloser/Tobin (world champion adventure racers) from entering

-->>This argument, repeated ad infinitum, is incorrect. They would have been covered by the wildcard system.

T/D, I hadn't realized that the wording of the WRC criteria had changed after 2012, when the U.S. would have been granted a maximum of 6 wild card teams, of which at least half should be allocated to people involved in developing/organizing the sport. The wording has been changed from "teams" to "individuals", with 10% (100 individuals for 2014) allocated among all the countries in the world. So when you say 13, I assume that means 13 individuals?

In any case, if these rules had existed in 2004, I don't think it would have been a slam/dunk if Kloser/Tobin had asked for one of a small number of wild card team places, given that they'd never done a rogaine before. The rogaining community would be inclined to favour people with strong reputations in rogaining who had somehow failed to qualify, which is completely understandable. There are lots of adventure racers in this generation who could do well at a WRC, and there aren't nearly enough wild card places to cover them. Thus I still feel that an "equivalent experience subject to organizer approval" would help this rogaine sell out and help get other strong 24-hr racers/navigators excited about rogaines.

Full Disclosure: I'm an adventure racer who got excited about rogaines after doing my first one at WRC 2004. And I encouraged a bunch of ARers to try it afterward because it was awesome!

Yes, I believe the Rogaine Committee gets to allocate 13 individual wildcard entries for WRC 2014. At least locally (California), people who have hopes of placing in their division are all prequalified or have qualified teammates; I can't think of any single individual "with strong reputations in rogaining who had somehow failed to qualify", but I may be missing some. I know of a small handful of these individuals elsewhere in the U.S. Probably less than 10.

So the answer to the first question is 'zero', then?

If you only count participants in the 24-hour division, the answer I believe is zero.

Based on several enthusiastic discussion threads on AP, there are a few people with rogaine experience who have not pre-qualified or done a recent rogaine, including some who have had good results, overall or in their age groups. My own partner from the 2011 CNYO Rogaine, where we were 2nd overall, is not qualified because that was his most recent rogaine, and it was before Nov. 2011.

As is very clear from the WRC criteria, the sport of rogaining favours those who are already involved in the sport - and that's understandable for a world champs. Therefore, I stick to my belief that Kloser/Tobin would not have been selected to this small group of wild card individuals. There are too many others with rogaine experience who would be ahead of them in the pecking order.

The Rogaine Committee will consider applications for the 7 or so non-organizer wildcards for WRC 2014, with an eye on awarding some or most of them to high-achievement participants from other sports who can be reasonably believed to do well at the World Championships. But, the Committee will most likely not hand-pick or invite people who don't come forward with an expression of interest to the Committee.

The entry criteria ( http://wrc2013.com/reg/entry-criteria ) referred to by tundra/desert are detailed and no doubt a lot of thought went into developing those criteria. Surely it is appropriate for a sport that seeks to take itself seriously will have some demands of those who seek to compete at the relevant world championship.

What about the flip side of the coin? Do the 1000 (taking tundra/desert's number) racers from around the world who will form up in South Dakota next year have any reasonable expectation that similarly rigorous criteria will apply to the event organizers? For instance, is there any requirement that organizers have demonstrated any level of race expertise from actual racing themselves? Is there any minimum level of demonstration of past event organization competence? Is there any minimum criteria that the map must meet? Is there any expectation that controls will be in the right location and hung in such a manner that they are reasonably visible? Or will it all be more an "anything goes" ethic, a page borrowed from adventure racing?

Finally, considering the event status, should racers have any expectation that some outside person or group of recognized international expertise will have examined the site and preparations for the race to ensure that certain minimal criteria for a world championship have been met?

There doesn't seem to be much information about this at the WRC 2014 web site.

Yes to all of the above. There is a national Event Consultant, an IRF Consultant, and a national Map Consultant, all dedicated to making sure the participants have a fair and enjoyable experience.

There was a suggestion in an earlier thread that NARC2011 *might* be a pre-qualifiying event if no NARC is held in 2013. However, I don't yet see it in the list of qualifying events. When I checked a few weeks ago, no NARC2013 was being organized. Is this still a possibility?

