September tends to be the quiet month as the IOF season holds its breath waiting for the final round of the World Cup and the main interest in New Zealand, for those going, is the Australian Carnival. Although there has been a very thin NZL representation in the 21E classes, special mention must go to Kaia Joergensen for winning a highly technical W21E middle distance in the gold mining terrain of Victoria, and a complete take-over of the podium by New Zealand in the W20E Australian Sprint. A few details below, with an update on plans for the next 6 months.
Malcolm Ingham
Camps, Champs and Leagues
Decisions on the final shape of NOL and particularly the NSL for 2023 (including the back bit of this year) still await the finalisation of club plans, but the overall picture is becoming clearer. In particular, the news that SOW in Christchurch will now feature a full KO Sprint has helped to clarify the NSL. PAPO have also confirmed that they will host the first of the JWOC trials in March, venue and exact date to be confirmed, although, unlike 2022, this will not form part of the NOL.
National O League
Round1: 22-23 October – Labour Weekend day 1 and day 2 (Woodhill Forest)
Round 2: 12-13 November – SI Champs 2022 middle distance (Burke’s Pass), long distance (Tekapo)
Round 3: 29-30 January – SI Champs 2023 long distance (Caanan Downs), middle distance (Rotoiti).
Round 4: 8-9 April – ONZ Champs middle distance and long distance (Hawkes Bay)
Round 5: 3-5 June – Kings Birthday 2023 (Counties)
This will give either 10 or 11 races (depending on the number of days of Kings Birthday included). As the two major events, the ONZ Champs and Kings Birthday will be compulsory counters with the next best 2 scores to also count. Scoring being 100 points for the winner, 100*winners time/your time for others.
As at present the NSL looks as follows, although the distinct bias towards events in the South Island means that any proposal for a North Island sprint or two would be welcome.
National Sprint League
Round 1: 11 November – SI Champs 2022 sprint distance (Geraldine)
Round 2: 4-6 February – Southern O Week individual sprint (Lincoln), KO sprint (TBA), sprint relay (TBA).
Round 3: 7-11 April – ONZ Champs sprint, follow-on KO sprint
In terms of training camps, first a reminder that applications for the U23 camp close on 14 October. The camp is 7-13 December based at Houghton’s Bush Camp, Muriwai Beach, and the link for application is
The North Island Secondary School Champs 2023 set for Friday to Sunday 21-23 April in the Wanganui region and, with Anzac Day following on the Tuesday, a camp will be held from 21-25 April.
It is also great to be able to announce that Florian Schneider, who has just retired as a Swiss elite, has agreed to work with ONZ HP to help in preparation for both WOC2023, in Switzerland, and also as far as possible for JWOC2023. Florian was a top junior about the time that Tim Robertson was first making his mark and has a complete set of JWOC medals (1st in sprint 2013, 2nd in long 2013 and 3rd in middle 2012).Florian has also had injury and health issues which give him a clear insight into both the highs and lows of orienteering which will be invaluable in support of up-and-coming juniors. Florian will start his input on Monday 10 October with a Zoom meeting giving an analysis of this weekends World Cup races on his home terrain in Switzerland.
Australian Champs Carnival
As mentioned above, outside the schools teams and their associated travellers, there was quite a thin New Zealand representation in the elite grades at this last weeks’ Australian Champs. Nevertheless, the middle distance amid the highly detailed gold mining terrain at Blackwood was notable for NZLers winning all of M20E (Zefa Fa’avae), W20E (Rachel Baker) and W21E (Kaia Joergensen) – almost certainly the first time there has been such a triple. Zara Stewart also chipped in with a podium finish in 3rd place in W20E. Kaia’s win was particularly meritorious, winning by 47 seconds from the vastly more experienced Grace Crane who first ran at WOC when Kaia was barely 2 years old! Zefa and Rachel also showed their undoubted navigational ability in terrain where the need to pick the way through very broken ground meant that kilometer rates were not high. Zefa’s winning margin of nearly 4 minutes was phenomenal. Kieran Woods was the top Kiwi in M21E in 13th place.
M21E: 1. Aston Key (VIC) 28:45, 2. Alastair George (NSW) 29:15, 3. Simon Uppill (SA) 31:28, 13. Kieran Woods (AK) 42:15, 16. Aaron Prince (PP) 44:55, 22. Simon Jager (AK) 48:26, 31. Jake Hanson (WN)1:07:44.
