The Southland Schools Orienteering Championships were held on the 17th of May, a perfect autumn day, at the Otatara dunes near Invercargill, with approximately 160 competitors from 19 schools turning up to face the challenge.

The competition was spiced up this year by a change of venue to allow for the addition of a true red level course for the senior championship grades, to match the growing level of experience within young orienteers in the region. Previously, the event had been held at the forest trails of Fosbender Park, but this year it was moved down the road to the Pacific Avenue Equestrian Course which featured a complex network of grassy lanes dotted sporadically with horse jumps, rolling sand dunes, and wilding pine groves. The Pacific Ave map was revised by Evan France and Paul Horner and offered a greater variety of features, technical difficulty and route choice for all course levels.

The mild, sunny, calm day provided perfect conditions and spirits were high. Plenty of wide-eyed youngsters full of questions were having their first taste of orienteering; St. Teresa’s School was extremely well represented amongst these, having over 60 competitors entered!

An enthusiastic bunch of Southland Orienteering Club members volunteered to help the highly dedicated committee members in setting things up, assisting the kids, serving sausages and generally making the day fantastic and run smoothly. Special thanks to Matt and Ann Bixley from Dunedin who contributed valuable expertise before heading around the map themselves.
Some impressive navigation skill and speed was displayed by placegetters in each category, perhaps especially in the Senior Girls Championship race, where three NZ schools orienteering team representatives battled it out for almost an hour to claim the podium places. The year 5 & 6 Novice Girls category was the largest, with 27 pairs and 2 individuals navigating their way around the white level controls.

The mapped area had some very tough zones of steep dunes cloaked in tall marram grass which made for physically demanding orienteering (more so for the short- legged!), particularly when combined with unavoidable stretches of pines which had grown in a tight hedge fashion due to the coastal winds. Red course runners found themselves burrowing like rabbits to find ways in and out of these.

The fun, challenging and rewarding aspects of orienteering were certainly evident in the lively chatter that buzzed around the event arena as competitors completed their races and discussed their experiences out on the course. The atmosphere was enhanced by the genius addition of a spectator point established on top of the dunes that divided the course from the event area, which gave supporters a wide view over the broad open spaces near the start and finish.

By Sally MacMillan Armstrong. Photos by Deidre Vercoe.