The Committee's understanding is that the four North American qualifying events are NARC 2011 in British Columbia, the 2011 U.S. Rogaine Champs in California, NARC 2012 in Washington, and the 2013 U.S. Rogaine Champs in New York.

The preliminary word from the IRF is that teams without a single member with a 24-hour rogaine experience will be allowed to enter WRC 2014 after everyone else, that is after the Automatic Pre-Qualified, Preferred Status Pre-Qualified, wildcard, and underrepresented-country entrants, and after Non-Pre-Qualified entrants who do have a member with 24-hour experience. (Of course this assumes that the event isn't sold out after these five categories have had a chance to enter.) This revision to the entry criteria is still in flux; the detailed, official wording of the entry criteria will come together in the next week or so.

The events listed in the post above have been confirmed as the four North American prequalifying rogaines for WRC 2014. That is, the list of Automatic and Preferred Status Pre-Qualified Entrants will include teams that placed in these events, overall or in the age/gender categories as specified in the entry criteria.

Thanks for confirming!!

Great news, Tundra/Desert!

that is after the Automatic Pre-Qualified, Preferred Status Pre-Qualified, wildcard, and underrepresented-country entrants, and after Non-Pre-Qualified entrants who do have a member with 24-hour experience.

This reminds me of how they board airplanes these days. I'm excited, though! This means that I can go, maybe! Looking forward to it!

T/D wrote: "There are only reasonably about 6 or so that are closest to the start. ... So, the World Championships may be decided by a 10-minute wait that the best teams have to endure while the novelty participants are punching."

This should be a non-problem. The simple solution is multiple easily reachable SI control units at each of the likely early control points, and at least 2 units at every control point. Any event that has a thousand participants can easily afford the minimal rental and shipping fees to rent / borrow an extra hundred SI control units from other clubs. It should be very easy to quickly reduce wait times to minimal by adding a few extra units. Also, the farther you position all possible first controls from the hash house, the more you can spread people out; if no control is within a kilometer and you have 4 equally likely first controls, with 4 punches at each, the load per punch unit drops to around 60-65 - a spread of say 5 minutes even if all of them are ridiculously slow, inefficient punchers (5 sec per punch). At a kilometer away, the teams will already be spread out over several minutes, so wait times should be almost nil for almost everybody.

Of course, said units have to be placed reasonably intelligently - don't stick all four in a shrub or behind a boulder where everyone has to climb over each other - plan and adjust these problem control sites for open approach from all sides, trim a little brush if necessary, etc, so that peple can freely and quickly access all units without blocking others. It ain't rocket science, just reasonably intelligent course / event planning.

And of course if you can figure out another way of enforcing that teams stick together (or traditional honor / peer reporting), you could cut the number of people needing to punch at each control by moire than half...

As one crazy technology idea, surely some sort of GPS app could be designed that emits an audible warning if partners get more than N meters (say 20) apart, and automatically sends a warning / penalty to organizers at 2N (say 40 meters), and and auto disqualification if separation continues to grow to say 3N. Maybe not practical in time for 2014 champs, but something for the future?

This should be a non-problem

Adding more SPORTident units certainly relieves some crowding, but the numbers don't work out to the stated extent, as anyone who has run say the Jukola's first leg can attest to. The first CPs at a Championship rogaine are already 800 m to 1.0 km away from the start. What happens is a lot of novelty participants hammer it out of the start, and those who know what they are doing are very unlikely to push 3.5 min/km to get there before the 4.5 min/km crowd even though they can, so the spread of arrival times is a lot less than what the final points or the final distance travelled would pro-rate to. So the bulk of the pack will be there, spread by at most 2 to 3 minutes, so say 70 people. There will still be shoulder-bumping and weaving through to punch if there are say 10 SI units, but not a 10-minute wait, perhaps under a minute at the worst.

