Orienteering is a unique individual challenge. We are all on our independent journeys to navigational excellence and, as in a race, we all share the same start point. We all once picked up a map for the first time, stepped out into the forest, and tried to navigate around a course. This pag...
Orienteering is a unique individual challenge. We are all on our independent journeys to navigational excellence and, as in a race, we all share the same start point. We all once picked up a map for the first time, stepped out into the forest, and tried to navigate around a course. This page and the Coaching blog are intended to help you on your journey. We will point you in the right direction, share tips from the experts and let you know about opportunities to develop your orienteering skills.
The orienteering journey requires progression through navigational skills. All orienteering events provide for this progression through colour coded courses starting with white (beginner), yellow, orange then finally red. White courses will always follow the features in the terrain that are easiest to navigate by, such as tracks, or streams. These features are known as handrails, in your orienteering uncertainty you can reach out and grasp them for support! Red courses are designed to be as difficult as possible. How hard this is depends on the terrain. Forest maps are always the hardest due to the limited visibility. Sand dune forests are the most common type of orienteering terrain for championship events in New Zealand
Orienteers normally begin their journey at events on nearby parks and reserves, then move onto local farmland events, then regional or national level events. The stage of your journey, when all the locations and terrain are new is a really exciting time. There is the opportunity for orienteers of all ages to seek out the ultimate orienteering challenges around New Zealand, such as the gold mining terrain in Central Otago, or the sand dune forests north of Auckland, and indeed around the world; the karst of Slovenia, the vast moraines of Scandinavia or the sand dunes of Portugal. Experience gained at any level of progression will be useful for these challenges ahead. See examples of different types of orienteering map below.
Orienteering is a map sport and, when a level of navigational competence is achieved, a running sport. It is that unique challenge of keeping your map orientated, then interpreting map to ground, and ground to map, that hooks people to the sport. A good orienteer can read a map and create a 3D image of the terrain in their mind. As you gain experience in orienteering, review your maps regularly, start building these images for yourself. At events start taking satisfaction from knowing what is around the corner before you get there – staying one step ahead of yourself as you move smoothly through your course.
As you progress through your orienteering journey, and learn from your experiences, and the experiences of the people you meet, particularly those in your local club, you will pick-up more techniques to cope with the new navigational challenges. A compass can be a good tool, as can be techniques to master your speed and thought processes. Some of these are summarised in the Little Book of Orienteering Techniques (included in Resources section). Remember every orienteers journey is unique. With events ranging from 10 minutes to 24 hours long, and in all sorts of terrains, from cities to some of our wildest terrains, there is a challenge for everyone.
Check back into the Coaching blog regularly, and also fire us your questions or thoughts. Remember, we all started in the same place, stepping off the start line into unknown terrain trying to read a map for the first time. This is our common reference point we can all build on. ,
News & Blog Posts - Coaching, Training, Race-review
Below are the most recent News/Blog posts that have been tagged "Coaching, Training, Race-review". To view all news or blog posts start at the homepage.
News Items
Compass Point – November 2019-News updates including View from the Chair; Legends of Orienteering; High Performance; NZ MTBO Championships; Junior Camp - How it works; Newly Confirmed Events; PAPO's Yr 5-8 Camp;
Orienteering Training Camp (Years 5-8 at school) 21-23 Dec 2019 Registrations-PAPO will be hosting an orienteering training camp, for those in Years 5-8 at school, from 21st-23rd Dec 2019 in Christchurch. The camp will teach skills and have exercises catering from beginners to advanced (white to red level). The camp is two nights and three days based at Spencer Park holiday park.
2019 Orienteering NZ Junior Camp – Applications Reopened-We are reopening applications for the Junior Camp as we have a few spaces left, and we would like to give those that haven't applied a chance to take advantage of this opportunity to be selected.
Compass Point – October 2019-The latest news update including: View from the Chair; Legends of Orienteering - Robbie; High Performance Update - 2020 Trials dates; Camps update; Club Spotlight; Map Making Course;
2019 Junior and U23 Orienteering Training Camps Registrations Open- 2019 Junior Orienteering Training Camp Sunday 15 – Friday 20 December 2019 Location – Wesley College, Pukekohe Supported by Counties Manukau Orienteering Club Junior Camp Criteria Because of demand for the ONZ Junior Camp over the last few years that we have now put some limits on who can attend. This is so we […]
ONZ High Performance News #53 – May 2019-With no second JWOC trial this year to fill the gap between the ONZ Champs and Queen’s Birthday there has been a bit of a lull, notwithstanding events on the various local scenes. Following the naming of the JWOC and WOC teams, in mid-month there was a successful HP camp held in Auckland, largely, but […]
Orienteering NZ Annual Report 2018-The Orienteering NZ Annual Report for 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2018 is available for download. Includes reports from the Chairperson, General Manager, Make it easy, sustaining growth, enhancing performances, financials, International representation and results, awards, trophies, club membership statistics and event participation numbers.
Compass Point – March 2019-March Monthly eNewsletter including: View from the chair; AGM & Club Forum Notice; Council Elections; High Performance Update; Event Liaison Update; Have your Say!; Risk Management Question; And other news
Cerkno Cup (Gene Beveridge Blog)-Slovenia delivered on all fronts with some tough orienteering and wonderful settings. 5 races in 5 days, 3 middle distances in some of the world famous karst terrain, 1 long distance in the mountains and a sprint in the small town of Cerkno.
Stable WOC Relay (Gene Beveridge Blog)-Stable runs from the New Zealand men’s relay team got us a 17th, 1 place down from the our good result in Scotland 3 years ago. We were very happy with the 16th at that World Champs because it was much better than previous years. This year felt somewhat different though, maybe because the expectations were higher. However, 17th is good, looking at the incredible strength of the competition, and reflects 3 stable runs, far different to last year’s disaster. Our Women’s team placed similarly, 19th.
WOC 2018 – (Matt Ogden Blog)-After the National Championships earlier this year and with the Master’s completed I made the decision to have another crack at WOC. The objectives of this WOC project focused on seeing how an NZ based campaign compared to others I have done; in terms of the experience, the feelings, and the performances.
Whangamata 12 hour Adventure Race (Tom Reynolds Blog)-The 2018 Whangamata Adventure Race took place from a base in Opoutere, not far north of Whangamata. The 12 hour race included 5 stages in a loops format from the start finish.
Steps Forward (Lizzie Ingham Blog)-There have been countless times over the last years, months and weeks that I've wanted to write publicly about the health issues I've been experiencing. But I've held off, firstly as I haven't felt ready, and secondly because it's such a long story, I just haven't quite known where to start.
World of O – JWOC Sprint 2018 Maps, Results, GPS Analysis-JWOC Sprint brought a surprise win for Germany’s Colin Kolbe in the men’s class and a favourite win by Simona Aebersold (Switzerland) in the women’s class. World of O Analysis.
New IOF WOD/Schools Orienteering Leaflet Available-The IOF World Orienteering Day have produced a new leaflet "Let's GO Orienteering" - download from the ONZ website publications or schools resources pages.