Big congratulations to Hawkes bay Orienteering for hosting a very successful NZ Orienteering Champs over Labour weekend. Jane Herries, James Watson and the team pulled off an impressive achievement, having had their plans for hosting Nationals at Easter severely disrupted following the awful damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in February. I remember talking with Jane and […]

The sprint final was held in the narrow alleyways of Verona (where Shakespeare is thought to have got his inspiration for Romeo & Juliet), with the arena beside the spectacular Roman amphitheater. I particularly enjoyed the cheering from a group of NZ tourists eating at a restaurant in the main square, who were very excited […]

A bit of a story about the 2023 Australian Rogaine Championships held in the Goobang National Park about 4 hours drive west of Sydney.I enjoyed the 2022 Australian Rogaine champs so much I decided to have another go in 2023! To my astonishment, my little social media story about last year’s event resulted in a […]

Anne Audain shares her scrapbook photos   Anne Audain (nee Garrett) overcame adversity to become one of New Zealand’s well-renown runners. Coached by Gordon Pirie from 1970-1980 and later John Davies from 1980-1992. Anne was introduced to orienteering by Gordon Pirie, but went on to pioneer professional running for women. Anne set a world record in the 5000m and winning […]

The IOF’s international specification for control descriptions has been updated in a version, that applies from 2024 onwards. The new specification was published by IOF’s Rules commission and replaces the current version from 2018. It contains several changes, among them a new symbol for map flip under “Special instructions”. The list of major changes compared […]

We’re still testing your knowledge about orienteering in New Zealand to celebrate our 50th year anniversary. The answers will be after the ‘Last points’ at the end of this news email. (You may need to click on the three dots at the base, to see the full newsletter).  Bryan Teahan’s 50th booklet is now available […]

The Classic’s 37th Anniversary and Wayne Cretney Memorial event (The Classic Long Distance event plus a 3 hour rogaine) are coming soon on the 11th of November and this one will be a real treat! Red Medium, orange, yellow and white courses on-the-day courses also available. Hosted by the Wellington club this will be a […]

It was fantastic to be part of the NZ contingent that travelled to Australia to compete in the Australian MTBO Champs  a few weeks ago. This included riders selected to represent NZ in the ANZ challenge – the first time this has taken place since 2019, following the disruption covid created in the last 3 years. […]

An obstetrician would have called this a difficult birth. Scheduled for 2019 during the before pandemic times. In 2022, the event had to wait for another year as the Czech Republic was scheduled to host. The first “window” was 2023. It was then hit by inflation and numbers low as a result and a war in Eastern Europe. A […]

Exploring the Lake Tekapo Wilderness: Prepare to be captivated by Lake Tekapo’s rugged beauty and diverse landscapes as Wicked Rogaine hosts the Australasian 24hr Rogaining Championships. Wicked Rogaines is thrilled to announce the upcoming Australasian 24hr Rogaining Championships (also the New Zealand 24hr rogaining championships), set to take place in the Lake Tekapo region from the 16th […]

First, I must be blatantly honest that I have never had much time for MTB… However this trip sounded like fun to join in on and even though I missed the NZ team selection, I could still enjoy myself and try to ruffle a few feathers! The Lower South Island contingent arrived in Brisbane early […]

For those of you enthused from the last Australian Champs we now have information on the 2024 champs. Riders can expect a wide variety of terrain from intricate single track in native eucalypt forest, to vast pine plantation trail networks. All is within half an hour’s drive of central Canberra. Thursday 17 October 2024  | […]

We hear from our head coach and logistical head manager who lead our coaching and management teams, supporting our juniors in the Southern Cross team in Western Australia.  Head coach | Michael Croxford is a self-employed Cartographer, Resource Management Planner, and Sports Administrator.  I started orienteering in 1988 at Kaiapoi High School after Kath Adams suggested I might enjoy it. […]

What? A parent-led 3 day residential orienteering training camp at the start of the summer holiday.Who? All keen primary school orienteers, of any level / experience, up to and including yr 8 (yr 4 and below should be accompanied by a parent).When? Starting ~5pm Friday 15th December, ending ~3pm, Sunday 17th December (exact times TBA)Where? […]

The 2022 award recipients were mentioned at the ONZ AGM in April 2023, but the award presentations are to be at Nationals on October. It’s time for a highlight on more of  these worthy orienteers: Phillip Herries – O-Lynx  |2022 Innovation awardPhillip has a background in software and electronics, which proved helpful when the Hawkes Bay […]