some sort of GPS app could be designed

It can. Technologically this is certainly possible, although you'll get false alarms in the redwoods. And these GPS-glue units will need to be programmed before the event to only limit you at checkpoints, it's legal under the present rules to be quite afar while not at a checkpoint. There are several people around here who worked with say tracking and punching GPS things, and the deal-breaker is the cost to make the final design of and produce the hardware. Unless you can run your app on a device that everyone already has, it takes capital to get the hardware done, and capital is hard to get once the VC hears that there are only 10k or so people who would ever buy the thing, and by the way, a lot of them like their recreation priced at the cost of its components. SPORTident and TracTrac certainly exist, but in somewhat different domains. And the problem with requiring this on a cellphone is, first, cellphones don't have enough batteries; second, cellphones can and will be used for navigation if powered, despite what some may adamantly think. If someone has a spare $100k, I'd say get this GPS-glue into Kickstarter (insufficient in itself) and I'll be happy to point out some engineers to make it happen.

Can you identify the "elite" and allow them to cut to the front of the line somehow?

Yes that's certainly a solution that has been discussed. The Rogaine Committee may want to propose it to the IRF for WRC 2014.

To illustrate the problem, our first control at the Czech champs was at the edge of a stream bank after a 1 meter drop to the water. Very awkward and a huge queue built up immediately. It was a 9 min wait for us, but some teams had a much longer time there. Could have been significantly helped by better placement and multiple boxes. Even that shorter wait cost us an extra control at the end we could have picked up.

I aspire to be a "novelty participant" in such an august and venerable sport. If only I were worthy.

The 2014-specific entry criteria include this revision to the 2013 entry criteria: "From the commencement of Phase 2 the requirement for teams to include a member who has competed in at least one 24-hour rogaine in the two years immediately preceding the opening of entries will no longer apply." The full criteria will be published during the month of September by the Rogaine Committee and perhaps other parties.

I aspire to be a "novelty participant" in such an august and venerable sport. If only I were worthy.

On the other hand, to paraphrase Groucho Marx, "I would not want to participate in any World Championship that would accept me as an entrant"

The Laurentian Rogaine near Montreal in a week is apparently offering a 24-hour division, despite it having been communicated otherwise to the Committee. We're happy the woods are in a good shape (there was some damage) and there are enough participants to justify a Championship-length event! We know some folks are coming from as far as California to compete.

The Laurentian Rogaine will be the third 24-hour rogaine in 2013 in North America, following Nova Scotia's Eco-Endurance Challenge and CNYO's U.S. Rogaine Championships. These two events, combined, featured 243 participants in the 24-hour division.

It looks like entries to the World Champs will open before our Henry Coe Adventure Trex. With the removal of the "hard" 24-hour participation requirement, I personally do not see the need to apply for an exemption to have participation in this event counted on par with a 24-hour rogaine; it would make a difference of perhaps at most 2 weeks as to when you can enter the WRC. If enough people ask me or the Committee to reconsider, we will pursue the matter further.

However, the Cleman Mountain event is almost certainly going to be before the opening of entries, and those who would like a fresh 24-hour under their belt should definitely contact Eric and Rebecca at MerGeo.

All of the Rogaines that I've participated in required, in addition to punching in, the signing of an "intention sheet" that indicates where you're planning to go next. That can easily push "punching time" past five seconds. Is this still the case?

Definitely race optional. Don't see it overseas nor at some of the US meets where epunching is used.

Last Rogaine I did here in Vic, Australia, you filled in a 'intention map', showing your intended route, and handed it in pry to starting. There is no Sign in at controls, with the use of electronic punching, it is easy to check the unit, to see what teams have been there

WARA has always had intention sheets to write on as a safety measure - team no. time at control and next control to head for. In the event that a team does get lost, then a paper trail can be followed showing the last control that was visited by a team and this should narrow down the search area considerably, hopefully saving time that may make a difference in the end. Of course, this system is dependant upon teams doing the right thing and recording their details on the intention sheet. No system is fool proof.

Over the past 30 years or so WARA have had maybe a handful of instances where this paper trail has been used to track a team and proven to be effective in aiding search parties. At least once a year, WARA also has a dry run to test the process, tracking a team during an event. This is done in a non-intrusive way so as to not detract from the chosen team's rogaine experience.

Given that WARA have between 350 to 400 people at almost every event conducted, a standard part of the setting process is to provide multiple controls, punches and intention sheets are every control surrounding the hash house. Even at the notable events where more than 600 people have entered, there has been none or very little complaint about being delayed at first controls by teams waiting to punch and record.

