Counties Manukau Orienteering Club (CMOC) is looking forward to hosting the Tūāraki-North and Auckland Regional Championships 2024 over Labour Weekend, with three challenging yet enjoyable events for orienteers from around the North Island. Here is a taste of what you can expect!

We’re starting with the Sprint on Saturday 26 October at King’s College in in the suburb of Ōtāhuhu. King’s College was founded in 1896 but has existed on its current site since 1922. Mapped by the Tūāraki-North and Auckland Regional Championships 2024 Event Director John Robinson, the campus is a mixture of beautiful, original heritage buildings and newer structures set on acres of sprawling, well-manicured grounds. Competitors should expect fast running in lovely surrounds, but given that the campus has been built up over the past 100 years, there are lots of interesting corners and unexpected routes to explore!

The Long will take place on Sunday 27 October at Muirs Farm in Karioitahi. First mapped by Wayne and Tricia Aspin in 1993, the map was originally Karioitahi combined with the northwest part of Whiriwhiri. It was last used for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Relay Champs in 2022, and previous to that, it was used in 2011 – so might be new to some of our competitors. Prepare for paddocks, fence lines, livestock (who aren’t the least bit interested in us, so we will steer well clear of them when running!), open high sand dunes with some sandstone rock features, vegetation, and more.

The Middle, our final event, will be at Waiuku Forest North, Otaua on Monday 28 October. The original map of this area was created in 1979 by members of the South Auckland Orienteering Club, as CMOC was then known, and has been updated regularly by Wayne Aspin from 2016 to today. A well-known feature of Waiuku Forest is its ubiquitous pampas grass – not-so-fondly known as “cutty grass” by our orienteers – which means full leg cover is advisable. A portion of this area was last used at King’s Birthday Weekend of O in 2023, and competitors should prepare for forested sand dunes with many footpaths.

Bulletin 1 is available on the CMOC website and gives some preliminary information about the event, and Bulletin 2 will be available soon, with more detail about the terrain including notes from our mappers. We’ll also publish updates on our Facebook page  For enquiries contact Event Director John Robinson . Entries will be open via entero very soon!