What’s in this Issue:
- View from the Chair
- ONZ Policy Updates
- Junior Camp & U23 Camp Registrations OPEN
- HP Update
- Event Liaison Update
- WANTED: Quality areas for NZ Champs
- STILL LOST: National Championship Trophies
View from the Chair
Hi all, firstly, congratulations again to Tim Robertson for his Silver in the WOC sprint. Another outstanding day for Tim and we are all very proud of you!
As you will see in this newsletter, registrations for Junior Camp 2018 are now open. The camp this year will be in sunny Hawkes Bay – thank you HBOC for hosting! Junior camp has historically been a key stepping stone for our up and coming juniors (including Tim!) to learn new skills and practice their orienteering with the help and advice from some of our best elites and junior elites. The camp is aimed at M/W 14 and M/W 16 orienteers who are running at Red level. Demand usually exceeds places available, so, to ensure consistency and fairness, the Junior Development Committee has clarified the criteria for selection at Junior Camp. See the notice in the newsletter about how to apply for a place at camp.
And, on the subject of secondary schools orienteering, no club has volunteered to run National Secondary Schools Orienteering Champs in 2019. Without the offer of a club to host, we run the risk of not being able to offer this event in the National Secondary Schools Sporting calendar. This is a big event, in terms of numbers (around 350 students), but this event doesn’t require new area or new maps, as many of the participants will be new to orienteering. Any club willing to host will be supported by ONZ Events Liaison (Russell Higham) and there is a wealth of knowledge to draw on from past years. It’s also a great opportunity for club juniors to get involved with organising and planning an event for a lot of people.
Best of luck to all those running at Australian champs at the end of the month, I’m looking forward to seeing our schools team and Junior Pinestars in action and catching up with some of our Australian colleagues.
Jane Harding
ONZ Policy Updates
D6 – ONZ Rogaine Liaison has replaced Rogaine Committee.
Upcoming Events
Upcoming EventsFor upcoming events check out the Orienteering NZ website
Junior Camp and U23 Camp Registrations OPEN
Junior Camp – 15-20 December – Hawkes Bay
As noted above, there has been so much demand for Junior Camp over the last few years that we now need to put some limits on who can attend. This is so we can focus on the training needs of the focus group for the camp M/W 14/16 Red (or Orange) orienteers, giving these young orienteers the best training opportunity we can.
2018 Junior Camp Selection Criteria Priorities:
- M/W 14/16
- Red courses; or Orange courses
- Those who have represented NZ in a Schools Team or Invitational Team
- Those who have represented their club at National Championships
The maximum number of athletes for the camp has been set at 80. Applicants must be a member of an ONZ affiliated club.
If you do not fit this criteria, ie. you are now running M/W 18, we are currently assessing training opportunities for 2019. We will be looking at how we can make this training available without the need for a week-long camp at the end of the year, so we may come up with a new model for this group of orienteers. Watch this space!
If you are running just orange courses, then the focus for you is to start challenging yourself to run harder courses with the aim of red courses for 2019.
U23 Camp – 10-13 December – Wairarapa
This camp will be focused on high performance with the U23 squad in attendance and others by invitation, after registrations have been assessed. Again there are limited numbers who can attend.
Applications are open to those aged 17 to 22 years old and is targeted at the U23 and regional squad members (older 17-22) to develop their skills and training regime for JWOC/WUOC and Junior SuperSeries. Coaches for the Junior Camp will also be encouraged to attend.
Quiz Question:
If you are orienteering in a forest and you hear vehicles sounding their horns often, what does that mean, and what do you do? (find the answer below)
High Performance Update
Clearly the single outstanding highlight of August was Tim Robertson’s silver medal in the WOC sprint – the first ever podium finish at WOC for NZL. However, there were other pleasing results, as well as a few disappointments. Also, we should not forget the performances of Georgia Skelton at the Junior WMTBO Champs in Austria.
