Despite the shortest day just ticking over, orienteers are not hibernating! From now over the next month we have athletes over in Europe representing New Zealand at EYOC (European Youth Champs), JWOC and WOC. No doubt there will be some bleary eyed orienteers at work who have been up through the night to watch GPS dots on […]

This year’s Katoa Po was held for the first time since 1994 on the Ōpepe farm . The weather did look a bit dubious earlier in the week but turned out to be fine on the day. Around 175 competitors took part in the events over the weekend with camping in a nice sheltered gully. […]

The 46th Katoa Po promises a full weekend of orienteering and social activities for all in 2026. This year it will be based on an iconic map from the past Ōpepe which is around 10Km from Taupō and has been completely remapped. This area is rolling farmland incised with intricate gullies, and patches of grazed […]

Nelson Orienteering Club invites all orienteers, from New Zealand and abroad, to celebrate top-quality orienteering in the South Island of New Zealand.  Would you like to revisit those stunning locations from King’s Birthday 2024? Did you miss out and wish you had been there? Alternatively, do you need navigation training or want to test your […]

UPDATE 1 NOV 2025 – Entries are open via EnterO, with standard fees available until midnight on Sunday, 9 November. Entries close at midnight on Sunday16 November, but prices will increase by 50%. Avoid the fee rise by registering early. The refund policy is can be viewed on the Golden Bay Revisited website. Nelson Orienteering Club invites […]

This year’s event will again be a big one, on an updated map at the ever challenging Cable Bay Adventure Park, which means you get the best courses and will be testing your limits! This is our big yearly event for the club and helps us pay for new maps and equipment. If you like what […]

We caught up with a third orienteer who has also been selected to represent Aotearoa at the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Spain.  Bronwen Rees-Jones is a passionate orienteer and runner from Waikato who recently embraced a new challenge – competing in the New Zealand Mountain Running Championships that were held in April. Despite being […]

Deb Bain and Sally Dickson are following the World Masters Series of MTBO in Europe from late May to early July. This report is on the second two events: the Danish Camp held in Sweden (now renamed to the Nordic Camp) and the Austrian Champs plus the Czech &  Austrian Cup and quick report from Poland. […]

Brisbane invites you to Australian Championshipss 2025:• All events within easy drive of the city• Fly in for the weekend flagship events, or enjoy a full week of orienteering plus a warmup• Dash for Cash to reward the fastest Elite sprinters.• Night Relay for classes competing in the National Orienteering League.• Bulletin 1 available & […]

Hawkes Bay Orienteering are excited to be hosting you all in Te Matau-a-Māui for King’s Birthday Weekend. The event has three World Ranking Events (WREs), trials for the Southern Cross team, and days of memorable competition.• SPRINT Saturday 31st May: Keirunga Gardens and Iona College• MIDDLE Sunday 1st June: Smedley Station

 Any activity during this week could be a World Orienteering Week event! You can register it on the WOW website. Currently only North west have their event registered . Register your WOW event here. NZ events during this week are: Sun 18 May 2025 • Whangarei Orienteering Flyger Road 90 minute Rogaine –   Whangarei• North West Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine […]

Southland Orienteering Club recently hosted the Taitonga South Island Orienteering Championships in the Waikaia Forest Conservation Area in Northern Southland, welcoming competitors, not only from throughout New Zealand but from around the world, representing Australia, New Caledonia, Denmark, Norway, England, Scotland, Ireland, Finland and Switzerland. The event was also attended by those trialling for the […]

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 […]

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 […]

Nelson Orienteering Club’s King’s Birthday Weekend event in Golden Bay was a roaring success, providing competitors from around the country and Australia with Challenging courses – and even the weather played its part.  Feedback suggests that many local businesses had a welcome income boost with several providing vouchers and discounts.Collingwood Area school had a refreshments […]

King’s Birthday Weekend saw over 450 participants tackle the ‘Middle’ event at Canaan Downs, in tricky, highly technical terrain. Planner Amelia Horne and controller Calum Coombs had made most of the rolling farmland and moderate to fast open beech forest with intricate karst topography, numerous tomos and marble rock outcrops, resulting in a lot of […]

Bushrangers

Orienteers in GodZone documentary |  NZ Mountain Film Festival  The Adventure of Racing follows is a documentary of a female-led adventure racing team. Film maker Ben Wallbank, follows the team competing in GodZone which was also the Adventure Racing World Championships in Fiordland, New Zealand. The documentary picked up a best documentary award for the work on exposing the challenges of […]

There is only ONE WEEK left for you to register for the 2024 Zespri AIMS Games!  Registrations close 7:59pm on 5th June 2024.  Remember that School Sports Co-ordinators must enter on behalf of schools. Late entries can not be accepted, so don’t miss out!  Check out the Zespri AIMS Games website for more details  www.nzaimsgames.co.nz

There is evidence of significant changes in some clubs in the past year, and Auckland is an example of a club that has been accomplishing big gains as they work on encouraging wider involvement of club members in their club operations.  To find out what has been happening we asked club president Neill McGowan to tell […]

On Thursday 15th February 2024 the New Zealand Orienteering community sadly lost a valued member. Pamela Morrison passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones in beautiful Hawke’s Bay. Pamela has been part of the New Zealand orienteering community for 30+ years, devoting an immense amount of time to the sport. She held various committee and […]

1. When did you discover you had a passion and skill for orienteering?I guess during 1984/85 as a 15-16 year old, was fortunate to have the speed to keep up with a lot of the NZ elite from an early age, first WOC in France 1987 at age 18, finished 47th, 29 mins behind the […]

Have you planned your trip to Taupō?  The 44th 2024 Katoa Po entry dates are getting closer! This challenge is appropriate to all levels of skills and fitness and ideal for keen school teams to test their navigation skills, before heading for events like the Hillary Challenge (with trials in winter and a competitive school event in September (run by […]

An epic new O leaderboard season has started with the NSL sprints in Christchurch in December last year. Scott Smith has kickstarted the leaderboard into action for the new seasons events with progress feedback in a new spreadsheet. Check-in to see who levels-up after the Oceania Lonely Mountain Sprints. Info about the leaderboard hereThe 23/24 […]

Final 50th Anniversary Quiz We’re still testing your knowledge about orienteering 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).  Christmas and New Year is coming […]

Not an orienteering event, but some summer running inspiration! We asked Tm Wright to summarise his long run leading up to Christmas last year: I don’t know where to start. I could write several books on this. ‘Epic’ is a much-used word and doesn’t seem to do justice to the multitude of facets, experiences and sheer length […]

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 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 […]

PAPO parents are planning the Youth Summer O camp for young orienteers aged school years 5-8. Based at Spencer Park from 5pm Friday 15th December to 5pm Sunday 17th December. Yes, it’s about improving skills, but more importantly it’s about exploring with maps, having a good time, making friends & leaving with great summer memories.  […]

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 […]