Not all MTBO participants begin progress to mountain biking after foot orienteering. Here are two very passionate riders who enjoyed plenty of adventure navigation and rogaine events, before they discovered MTBO. Now they are hooked!  1. You live in the South Canterbury and are members of PAPO, but where did your journey into MTBO start?Sally: I completed […]

An edited version of an article in the Vic MTBO e-news describing the events:  A small group of Australians who travelled to Otago for the 2025 New Zealand MTBO championships on 1-3 February 2025.  The sprint and middle was in Alexandra, an hour east of Queenstown. The first half of the sprint was in a […]

Our Training Coordinator, Gene Beveridge, has not only developed resources for coaches, teachers, and those looking to improve their skills, but has also developed fresh webpages for those new to the sport. Check out the new pages in the ‘About Orienteering’ menu, use these pages to improve your own communication and outreach, and share your feedback […]

Orienteering Course Setting: From Concept to Competition (19:30-20:30 CET 4 March 2025) With Šimon Mareček Designing a great orienteering course requires a blend of creativity and experience. This webinar will explore key principles of course setting, from creating engaging challenges to ensuring fairness and flow. Although aimed at beginner course setters, I believe this lecture can help […]

The next two webinars on key elements of board work and governance have been confirmed.

The group consists of Heidi Stolberger & Joolz Moore from the original committee and they are joined by  Stephen Bradley from Marlborough OC. Stephen has spent 10 years on the orienteering club committee, three as president, and he is  a very active committee member of the Marlborough MTB club. 

For the 750 people who attended Oceania. I wish I had been there but unfortunately this time I was unable to attend. A young family and other commitments meant we couldn’t quite make it work. What an amazing effort from everyone involved, from the organisers through to all the competitors – what a great way to […]

Oceania is over, but what a warm welcome Orienteering Wellington put on for Oceania Orienteering Championships 2025 in the Manawatū region. Kiwi athletes  injected energy and accuracy into every day and kept the black and white banner flying high in the AUS / NZL  challenge. Read the High Performance event reports by Jenni Adams:   Oceania sprint – A great […]

The Oceania Orienteering Champs 2025 Australia / New Zealand Challenge competition has a rich history dating back to the 1970s when the Alan Brown Memorial Trophy was first contested. It stands out as one of the premier inter-country orienteering events across all age categories.  In 2025 the Challenge was contested in 22 age classes from […]

The Katoa Po Explorer is a teams rogaine event that has been designed for rogainers and adventure racers of all ages wanting to practise their night navigation and teamwork. The 45th Katoa Po promises a full weekend of orienteering and social activities for all in 2025. This year it will be based near Reporoa, at Hoanga (last […]

It is time to look at Taupō as it is this club’s 50th anniversary this year (29 April 2025). So the Taupō Orienteering Club plan to celebrate this in a low key way towards the end of the year and provide the opportunity as much as practical for past members to take part. The club […]

The Taupo Katoa Po event was the brainchild of Graham Teahan who was a member of the Taupō Orienteering Club in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. Graham had read about the Swedish night relay teams event called Budkavle and the Australian equivalent initiated by Bjorn Blomqstedt and suggested that the Taupo Club organise a […]

1. How did you to start orienteering?Angus has revealed he has an official result from when he was 6 weeks old on an Orange course from 5 November 2006. He adds “My uncle did help me a little bit by taking me round in a backpack, but I reckon I was the true brains of […]

It is always a bonus to see both countries represented at each others Nationals, so we enjoyed having Australian riders and a British rider join us at the NZ MTBO champs. We  look forward to your feedback on the terrain and courses. MTBO SPRINT – Monday 1 Feb 2025Map: Boot Hill and Molyneux ParkPlanner: Fraser […]

Enter your best photo taken at an orienteering event in 2024, t&c’s apply, see below*. There will be three categories to enter:1. People shots (active / fun),2. Landscape shot (can have people in the distance, but the landscape is the feature)  3. Abstract / other subjects.The winning photograph will be taken by a current member […]

