Fresh from the 2013 Setting & Vetting Seminar, Kim, Steven and I (Michael) agreed to set the 2014 state champs and we wanted to get the ball rolling straight away. Being both my first rogaine and a state champs, I wanted a course that had it all: mostly native open bush, with maybe some farms, some hilly bits, some flat bits, some virgin rogaining country and most importantly, a nice spacious and preferably grassy hash site.

We didn't have much idea of where to go at first. After looking around the wooded areas of the Murray River catchment and not finding any hash sites to get overly excited about, we paid a visit to the next possibility on the list: Grimwade. There we found not one but two grassy paddocks that would be ideal, and the native bush in those parts seemed pretty good too. I was a bit apprehensive that the eastern half of the proposed course was too flat and the features would be too broad, but later study of contour maps when we got home showed there were just enough decent features (and a lot of tracks providing good attack points) to make it work.

Next, we needed permission. I met the farmer of what eventually became the hash site. He told me the long history of the place, detailing how the farmland had been in the family since the very early 1900s, was owned by another family before that, and how it had lain fallow for the past 50 odd years. Imagine my disappointment when he then said was going to plant trees on it in March 2014. Instead, he offered for us to camp on the main farm just to the north. Excellent! Although not my favourite choice, we had secured the most important part of any rogaine, a good hash site.

Now we needed to organise some maps. I contacted our WARA map banker, Ian Thomsett, and got the digital data for the area so we could start on the competition map.

However, as it turned out, the southern part of the course is one of few places in the southwest to be mapped using only 10 metre contours, instead of the usual 5 metres. What to do? I turned to my then resident housemate and fellow rogainer Mike Turner and asked him to write some computer code to draw in the missing contours. Like all good programming projects, we (mainly Mike) probably spent far more time discussing the problem and refining the code than if I'd just done it manually, but I learnt heaps about mapping that otherwise would have been spent wasted on the mind numbing task of drawing them in by hand.

Now that we finally had our map, we couldn’t wait to armchair controls. Each setter set their own course separately and then we combined our maps. The map looked as though the course would be a choose your own adventure, where competitors could go for hilly or flat areas, pines or bush, nav by tracks or straight lines.

By now it was March and we got some good news from the hash site farmer.

He had put off tree planting so we could go back to my preferred hash site if we wanted. Yippee! About this time we also met our vetters, John Tanner and Dick Blom and finally the real fun could start: fieldwork!! In the beginning of the first fieldtrip there was one particularly pleasant surprise. Kim, Steve and I rocked up in nearby Balingup, car brimming with camping gear, to be informed by Dick that he had organised accommodation for us in Balingup. Compared to the creature-comfort-free camping we had planned, a hot shower and hot meal at the end of every day of fieldwork was miles better!

However, after the first weekend of setting when most of the controls were placed, the perfectionist-driven slave driver came out in me. Well over half of the controls that were initially set were moved or removed by the time the map was finalised as I kept reducing the size of the originally massive course, or got cold feet about my armchair placements on pretty dubious features. In the end, the whole setting and vetting team more or less spent four weekends doing all this double- and triple-handling of controls, but they did it with a smile, for which I am very grateful.

Finally, the weekend of the rogaine came. What glorious weather we enjoyed! Winter rogaines in the far south west are often wet affairs, but we lucked out with sunny days and clear nights. If you camped on the Friday night and thought it was a bit chilly, that's because the mercury dipped to around minus 3 according to the admin thermometer! Saturday night was warmer, but the teams that stayed out all night still got cold, especially in the valleys. Still, probably not as cold as the two team members from a team of five that got a lift back to hash and spent 45 mins on the back of the 4WD…

The hash at dinner time was a sight to see (for me anyway). There were people everywhere munching down tasty food sitting three rows deep around a great blaze. When competing, I usually get in to hash (at midnight) to find embers and for dinner get a choice of beef stroganoff or beef stroganoff with rice!

From start to finish, we had an excellent time organising this event. If you’re anything like me and hate giving up competing to volunteer in admin or hash, then setting an event is certainly your best option. Fieldwork is every bit as enjoyable as competing, and it is about the only time (mere mortals) can visit all of the controls. Also, I found that having one or two experienced setters on your team (we had John Tanner and Dick Blom) is a big plus as it allows you to ask questions and bounce ideas. So, to anyone toying with the idea of setting or vetting I highly recommend attending the next S&V seminar.

Special thanks go to the farmer who provided the hash site and built the hash fire. We also had widespread support from all of the other corporate and local landowners involved – only one absentee owner refused access. A big thank you must also go to the many volunteers, without whom these events could never be as enjoyable as they undoubtedly are. Another person to whom the setting team is indebted is our unofficial setter, Helen Gandy (mum), who put in a lot of her time being our fieldwork chauffeur, fieldwork cook, patrolling companion at the event, providing the 4WD for fieldwork and patrols, and all round most-important-supporter.

The assistance from the WARA executive was also great, especially from Ian Thomsett, who was a good mentor throughout and helped in no small measure to solve the mapping and event insurance issues we had.