Compass Point – November 2020

By Christo Peters - Mon 30 Nov 2020 8:15pm

covid19, Rogaining, MTBO, Publications, Events, Juniors, Training, Compass Point, SouthernOWeek, Members, Club Forum

M e m b e r n e w s & v i e w s | N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 0

U p d a t e

Notes from the GM

S p o r t

Is COVID-19 disrupting NZ’s chance to compete at events?
Forum

T i p s & t e c h

Not so-expert tips on starting orienteering later
Challenging young orienteers
Ho, Ho, O! It is nearly Christmas

S p o r t s p e o p l e

Talk with Alice Tilley

E v e n t r e p o r t s

South Taitonga Regional & Canterbury Champs Middle Distance: Kairaki
Be comfortable with being uncomfortable – Rogaine Champs 2020

E v e n t s

Southern O Week
NZMTBO 2021

Note from the GM
With the school term coming to an end, our national camps are just around the corner. Both camps are being held in sunny Nelson this year with the the U23 Camp starting on Sun 6 Dec and the Junior Camp one week later on Sun 13th Dec. I am sure it will be a great experience for everyone.

The ONZ Council is finalising the Annual Business Plan, Strategic Plan and Budget at the moment. These documents have been heavily influenced by the feedback provided by members in the ONZ Annual survey – the results of which will be circulated to members in the next couple of weeks. For those interested in what the ONZ council has been up to, you can view copies of minutes here.

Last week ONZ ran our annual club forum via Zoom. The forum discussed the future of schools orienteering as well as the club/volunteer and commercial interests. I thank all of those who attended for sharing their thoughts. The forum is one the first step in formulating policy one these two topics. For those still wanting to provide feedback, please have your say by clicking on the link in the brief article below.

Christo Peters | ONZ General Manager

Are New Zealand international athletes disadvantaged by taking COVID-19 seriously?

Are New Zealand international athletes disadvantaged by taking COVID-19 seriously? Recently the International Orienteering Federation (IOF) circulated the minutes of their November Council Meeting showing a clear preference to press on with the international calendar despite Covid-19. This approach may come at a cost – true international representation. Read more here

Forum

Thanks to those who tuned into the ‘Future of Orienteering’ forum. 41 people attended the zoom meeting, and it is the first step to inform an ONZ policy on schools and club versus commercial operators so your feedback is valued. If you have any further comments, either send them via the Compass Point editor@orienteering.co.nz or to gm@orienteering.org.nz

Christo Peters | ONZ General Manager

Junior camp 2020

This years Junior Camp will be held in the beautiful Nelson and Tasman region where 80 students, will get a great variety of terrain whilst based at Teapot Valley near Wakefield. Briana Steven is head coach with Jean Cory-Wright as mentor, will do exercises on a variety of maps from native bush in St Arnaud to pine forest at Tunnicliff to sprint maps in central Nelson. Techniques will range from compass to contour only and route-choice to relocation, a lot gets packed into the six days the camp runs for. Each day of training is ended with a fun afternoon race, a great talk from the coaches and something fun like the infamous punching race. The week culminates in a forest and sprint champs where everyone can put their skills to the test in a real race environment. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Not so-expert tips on starting orienteering later

I am definitely no expert when it comes to orienteering, having only started on the fun-loving side of 40, but I have learnt a few things over the past three to four years that may help some of you in the same situation. It is such a great sport but it can be frustrating at times when you have a bad run especially when you’re used to having most things in your life under control (well, maybe apart from the kids!). Here are the top three tips:
1. Distraction is your number one enemy
2. Celebrate small wins
3. Find your orienteering why
Full article by Carmen Fookes on the ONZ website here

Photo by Pip Poole | Carmen Fookes at Gstaad at Swiss O in Aug 2019

Challenging young orienteers

The NZ Schools Facebook page is the new online home of school orienteering in NZ. The page covers orienteering (and orienteering related) topics from throughout NZ – from the naming of the NZSS Team to the recent Hillary Challenge finals, Leg-by-leg videos, and video coverage of the NISS Champs…

We invite clubs to load share their updates on their junior orienteering and loading them on the NZ schools orienteering facebook group. We will load some more now that the busy season of the schools Hillary Challenge and the orienteering regional events have all finished. If you are not on facebook, you can read the blogs on the ONZ website about what Taranaki have been doing with their juniors here and also a report from Hawkes Bay read here

Carolyn Russell | Hawkes Bay Orienteering

Ho, Ho, O! It is nearly Christmas

Has anyone got a great Christmas orienteering map they would like to share for some summer map geekery fun? Here is Tim Farrant’s map that was planned for the Peninsula and Plains Orienteers 2018 Christmas event. We are sure there are some other great NZ Christmas-themed maps we can share next month. Forget the shopping mania, there is just enough time to some last minute planning instead. Send some in for us to share by 20th of December. Meri Kirihimete!