It’s hard to believe a year has gone by. The Board had a planning session in November to consider and develop the business plan for 2025. Much of our work will continue as an organisation but with an emphasis on some key items. These include: Please do engage with the draft business plan, we would […]

Bulletin 1 has been released for the 45th Katoa Po. This will be held near Reporoa at Hoanga and Ngahiwi farms and will offer a weekend of orienteering and social activities for all levels of ability. The event, scheduled for 8-9 March 2025, will begin with a fun warm-up event on Saturday afternoon. The main events […]

Gavin Milne is the 2024 recipient of the Auckland Orienteering Club’s Technology Advancement Award and also a previous winner of the AOC Comedy / Mispunch of the Year. It was time to catch-up with New Zealand’s most consistent GoPro orienteer, who loves sharing NZ terrain and orienteering events. Gavin first discovered orienteering while teaching at MAGS […]

World Orienteering Week has a special offer along with SPORTident available until the end of  2024. Whether in the forest, in the city, or in the gym, the set contains all equipment to get started.  For indoor training or go for the full orienteering outdoors adventure, it has  30 control cards and 14 stations the set comes […]

Central Otago Orienteering / Dunedin are hosting the 2025 NZ MTBO Championships in Central Otago over the weekend of 1st / 2nd Feb. There will be a sprint in Alexandra on the morning of the 1st followed by middle distance on Matangi Station in the afternoon. The long distance will be in Naseby Forest on 2nd […]

Earlier this year we farewelled another orienteering stalwart. We asked Darren Ashmore a bit more about his dad. Michael Ashmore was a long-time member of the Central (later Auckland) orienteering club from the early 1980’s onwards.  Michael started orienteering at a ‘have a go’ event on an iconic volcanic cone in Otahuhu, Auckland – Mt […]

Orienteerpod  webinar from November: Training and life of top international elite orienteers with Ralph Street (GBR), Tim Robertson (NZL) and Magnus Dewett (DEN) from “Orienteer Pod”. If you missed the live podcast you can hear about   their training, recent events and how they achieve their orienteering goals in the recent IOF podcast here 

Orienteers! SOC’s got you covered – or, better still, bandaged! We realised that next year’s Taitonga South Island Champs at Waikaia were looming and just how isolated we would be. Twelve SOC members, plus a few outdoor club ring-ins, recently attended two 2-hour sessions of First Aid. Thanks to Hato Hone St John, this was […]

Tony’s family in Australia are asking for more information about him. We found these newspaper clippings from 1974, and have sent them. He was a very enthusiastic orienteer when the sport was still quite young in NZ. If you have more to share,  such as some memories, photos or more print articles, do send info […]

Between the dates 17 -25 May 2025, any activity held can be registered as a World Orienteering Week event. Imagine the world’s largest orienteering event. One where thousands of experienced orienteers, recreational participants and newcomers come together and participate in orienteering activities close to where they live, but at the same time as similar activities all […]

I’ve been very envious of the school teams, support crew and other NZ orienteers who have just been away in Australia. It’s not just running around a course that I love about orienteering, I have always enjoyed the opportunity to hang out with friends and fellow orienteers in places you’d probably never travel to for […]

The Classic, originally the Winter Classic, is an endurance event that is both physically and mentally demanding. The event generally takes the form of a one-person relay with a pivot control and a series of loops, i.e. you do all the legs yourself! This was originally organised by Wairarapa Orienteering Club from 1987 until the early 2000’s […]

Stacey was introduced to orienteering through rogaining, and she recalls her first experience as a challenging start. Instead of opting for an easy sprint or park event, she decided a farmland with forest course would be a good adventure  “I really had no idea. It had a bushy forest section with lots of native bush.” […]

What? This is a parent-led 3 day residential orienteering training camp at the start of the summer holiday.Who? All keen young orienteers, of any level / experience, up to and including yr 8 (yr 4 and below should be accompanied by a parent).Continue reading…