As I write this I should be packing for Nationals, I’m super excited about the weekend and look forward to seeing many of you there. The Board (and especially Christo and Joolz) have been busy pulling the annual report together for 2025 and it’s been such a pleasure to sit back and read over the annual report and consider the incredible things that have been achieved as a community of passionate orienteers. Membership continues to increase, up 6.8% on 2024 to 3,559 members! And participation over 62,000 event participations (slightly odd wording because most people run multiple events). Even if you don’t read all the words just check out the annual report to look at the graphs and pictures which tell such a great story of the depth of our sport across all age groups and abilities.

I also want to take a moment to honor Ian Holden who passed away recently and will be missed by family and our community. He was an incredible orienteer and lovely person, and he is the whole reason ONZ has a M90 trophy at Nationals! The standing ovation he received at Nationals Prize Giving in 2024 was so well deserved and a lovely acknowledgement from our orienteering community.