As above, the highlight of WOC occurred on the very first day of competition with Tim’s medal. Nonetheless, quite apart from this Laura Robertson’s 23 place in the women’s final was her best WOC result to date, and Imogene Scott, only having arrived less than 24 hours before the sprint, did well to make the final as the last qualifier in her heat, just as she did in Scotland in 2015.
After the concern espoused last year that the WOC sprint was becoming much more biased towards speed at the expense of navigation, the 2018 final was actually quite technical and this certainly worked to Tim’s advantage.
The results achieved in the middle distance by Lizzie (24) and Tim (30) were excellent. The standout performance in the long distance came from Matt, whose 39 place was only just outside the top half of the field.
WMTBOC and Junior WMTBOC
In one of those strange, and somewhat annoying, conflicts, whilst WOC was going on in Latvia the World MTBO Championships were being held in Austria at both Junior and Senior level. New Zealand had three representatives, Conal Boland-Bristow in the Senior Men, and Georgia Skelton and Tegan Knightbridge in the Junior Women.
The championships kicked off with the mass start race where Georgia, foreshadowing what was to be a remarkable week for her, was the top Kiwi finishing in 11 place. This was only 16 seconds from 6 place and the podium.
Event Liaison Update
2019 Events – Expression of Interest
There have been no expressions of interest to hold the 2019 NI, SI, or NZ Schools Championships.
The NZ Secondary Schools Sports Council, through whom we must sanction these events require registration by mid-September. This is so they publish their calendar and commence the sanctioning process. Time is running out……
The events we are seeking expressions of interest for are:
- National MTBO Championships
- NZSS Schools Championships
- NZSS Schools Rogaine Championships
- Junior Camp
- NZSS North Island Schools
- NZSS South Island Schools
Note – Waitangi Day and ANZAC day are midweek these years so there are no official long weekend events for 2019.
2019 Confirmed Events are:
- National Championships – PAPO
- Queens Birthday weekend – Wellington
- Labour weekend – Auckland
If you have updated event information please contact Russell Higham events@orienteering.org.nz.
WANTED: Quality areas for the ONZ National Championships 2020 and beyond
WANTED: Quality areas for the ONZ National Championships 2020 and beyondONZ is changing the way we select areas for our premier National Champs. The rotation system we have used in the past has had its day, and we are looking for areas that are fit for purpose, not just a nearby club’s capability or capacity to map and organise it.
ONZ will event manage the process, drawing from the best people available from around the country.
Criteria:
The areas offered need to fall in line with the object of the different formats on offer.
- Middle distance: Technically complex terrain
- Long distance: Physically tough terrain allowing for good route choice possibilities.
These areas also need to be able to cater for recreational orienteers, beginners and children and be reasonably accessible.
At this time we are looking for Long and middle distance areas. A sprint area within reasonable driving distance will be a bonus.
Who can suggest an area? Anyone.
Who will judge areas suitability? ONZ General Manager, ONZ Event Liaison, ONZ Performance Leader and invited experts (eg prospective controller).
To register an area, please follow this link to an online form.
YES!!!! We are still looking for the lost National Championship Trophies
We are looking for the following trophies which were not returned for the 2018 National Championships …. and perhaps have not been returned for a year or two prior to this.
We really want to ensure all our National Champions get the chance to celebrate their successes and have the trophy in their possession for the year.
If you are in possession of one of the following trophies from previous years, we would appreciate it if you could return to the Orienteering NZ General Manager ASAP so it can be sent to this year’s recipient.
Before you return it, don’t forget to get your name engraved on it!
- W55
- W45
- W40S
- W35
- W21E
- W21AS
- W14
- M70
- M65
- M50
- M40
- M21A
- M21AS
- M14
Quiz Answer:
Leave the forest immediately, there maybe a fire, tsunami, high winds that may have become dangerous.
Keeping you more informed
ONZ has updated its enewsletter database which now allows you to chose which areas are of special interest to you – such as High Performance, Technical, Mapping.
To update your email list Preferences, please Click Here.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
OChatNZ Slack