W21E: 1. Kaia Joergenson (PP) 34:37, 2. Grace Crane (ACT) 35:24, 3. Caitlin Young (ACT) 37:22, 8. Tessa Ramsden (RK) 41:02.
M20E: 1. Zefa Fa’avae (NL) 26:28, 2. Alvin Craig (NSW) 30:10, 3. Ewan Shingler (NSW) 31:09, 5. Felix Hunt (PP) 31:39, 6. Riley Croxford (NL) 31:45.
W20E: 1. Rachel Baker (WN) 30:18, 2. Mikayla Cooper (TAS) 32:29, 3. Zara Stewart (AK) 32:34, 6. Molly McGowan (AK) 34:19, 10. Katherine Babington (PP) 39:27.
The sprint champs in Sunbury were notable for a New Zealand trifecta in W20E, with Zara taking the victory by 11 seconds from Molly McGowan with Kaia in 3rd. remarkably the three of them would have finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in W21E, which was on the same course. Only Spanish WOC representative Maria Prieto was faster. In M20E Felix Hunt and Zefa were 4th and 5th, but almost a minute back on winner Alvin Craig.
M21E: 1. Aston Key 12:34, 2. Patrick Jaffe (VIC) 12:58, 3. Angus Haines (SA) 13:37, 14. Kieran Woods 15:47, 19. Aaron Prince 16:59.
W21E: 1. Maria Prieto (ESP) 13:35, 2. Caitlin Young 13:51, 3. Asha Steer (VIC) 14:16.
M20E: 1. Alvin Craig 13:37, 2. Ewan Shingler 14:45, 3. Sam Woolford (NSW) 14:27, 4. Felix Hunt 14:29, 5. Zefa Fa’avae 14:32, 9. Riley Croxford 15:47.
W20E: 1. Zara Stewart 13:37, 2. Molly McGowan 14:48, 3. Kaia Joergensen 15:58, 11. Katherine Babington 15:13, 12. Rachel Baker 15:15, 20. Daisy York (PP) 18:06.
At the beginning of November both Zefa and Kaia will return to Portugal for the rearranged JWOC forest races. Perhaps with this in mind Kaia fronted in W21E for the long distance champs, held on a tortuously small area of granite, with courses with many twists and turns with a couple of long legs thrown in across the whiter areas of forest. Both Kaia and Zefa performed well with Zefa taking 3rd and Kaia, on the same course, this time 5 minutes back from Grace Crane in 4th place. Both results having some promise for Portugal. In W20E Molly was back on the podium in 3rd, just ahead of Rachel, and with Katherine Babington having her best result of the championships in 6th.
M21E: 1. Aston Key 1:39:03, 2. Patrick Jaffe 1:46:19, 3. Angus Haines 1:55:39, 18. Andrew Peat (CM) 2:50:29, 22. Kieran Woods 3:12:00.
W21E: 1. Grace Crane 1:37:51, 2. Caitlin Young 1:39:56, 3. Aislinn Prendergast (VIC( 1:41:14, 4. Kaia Joergensen 1:42:54.
M20E: 1.Ewan Shingler 1:17:50, 2. Sam Woolford 1:18:34, 3. Zefa Fa’avae 1:22:10, 7. Felix Hunt 1:26:23, 11. Riley Croxford 1:38:26.
W20E: 1. Nea Shingler (NSW) 57:56, 2. Mikayla Cooper 59:35, 3. Molly McGowan 1:00:02, 4. Rachel Baker 1:02:30, 6. Katherine Babington 1:04:04, 12. Zara Stewart 1:11:41.
The carnival also incorporates the Australian Schools Championships where New Zealand’s two teams of seniors and juniors finished in 1st and 2nd place ahead of all the state teams.
Coming Up
Labour Weekend is the Northern Champs, promising 3 days in classic Woodhill forest sand dunes, with a chasing start for the third day. Entries close on 12 October and can be made at https://entero.co.nz/evento.php?eventName=tnrc-2022.
The Southern Champs takes place from 11-13 November and feature a sprint in Geraldine and middle and long then take place toward and at Tekapo. Entries close on 31 October.
Finally around midnight tonight (Sunday 2 October) tune into IOF live for the World Cup long distance with Toby Scott off at 12:18 am and Tim Robertson at 12:30.
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