Around 450 Primary and Intermediate school students from ten schools in the Taupo and surrounding districts took part in an Orienteering Big Day Out with rogaining events at Owen Delany Park on 25th June. This was a suitable finishing finale to the series of in-school orienteering training sessions held by the Taupo Orienteering Club in eleven schools over term 2, as well as some orienteering sessions held at Whakaipo Bay for a number of schools camping there in term 1.

It has been clear from the in-school training sessions that many students have improved their orienteering and rogaining skills so we made the Big Day Out Courses a lot more challenging than last year. While a number of teams came close to completing the courses, only one year7/8 boys team from Hilltop School managed to complete the course with only 4 seconds to spare from the 45minutes allowed.

This year seven of the ten schools competing shared in the first three placings in each section with students from Taupo Intermediate school taking top honours with five placings with Waipahihi and Hilltop schools close behind.

Overall results will be available on the Taupo Website https://taupoorienteering.nz

This is now the fifth year that orienteering education training sessions have been held in primary and intermediate schools and it seems that they have now become a much anticipated part of the term 2 sporting scene.

To provide more opportunity for school students and their parents to enjoy orienteering locally, and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Taupo Orienteering Club’s formation, a series of in-town urban orienteering rogaining events will be held starting in the second half of August. Details will soon be available on the Club website.