ARA was recently contacted by Gavon Balharry, who won the Intervarsity 24 Hour Walk in 1967 and 1968.

Gavon is now retired and resident in Switzerland. Gavon related that in the 1960's he and David Moriarty were postgraduate students at the Waite Institute at Adelaide University.

According to the Phillips' rogaining book and David Hogg's article, the 1967 24 Hour Intervarsity was held in Adelaide and won by Adelaide University, the 1968 event was held in Newcastle and again won by Adelaide.

Gavon has kindly sent a copy of the 1968 Intervarsity results and his trophy. Intervarsity "24 Hour Orienteering" was unofficial until the 1969 event held in Victoria, whose 50th anniversary was celebrated last year.

Rogaining Tasmania conducted the highly successful 40th Australian Championship (including the regional Australasian Rogaining Championship) near St Helens on 9-10 November 2019. The unique and scenic coastal granite terrain was contrasted with the complex hills interspersed with thick gullies and button grass, found further inland. The full moon was out and weather was pleasantly fine and cool.

The leaders from 2018 were reversed. Winners of the open categories were:

• Julie Quinn, David Baldwin (ACT): First Mixed
• Paul Williams, David Symons (WA): First Men
• Gill Fowler (NSW), Joanna Sinclair (Tas): First Women

The Interstate and Trans-Tasman Challenge Trophy was won clearly by ACT, ahead of a pack consisting of Tasmania, NSW, Western Australia and Victoria.

The full results are now available on the ARC 2019 website. This includes photos, the map, routes and analysis.

The 2019 World Rogaining Championship delivered an epic and picturesque event at La Molina ski resort in the Pyrenees mountains of Catalonia.

The organisers promised a 140km2 course of 86 controls requiring 103km with 9000 metres climb to complete. Postcard perfect weather in the preceding days did not last, with thunderstorms during the planning on the Saturday morning, another storm with hail in the afternoon, followed by gale force winds on the high open peaks all night. The event finished in glorious sunshine.

Standout performance of the 56 Australians in the field of 866 (386 teams) was Julie Quinn and David Baldwin, 1st in Mixed Veterans and 2nd in Mixed Open with 349 points.

The 2019 Intervarsity was held in conjunction with the ACT Championship in Bournda National Park and Nature Reserve near Merimbula NSW on 18-19 May.

Superb warm sunny weather on the weekend ensured that the scenic coastal terrain was at its best. The hash house was situated at a disused adventure park featuring a scenic lake and golf course.

It was a special occasion for the 50th anniversary of the Intervarsity. David Hogg, who organised the first official intervarsity in 1969, presented the trophies to the winners and placegetters.

ACT again provided the bulk of the 13 Intervarsity teams, with 10 teams from Australian National University (ANU). Tony Newman and Mikey Dimuantes, were first in Mens Open, second place overall and winners of the 13th Nigel Aylott University Championship.

First mixed Intervarsity team was Kelvin Peh and Holly Ashburner of ANU, whilst the women's IV winners were Alice Schacher, Zoe Oldfield and Rhea Papadopoulos from ANU. Results are posted on the: ARA website.