Photo above back row: Jean Cory-Wright, Shaun Collins, Alistair Cory-Wright, Greg Barbour, Rachael Smith, Antonia Wood, Bruce McLeud (obscured at back holding flag), Alistair Landels, Darren Ashmore. Front row: Baby in stroller with matching t-shirt young Caden Larsen, Sasha McLeod and Jenni Adams. Jean and Alistair Cory-Wright were team managers.  Photographer: First photo by Marquita Gelderman, and the […]

This year we’ll find ways to test your knowledge about orienteering in New Zealand to celebrate our 50th year anniversary. The answers will be after the ‘Last points’ at the end of this news email. (You may need to click on the three dots at the base, to see the full newsletter).  Many thanks to […]

It has been a super exciting month with many orienteers competing overseas (so many I started to wonder if anyone was left in NZ!), and some great results by a number of elite, junior, and age grade orienteers – all covered in detail elsewhere in this compass point, so won’t detail here other than to […]

“They hovered silently at the track edge, staring intently into your soul as if waiting to take you into the underworld. One of them lurked behind the control and drifted slowly like the morbid undead towards you as you approached, making you race to dib your stick and be gone before she got there first and […]

A late report from an event in July in between the big competitions. The official number of participants in the Swiss O Week 2023 is 4,683 people, with up to 40 countries represented.  We were all given a huge paperback handbook with176 pages of information for a 6 day event! The transport was amazing from the buses around Flims […]

35 years ago, and as strangely as coincidences go… 3 of the 5 athletes that ran in the 2023 World Masters Orienteering Champs (WMOC) this year, also ran in a 1988 Orienteering World Cup (OWC) which was in the same area as this year’s WMOC long distance event. Back then, they were representing three different countries: Jean for Great […]

HEADBAND WINNERS  We’re looking forwasrd the NZ Orienteering Champs on Labour weekend! The winners of the  Str8compass headbands for early bird entries were:  We will profile some of the headband winner’s favourite maps very soon. But more importantly, there will be more detail on events out soon, the sprint and middle events are very well organised, but […]

It is time to connect with one of our NZ orienteers who – like many – has recently combined the travel and study with an intense orienteering sport experience.  Nathan Borton found the sport as a fun thing to do with his friends in intermediate with the Auckland schools sprint series. In year 8 he […]

John Davies and Simon Swaffield  demonstrating PAPO club colours in 2001 in Nasby forest. Photo by B.Collins.Stuart Payne says of the glowing club attire in the photo “we all thought we looked really cool at the time.. we chose these colours because the purple and pink initials were P&P, like the P and P in Peninsula and Plains of the name […]

This year we’ll find ways to test your knowledge about orienteering in New Zealand to celebrate our 50th year anniversary. The answers will be after the ‘Last points’ at the end of this news email. (You may need to click on the three dots at the base, to see the full newsletter).  Many thanks to […]

9th/10th September in Oz – get there if you can! This year’s NSW State Championships are to be held in new spectacular terrain at Breakfast Creek near Rylstone just beyond the World Heritage Blue Mountains National Park.  Fast running in fabulous pagoda country with vistas to behold!!  The mapper says the area is too good […]

July has been a month of mixed emotions and events. On the upside, it was so great to see our athletes performing at JWOC and WOC, with some really impressive performances across the teams in different disciplines. Whilst we were watching this from our desks on the other side of the world to Europe, we […]

World Orienteering Championship NZ Athlete profile | Matt Ogden 1. Number of WOC’s previously attended:3 2014 Italy (52nd Long), 2015 Scotland (26th Middle), 2018 Latvia (39th Long) In 2014 my preparations were atrocious, 2018 the WOC Middle was my first race for 2 months. I was mostly satisfied in 2015 but still very inexperienced at […]

All races can be followed on IOF-TV. Follow NZ’s eight runners this week as they battle for World Cup points in both the streets and the forest. With a mix of experienced and newer athletes this will be an exciting competition to watch with terrains similar to the 2021 WOC races and the also first big […]

Josie was born in Murchison and grew up in Richmond and Timaru. She was an Economist in the forest industry, and then moved into health management. Her most recent job was Service Manager in the Radiology department with the CDHB where she was highly valued by her colleagues. In her 20s Josie was a runner, […]