Call for Volunteers –ACTERA National Capital "Brookvale" Ride - October 15th 2023
Good afternoon all,
The ACT Endurance Riders Association (ACTERA) has once again requested assistance with their National Capital “Brookvale” Ride being conducted over the weekend of Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th of October 2023.
From their promotional materiel we gain the following information:
The ACT Endurance Riders Association Inc. will host an 80km endurance Ride, 53km elevator and 40km, 22km and 13km rides, all on Sunday 15 October 2023, at ‘Brookvale’ on the outskirts of Canberra. All 80km, 53km and 40km riders must enter and vet on Saturday. Participants in the 22km and 13km rides can enter and vet on Saturday (preferable) or EARLY on Sunday but must be ready to ride 30 minutes before their ride starting times to attend the mandatory pre-ride talks. Ride information, including the opening date for entries and the starting time for each ride, will be provided on the ACTERA website and the ACTERA Facebook page. All necessary horse and human health regulations will be enforced throughout the weekend.
Ride Distance | Challenge and fitness | Starts |
80km (2 x 40km) | Challenging course, especially the first leg. Horses must be fit. | 5 am |
53km Intermediate (40+13km Elevator) | No big hills but some moderate climbs in the first leg. Reasonable level of fitness needed. | 7 am |
40km Intermediate | No big hills but some moderate climbs. Reasonable fitness | 7 am |
22km Introductory | Undulating, with some gradual climbs. Some fitness needed. | 8 am |
13km Introductory | Undulating, with some gradual climbs. Most horses are able. | 9 am |
Ride base: Brookvale is a no-frills campsite in a picturesque valley with a creek running through it. Facilities are basic, with bush and hire toilets and horse water (creek) available. You will need to bring your own drinking water. If you must bring a dog, please keep it on a lead at all times. No dogs in or near the vetting area or office. No fires. Patchy phone coverage. Snax on Trax Café will provide the canteen service.
Directions: The ‘Brookvale’ property is at 372 Mountain Creek Road, about 30 minutes from Canberra. The ride base is 1.5km off Mountain Creek Road along Doctors Flat Road: signage from Uriarra Road. DO NOT approach from the Wee Jasper/Brindabella National Park direction as Doctor’s Flat Road has locked gates.
The WICEN effort will be to provide operators in the field at 7 checkpoints plus the manning of the HQ radio at the ride base. WICEN Operations will be on one of the VHF Portable repeater (147.125 MHz +600 offset) and there will also be the use of one of the WICEN Commercial Mid-Band VHF services for the ride officials. This exercise only requires operators to have a VHF 2 metre radio capable of 10 Watts and at least a ¼ wave vertical antenna and be able to operate for a few hours so some battery calculations may be required. If you don’t have a suitable radio then we can arrange the loan of equipment from Club and personal stores, just let us know early.
For those who have recently obtained their licences or have not done a WICEN exercise before, don’t hold back as it’s an excellent way of getting out and building up your experience, it’s also great to take the family to. Most of the checkpoints are reasonably easy to access using dirt roads in the Uriarra forest area however some places will need 4WD. Operators with early starts are welcome to camp out at the Ride Base on the Saturday night and take part in the evenings entertainment activities, you will need to be self-sufficient in this regard
To enable us to create a roster we need to collect some information from you so if you can assist on the 15th October, even if only for a few hours, please use the below Google Forms link that will take you to our WICEN Volunteer Registration form (make sure the whole link is selected).
We are happy for people to email any queries, please send them to wicen@crarc.org.au, not a “Reply” to me and especially not a “Reply All” please.
The link…..
Cheers all,
Phil Longworth VK1PL
Deputy State Coordinator, WICEN ACT
Life Member, Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club
