NZOC2022 was a celebration of 50 years of New Zealand Orienteering Championships, and what an amazing weekend of orienteering we had. The primary objective of the Event Team was to deliver a truly memorable event, to build on the successful nationals of the past and once again showcase the amazing sport that we do. To achieve this, we had to ensure the technical aspects, the highest priority for any orienteering event, were to a world class level and then to combine this with festive and energetic arenas.

Fortunately, the event model decided many months ago provided the necessary ingredients to achieve our goals and government announcements ultimately shifted winds in our favour with easing restrictions and the orange light setting, therefore entry numbers could swell. We were very lucky though. Throughout the weekend I couldn’t help but think how different things could have been – arenas in marshlands, subalpine terrain, covid still omnipresent – we definitely risked it, but to my relief and many others in the Event Team, we will walk away from this project very satisfied. As the saying goes, you have to risk it for the biscuit, and because of this I feel orienteering in Nelson is much stronger.

Everyone’s experience of NZOC2022 will be different, however it was rewarding to generally hear positive sentiments after the races. The terrain at Canaan Downs is some of the best in New Zealand, the variety is just remarkable, and with the weather we had I am sure it is close as one can get to a Pure New Zealand Orienteering experience. Especially after the 2006 Nationals where the mapping just couldn’t do justice to the terrain. With the availability of LiDAR this time round, it was destined to be a different story. The racing was very exciting across all grades. There were some great battles and exceptional individual performances.

I hope you all enjoyed NZOC2022! I would like to extend my thanks to all NOC members who helped towards delivering the event. What inspired me most was the individual efforts of everyone to work as a cohesive, well oil-ed machine. It was just awesome. Specific thanks to the Michael, Nathan, Jodie and Daniel.

All maps and results available here:

You never find your adventure; you simply find reason for your next.

Matt Ogden

President

Nelson Orienteering Club