Well, here's a definition:
"Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross-country navigation for teams travelling on foot.
The object is to score points by finding checkpoints located on the course
within a specified time. Checkpoints may be visited in any order."
The sport was invented in Australia, which still has more rogainers than anywhere else. There are various stories about how the name came about. One is that it stands for ROger, GAIl and NEil, the pioneers of rogaining. Another is that it means Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance!
To find out more, try "What is Rogaining?" from the Australian Rogaine Association website. It's about a page.
If you want a detailed introduction to the sport, one of the best we've found is a booklet called "Which way's North?" It's a 1mb pdf.
These both have an Australian background. To find out about the New Zealand flavour, look at "Rogaining in New Zealand",
This page was written by Michael Wood and updated 23 Nov 02.