"Teams that are eligible for any Ultra-Veterans category" have been added to the list of Preferred Status Pre-Qualifying Entrants. This means anyone 65 and older on the day of the event (real age, not OUSA age).

Rick Emerson here, the 12 WRC 2014 Organizer and Course Designer. First, thanks for the great feedback and thoughts concerning the Criteria and course. Many of these points have been discussed extensively with the IRF and past WRC participants. 12 WRC 2014 intends to incorporate various enhancements to minimize some of the issues encountered in the past.

The Entry Criteria for 12 WRC 2014 will be published soon, as the IRF and Organizers are finalizing the Criteria. One point to remember is phases of entry. Phase One addresses Pre-Qualified Entrants, Non-Pre-Qualified Entrants, and WIldcards. If the event is not over-subscribed during Phase One and the establishment of the Wait List, the Phase Two avails others with no prior 24-hour Rogaine experience.

My interpretation of the intent of the Entry Criteria is to support entry preference for those Rogainers who have qualified or participated in the sport previously. Placing high in a world class Rogaine may earn you an invite, but you have to register and pay the entry fee. Same rule applies to Non-Pre-Qualified-Entrants. Once Phase One has past, then Phase Two allows others to apply and be added to the Wait List in order of receipt. There are deadline dates for action by participants and the List of Entrants will be published so folks can monitor if and when 12 WRC 2014 might be fully subscribed. The Entry Criteria is detailed on how registration and the Wait List will be managed by the Organizers. FYI, the Entry Criteria will be published VERY soon. Cheers, Rick

The Entry Preface and Entry Criteria for 12WRC 2014 has been published. Check the IRF website, rogaining.com, or the event website, peakassurance.net for details.

The entries for 12WRC2014 will be opening within the next six or so weeks. Watch the event website shown below for details. The number of entries for this event will be limited to 1,000 individuals

http://peakassurance.net/12WRC_2014.html

The IRF has notified the Rogaine Committee of the allocation of wildcards. The Rogaine Committee of Orienteering USA gets to allocate 10. The IRF added this note:

"Firstly it is important to note that wildcards will not be required unless the event becomes oversubscribed. That is 900 individuals (1,000 less the 100 wildcard places) enter the event."

Yes and unless something magical happens in the next twelve months, I am of the opinion that this one won't reach capacity either.
vs.
I wouldn't be surprised if the limit of 1000 sells out.

Just over three weeks to go until the event, so let's check in to see how we're doing: the website says there are 398 confirmed registrations. Hurry, the last 602 slots may disappear fast!

hmmm... an old thread that has been dormant for 9 months has been revived. So what kept all the rogainers away ?

Location (NA as opposed Europe), Cost, Visa requirements. One would think.

The very idea of the requirement turned me off.

One of the IRF members is in the middle of a war with another IRF member, and this other member thinks it's at war with the Championships' host. This doesn't explain 600 missing people but easily explains 100.

JJ you can't quote me; I already quoted myself with that very assertion :-)

I am also of the opinion that the World Champs in Aus in 2016 will go much closer to this limit.

I am also of the opinion that the World Champs in Aus in 2016 will go much closer to this limit.

Quoted for posterity.

Incidentally, I think the registration numbers are quite good for this event in this location. The subtext of my post is that I think there was never any reason to worry about the entry criteria when the field limit was set higher than the field size of any Rogaine in history. All welcome!

I just think it's remarkable that with a world population of over seven billion people, we can only rustle up around 400 for a World Championship event. Our local 24hr event is on the weekend before the WC and we have in excess of 300 people competing (I'll know exact numbers later today or tomorrow).

The US has between 250 and 500 rogainers. Australia has several thousand, as does Europe. It's a commitment to put up with 14 hours of air travel, plus expense, so not too remarkable that few Aussies and Europeans travel so far to go to South Dakota, and so few US teams travel that far to go to Europe or Australia. Given the much smaller "local" number of rogainers, it's a pretty good turnout.

South Dakota is even a pretty long trip for most North Americans. I've been there only once. But as I was driving through the Black Hills, all I could think was how much I hoped I could someday be out there with a map and compass in hand. I think this will be a true joy.

