Matt Ogden’s feedback:
Looking back on the many nationals I’ve taken part in, I’m always impressed by the variety of terrain and the quality of the events — a testament to the beautiful country we call home and the passionate, highly capable orienteering community we’re part of.

Sprint: NZOC2025 Christchurch was awesome. An iconic sprint in the heart of the CBD, an intricate middle, a challenging long on new and varied terrain, and a relay with more action than a Mission Impossible movie. Organising a large orienteering event is no trivial feat and requires a huge amount of volunteer time and energy — so first, a massive thanks to PAPO for delivering another top-notch nationals.

Middle: For the middle distance at NZOC2025, I definitely didn’t have the underwhelming experience I had earlier this year at the Oceania Middle. First and foremost, the terrain choice was spot-on. The organisers found a new pocket of intricate sand dunes on the Canterbury coast, not dissimilar to Woodend or parts of Bottle Lake Forest. The key was the technical complexity in the contour detail, which gave the course planners plenty of scope to create engaging and challenging courses. I had full confidence going in that the duo of Briana Steven and Jason Brown would deliver — and they did. With 35 controls over 6.3 km in the M21E course, there wasn’t a single moment to lose focus.

I’ve included three extracts from the course below to highlight key characteristics and the evolution of my race. Right from the start, we faced a decisive route choice to the second control. In my usual style, I attacked aggressively from the start line, but I probably should have taken more time to assess the challenge. I chose to go right, where going left would have been much better — safer, with a strong attack point and better flow through the control. Heading right, I lost contact in the rough open and didn’t take the time to pinpoint my re-entry into the forest. I lost more than two minutes, only relocating once I saw the road.

For the fourth control, I decided to completely avoid the area that had caused me trouble and went around via the road. Halfway along, I turned around and saw Felix Hunt — who had started two minutes after me — gaining ground. That was a clear sign my hopes for a seventh national middle title were in serious jeopardy.

We ended up running together for most of the course, something I haven’t done much in my racing career. I was definitely at my physical limit trying to keep up with the talented junior, but he would occasionally make small mistakes, allowing me to get back ahead. That was the pattern until the very end, where I managed to make a small break and finish a few seconds ahead.

Fortunately, the rest of the field didn’t have clean runs — especially Zefa, Joe, and, to my relief, Felix, who was running in the M20E grade. That meant I could claim my seventh national middle title. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s my last, given the quality of orienteers now coming through, but it was fun to show I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I was particularly impressed by Oliver Eagan’s performance — only 13 seconds off the podium and probably the best technical race of the day in the M21E field.

Course extract 1 – wrong route choice to 2, very poor execution, losing 2 minutes.

Course extract 2 – linear control picking orienteering, very easy to under- or over-shoot as I did to the 13^th but satisfying when the control appeared exactly where you expected it to, as to the 15^th.

Course extract 3 – a fun final loop, I was definitely not game to risk the beach route choice to the 33rd, but was impressed by those that did and nailed it!

Full map with Matt Ogden’s route available here:
Part 1: https://www.numberoneaucklanddoma.com/maps/show_map.php?user=Matt&map=2566
Part 2: https://www.numberoneaucklanddoma.com/maps/show_map.php?user=Matt&map=2567

Briana Steven’s event wrap-up:

Sprint: I really enjoyed the sprint on a rare NZ city map, despite the weather. We normally only get town centre maps when we head to Europe, so the challenge created by street blocks and city buildings felt unique and surprising. The maze was a surprise, and after being plagued by mazes in World Cup sprints last year, this one went much better and I really appreciated the work put in by the event team to make it happen!

Middle:  While I didn’t run in the middle, I was very happy to hear people coming back and say how challenging it was. You don’t want a middle to be too easy after all, and although we may have over planned based on the long winning times, hopefully everyone enjoyed a taste of Christchurch’s signature complex sand dunes. While we didn’t have much room in the skinny map for route choice, we were pleased to have a great event centre atmosphere especially with the amphitheatre-style run-through. 

Long: The long distance felt like a true long distance with multiple route choice legs (a rarity in NZ longs), and the weather made it feel like a proper battle. Despite some very steep legs to begin with, it was a reward to plunge back into the pine forest for some trickier controls, in an area that definitely has potential for many more orienteering races (before the trees get cut down!). I wasn’t very happy with the routes I picked looking back after finishing, which is a testament to the planner and controller setting some tricky puzzles in the course. 

Relay: The relay was a spectacular event, with some fantastic courses. I’m a fan of tricky nav relays and we definitely got that on the Woodend South map. I felt challenged by the southern section, and then had a fast and fun last loop after going through the run through to plenty of people cheering. I was very proud of PAPO’s day out with podiums all over the place, including the incredibly impressive 1-2-3 in the Mixed Masters. The best thing about the relay is the club atmosphere, and PAPO really knows how to support each other.  

Knockout: The final event on the Tuesday was a incredible feat of organisational prowess to hold 4 events across 2 universities and 3 maps. I had been witness to all of the work and effort that made this event possible, and as a competitor it was all worth it. The day ran smoothly (from the runners point of view) and each of the races was the perfect balance of fast and difficult. My favourite was the semi-final on the UC halls map, where changing barriers mid-race around the Ilam apartments gave us one of the most complex areas I have been on in recent memory. 

Joseph Lynch’s post-event reflections:

Sprint:  I was quite surprised by how condensed the course was! The creative use of barriers made a tight twisty race with little opportunity to stretch your legs – even more so in the rain.
Personally I didn’t have a great time, with a messy run both technically and physically. The younger runners ran very well – I think most people would have been surprised that Zefa’s first national title came in the sprint distance!

Middle:  This was a classic Canterbury sand dune course – zig zagging across a thin strip of contour detail. As such it required constant focus – I learnt the hard way with a few large mistakes, including on a relatively simple control at the end when I became too focused on running fast to overtake another athlete. My favourite part of this course was the scenic control site (#29 on M21E/20E), a seat at the eastern edge of the forest where the pine trees framed a perfect view of the ocean.

Long:  This was a long distance to remember! A brand new area mapped by Ryan Moore showing his expertise is as good as it comes. Some long climbs, big route choices and muddy conditions meant that everyone came away exhausted, just as a good long distance should. A specific leg that I thought was interesting was 14-15 on M21E, where only one person (Cam Bonar) navigated it cleanly from the twelve viewable on LiveLox GPS. This was quite a simple leg however almost everyone made a mistake which I suspect was a combination of the high running speed for the first half of the leg causing people to overshoot and fatigue after 70+ minutes of racing.

Relay
As always the relay brings out the most nerves and this year was no exception. A true Cory-Wright classic planned by Jean and Al with Ed on the microphone, the relay was set in fast runnable sand dunes with only a few rough areas to cross. This was my best performance of the week where I finally felt like my normal self and in a good flow. After running for PAPO 1 team since 2018 I returned to the first leg (my favourite) and had the opportunity to battle it out with Zefa, neck and neck down the finish chute for the hand over. Drama ensued and unfortunately Nelson won their third title, preventing PAPO from reaching double digits for another year. On a positive side upsets allow others to shine through including excellent runs by Zara, Nathan and Tide.