Summer season has well and truly gone, and the fluctuating weather of autumn landed smack bang with the NZ Orienteering Champs. A MASSIVE thanks to PAPO and the many other volunteers who put on some great races at nationals. The complexity of mapping, technical course setting and event organisation all happens thanks to a large number of volunteers. On a personal level I appreciated the community around me for looking after and juggling my two girls while I ran a couple of courses (albeit around in circles in the middle). It was neat to run down the finish chute to see baby Isobel asleep, having been rocked to sleep by Wellington’s Club President, thanks Beverly!! 

The breadth of skills and people who were nominated for awards is amazing, and it was so cool to read the nominations as a Board and to have these people recognised at Nationals Prizegiving. It is a reminder of the incredible people we have in our community. It is such a pleasure to be part of a community who give their time to deepen their knowledge and skills for the benefit of others and enjoy being outdoors no matter what the weather is. 

At our very recent AGM we thanked and farewelled Marquita (NW) who retires from the Board after 6 years. Pete (OBOP) will do another (shortened) term on the Board and welcomed Sara Prince (PAPO) to fill the vacancy created by Marquita, as well as Dave Stewart as a co-opted Board member. We’ll introduce Sara and Dave to you in the next Compass Point. As a Board we will continue our focus on our bid to host JWOC 2029 (funding dependent) and we’ll start looking at the refresh of our strategic plan – for this we’ll be consulting with clubs later in the year so watch this space.