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 2025 Junior World and World Orienteering Championships to be held in Italy and Finland respectively.

The Event Centre was at Whitecoomb Creek, a beautiful open valley surrounded by native bush on Glenaray Station. Access was 9kms from Piano Flat along an undulating road with

and a few ruts which made driving interesting. With 220 competitors heading for the area, a carpooling system was used, the road only being suitable for 4WDs and being popular with dirt bikes and off-road vehicles. It made
things safer for everyone and created a great feeling of camaraderie, similar to the events held there in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

The months of re-mapping the area, planning 2 A-grade events, working out the logistics of getting 4 portaloos into position, as well as all the supporting gear, were well rewarded with a wonderful spell of hot weather on both days of competition. The creek provided an attractive venue for cooling down. Support from Club volunteers and particularly the neighbouring Clubs in Dunedin and Alexandra made for a very successful time. Special mention and grateful thanks must go to Matt and Ann Bixley, Michael Croxford, Ayrton Shadbolt and Owen Cambridge for sharing their vast experience in planning, mapping and controlling. And also The Defectors! Stalwarts of SOC, now scattered around the country, who travelledmsouth to volunteer – Trish and Alan Foote, Paula and David McDiarmid, Jo Sherriff and JoJo Wilson. We couldn’t have managed without them.

Courses were set in dense beech forest with some open farmland and featured many

relics of past gold mining days. Day One saw 36 different age group classes planned on13 different courses for the Long Distance event. These ranged from 9.1km for the elite men’s race (although some travelled considerably longer distances, depending on their route choice and how lost they were!) to 1.4km for= those newer to orienteering or wanting an easier run. The Middle Distance event, with shorter distances between control points but much more technical navigation, ranged from 4.3km to 1.3km.

After a long absence, it was a pleasure to be welcomed onto Glenaray Station and DoC land once more, rekindling great memories and creating new ones of this magical area.
by Sally Duston

Waikaia route choice notes from Matt Bixley: Image below has the combined M21/20E route choice on their long leg back towards the finish. The pink is Nick Hann on the track, in the reverse leg Lara Molloy smashed the other women in 21E by taking that line. Far far west is Linus which Matt thinks was the best route of the day. The controller would be happy with this outcome, as the long leg had nothing obvious as the best route, and confident execution was the key for the event.