The WRC got me.

I'm a recreational rogainer, only teaming up with friends and co-workers (none of my teammates had ever orienteered before teaming up with me).

So far, we've only stayed in WA, except for a few ventures in OR and BC. We don't really have a desire to travel...

Until WRC in South Dakota came along, and we decided that it would be worth it. I think it will be.

If I had leave, I'd go.

14 hours, pffft. I think it's a bit more from the second best WA...

Well we have 416 for our event, nice!

No wonder there are only 41 Australians coming to the WRC. I just checked the discount airfare - over $4500 US for a two person team, and that doesn't include the additional airfare or rental car from Denver Colorado to Rapid City. All in all, it looks like a $5000 investment for a team.

Guess I will skip hopping on a flight to WA for your event, tRicky, and I'll pass on the WRC in 2016 at those prices, so maybe there will be one extra spot to consider on that predicted sell out.

Seriously, the war means close to 100 lost entries (in near-perpetuity).

I was hoping someone else would ask but they didn't.
Please tell us about "the war". Who is involved? What are the issues? Why can't we get along?

I was guessing Ukraine.

FYI there is an active war in geographic Europe. As in, two armies in direct combat, each with tanks and artillery, one side with aircraft and ballistic missiles, the other with surface-to-air, and with hundreds of dead people on both sides and among non-combatants. Not particularly close to prime rogaining terrain, but the two neighboring countries involved are IRF members, let's call them U and R. R denies its involvement; its citizenry overwhelmingly think it's at some kind of war instead with a certain third IRF member (A), although A doesn't have its forces near or within the conflict zone.

Understandably, people from U and R aren't particularly eager to travel. People from U are subject to military call-up and U's economy is in ruins (only partly due to the war). People from R who are members of the military or security forces (who are well represented among rogainers) are officially prohibited from travel, a reserve call-up begins in late August, and R's people have been warned by its government against traveling to A lest they get rounded up and locked up in G. R's economy is also about to head south, but not nearly at the same rate as that of U. And there is an ever-present possibility that due to action by A and E, those brave enough to travel from R may at any moment find their charge cards blocked, or worse.

Given that participants from R and U together number somewhere between 20% and 60% of the attendance major international rogaines (more if the rogaines are in Europe, less if not), my estimate of 100 missing participants is somewhere in the ballpark, probably a bit too high. This estimate is the extra attendance that would have happened if the South Dakota WRC had occurred in say 2013 and not 2014.

i think some were under the impression that there was dispute going on between individual councilors of the irf. as one, i would say that aside from our usual discussions of viewpoints, the council is actvely working together on behalf of the wrc events, and the sport. we have just approved Spain as the newest irf member, and their council reps will be at south dakota. those who would be interested in irf's current activities and plans are all welcome to attend the annual meeting, which will be held in deadwood sd on the friday afternoon before the event, all are welcome. Tundra/Desert's hypothetical explanation of the current international situation is unfortunately quite knowledgable and likely correct.

I thought the members of R would only travel to events held in or near R due to their own personal financial instability. I seem to recall a certain Rian APer who decided that WC orienteering events shouldn't be held outside of Europe (I mean, E) due to the financial cost of having to travel.

Anyway I hope all goes well in SD and perhaps next time I will have some leave saved up to be able to make the trip!

R is a medium-income-level nation (GDP of U.S. $17.9k/capita PPP, $14.8k real dollars), which (sadly) affords it the ability to have a military capable of invading neighboring countries. U is the next level down in terms of economic development. Most R rogainers can well afford to travel outside E, as evidenced by the attendance at the 2010 WRC. Not quite so for U.

National/state GDP doesn't necessarily translate into wealth for a nation's citizens though. Our state is/was in the midst of a mining boom whereby all the miners (who were typically fly in/fly out and from outside the state) spent up big and trebled the price of houses in just a few years so we were dubbed the 'boom state'. For those of us not in mining and who hadn't bought a house prior to the boom, tough luck. Everyone still thinks we're rich though 'thanks to the mining boom'. I have yet to see any of this wealth.