Talk with Alice Tilley

A photo of Alice was featured on the new ONZ banner at Nationals. We chose the photo of Alice as it was taken at the spectator point above the complex middle event at Oamaru. The unique position of being shot from above allows you to see the orienteering running technique with the map folded and thumbed. ONZ are not into fancy photo shoots, so is a great visual explainer promo shot taken from an existing event photograph. Thanks Alice for letting is us use it, and so we thought Alice might like to talk about her orienteering with us:

Alice joined North West Orienteering Club in 2010, and started Orienteering with Mike Beveridge’s School Sprint Series and Dwayne Smith (AOC) encouraged her to try the Forest series. She goes onto say that she is still trying to master a perfect race using Thierry Gueorgiou’s famous quote, ‘Full Speed No Mistakes’.

She enjoys being a junior member of the North West club and participating in the training and the all important post-race analysis with more experienced club members. Some great local mentors are North West members Rob Garden and Marquita Gelderman. Their skill, enthusiasm, commitment, and knowledge are qualities that she looks up to and admires.

Her most memorable orienteering event was in Switzerland. It started with a week of training and acclimatising in Davos with the NZ JWOC team, followed by the competition week in the Engadin Valley, and finally we made our way to Swiss O week in the St Moritz area. The courses and maps were of the highest technical quality with insane scenery. And with typical infamous Swiss precision, all three events were very well organised. Another event that created a memorable O fame moment was the chance to meet Minna Kauppi. This was at the New Zealand Orienteering Oceania Championships where Minna signed Alice’s compass bag. It was totally O fan-girling!

To guarantee a good race, Alice’s advice would be to keep it simple using three core processes for each leg of the course.
–       Compass (check your compass is in the right direction)
–       Simplification (simplify the leg into sections)
–       Know where you’re going!

Alice Tilley at Stage 3 of the 6 day event of Swiss O Week, 2016.- the map is called Diavolezza. The scenery made this race Alice’s favourite stage of all the six.

South Taitonga Regional & Canterbury Champs Middle Distance: Kairaki

We had some amazing hot weather for the South Island and Canterbury Champs. Tim Wright, the controller of the middle event has written a report from the hottest day – from both a competitive and temperature perspective. But luckily there were cool ice blocks at the finish line for the weary. Read Tim’s report here

New Zealand Rogaine Champs – 7/8 Nov 2020 .

Be comfortable with being uncomfortable..

The NZ Rogaine Champs held in Hanmer Springs, proved to be a great location with lots of steep hills, rugged tops and even some forestry tracks for those less keen on steep terrain (sadly there were no controls in the hot pools). And then the weather moved in with a lot of teams pulling out due to rain and snow. Read more from Greig Hamilton, who was in the winning team with Chris Forne, and also a junior team report. More here

Images below by Alan Moore (top) and by Katherine Babington (base image )

Southern O Week

Entries are open for Southern O Week. Southern O will feature 6 courses for all events, so there will be a course to suit everyone. Enthusiasm for events has been building since Oceania has moved to 2021. See the updated website for daily events, and start booking-up some Summer nav fun. Enter via the PAPO website here And you can follow event updates on facebook

NZMTBO 2021

Stunning terrain is in the pipeline for the NZMTBO champs. Dunedin Orienteering and their satellite branch, Central Otago Orienteers (COO), are organising the MTBO events. More information will be on the NZMTBO website very soon, with links to Dunedin Orienteering and COO Facebook. Keep the dates 17-26 April free.

How can we help? Me pēhea mātou e āwhina ai?

If you have a particular topic you are looking for, try browsing the search function on teh ONZ website or search for an area under news and views in the main menu at the top of the page and you may find what you need. if you have an enquiry about the sport do get in touch via any of our media below or fill in our contact form here

Happy orienteering! Editorial deadline:

We love to read about all kinds of navigation events from every corner of NZ. We are keen for news and updates from places we cannot get to. So do share your passion with photos, events, links, and info about your club. Send something in by the 20th day of the month so it can be published at the end of the month to editor@orienteering.org.nz

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