2025 ONZ Awards were presented at the 2026 National Championships prize giving evening. During NZ Volunteer Week in June, a number of our volunteers were highlighted in our media. The complete list of awards, including performance awards, is listed below.  Services to ONZ Award   |  Rolf Boswell (WK) When Rolf arrived in the Waikato in 2011, the Waikato Orienteering Club had been in recess […]

And the winners are: 1. People shot  Prolific photographer Annemarie Hogenbirk from Nelson Orienteering has won a prize for a photo of a very young orienteer. The photo was taken at the OY5 Canaan Downs, 22 November 2025, as part of Nelson Orienteering Club’s ‘Golden Bay Revisited’. The photo shows James Duncan, at that time 2 years and 4 months old. […]

Four Dunedin Orienteering families attended the Youth Orienteering Camp, December 20-22, in Christchurch. PAPO did an outstanding job of organising over a hundred kids who came from all over the country with great exercises, coaching and fun activities. The camp was based at Spencer Park Top 10 Holiday Park. Day one training was a short […]

Junior Camp 2025 was the largest since Covid, with 69 young people, 13 junior coaches, and a dedicated team of adult helpers filling Houghton’s Bush Camp to capacity. Participants were kept busy from the very start with a wide range of orienteering activities around camp, in Woodhill Forest and at local sprint venues. The number […]

New Zealand and Australia will compete in an Elite Test Match as part of the Oceania Sprint Orienteering Championships, held from 24 to 26 January on the Central Coast, NSW. The NZ Senior Selection panel has named the following team: Knock Out Sprint Men Nathan Borton Felix Hunt Joseph Lynch Women Kaia Joergensen Georgia Lindroos […]

As we come to the end of the year and the winding down of events it’s a cool opportunity to reflect on the year. I hope you take some time to reflect on your own orienteering achievements and the contribution you have made to your club (or at a national level) – thankyou! Our junior and high […]

On 23/24 November, we had the privilege of competing in the New Zealand Rogaining Championships based in Luggate situated beneath the imposing Mt Pisa near Wānaka. Central Otago delivered its trademark beauty: vast tussock-covered hills, golden valleys, and skies so wide they seem to swallow you whole. Plus magically calm and warm weather to boot. It’s a […]

We caught up with three NZ orienteers who were selected for the World Mountain & Trail Running Champs. They have described the the running terrain, how their race day unfolded and the whole event experience.Pictured above are Dougal and Bronwen at the World Mountain & Trail Running Championships which took place in Canfranc-Pirineos from 25-28 September. It […]

Julie Quinn from Australia has taken the interim International Rogaining Federation (IRF)  President’s role until the council finds a President. The October 2025 newsletter featured some of the big rogaining events from around the world including: bus rogaining in Japan, plus other events in Estonia, Romania, Canada, Albania and Spain. Read it here

The National Orienteering League is back. Reignited.The stakes have never been higher. For the first time, the top 3 of each series will secure automatic World Cup selection. But first, congratulate the 2025 podium placers. Over a punishing schedule of 8 forest tests and 5 sprint showdowns, New Zealand’s top orienteers will battle for the […]

Looks like we’ve just punched through another month! We are in the thick of our regional championships. I had the pleasure of attending the Pokopū Champs last weekend near Whanganui, racing around in the beautiful forest maps of Knottingly and Koitiata. It was so neat to see two traditionally smaller clubs (Red Kiwis and Hutt Valley) come […]

he Kiwi team gathered in Uster, located in the canton of Zürich in northeastern Switzerland, for the final World Cup of the year. The event started with the sprint which was also a qualifier for the Knockout. It was a strong performance by Laura and Tim Robertson which secured their spots in the knockout stage. […]

The 2025 Australian Orienteering Championships in Brisbane started hot, though thankfully not as hot as predicted. There were 7 events with 960 participants from 15 different countries. AUS CHAMPS  SPRINT  – 27 September  2025Finally the day we had all been waiting for – the first real competition of the Australian Orienteering Championships. The Sprint took […]

The four events at the Pokapū Champs saw some fascinating racing. The middle and long distances were held on Knottingly and Koitiata respectively, both using areas of the map essentially untouched by the Oceania Champs last January. They presented very low, intricate topography requiring both accurate compass use and reading of the contour detail. In […]

PAPO will be hosting the 2025 Canterbury Champs over Canterbury Anniversary weekend in Ashburton and the Oamaru area. Sprint on a new map of Ashburton domain and high school. Run on a challenging map in Kuriheka  (Oamaru) created for Nationals 2019, last used in 2022. Friday 14 November: Canty Champs Sprint. Ashburton.Saturday 15 November Canty Champs Long Distance. Kuriheka Sunday […]

What? A parent-led 3 day residential orienteering training camp at the start of the summer holidays, supported by Peninsula & Plains Orienteering Club (PAPO).   Who? All keen young orienteers, of any level/experience, up to school year 8.   When? Starting 9am Saturday 20 December, ending 2pm Monday 22 December.   Where?Spencer Beach Top10 Holiday camp, 20min north […]

UPDATE: Extra land  will include neighbouring properties north and east of Lake McKay Station down to the Clutha River and trails along.. HQ and camping available in the middle of the course. Online rego closes 8pm, 19th November. As well as the 24 hour championship event, there will be 15, 6 & 3 hour options.Details here

This winter just gone, Sophie Harrison and Nick Hann escaped the Queenstown frosts and gloom for warmer climes. They decided to try their hands at a European summer orienteering campaign. And it was a little bit different to the traditional way Kiwis go orienteering in Europe. It developed the title of ‘Off-the-couch, Off-the-bikes Orienteering’ which featured:• […]

The President and Leaders Forum included representatives from 16 of our 18 clubs as well as the ONZ Board and General Member.  The first half of the meeting looked at the strategic pillars and clubs shared their feedback about the content of the draft strategic plan as well as examples of areas where ONZ could […]

After years of service, we thank Al Cory-Wright for the time he has put into helping select our national teams. Al is retiring from both his position as convenor and member of the selector Senior Selection Panel, the panel responsible for selecting our WOC, EYOC, JWOC, World Cup teams. With Al retiring, we welcome expressions of interest […]

A huge thankyou to the Thirty-Two attendees at this year’s forum that discussed strategic goals and ideas for both orienteering as a sport and ONZ as the national body.  A summary of what was discussed can be found here

It is the second year for orienteering as a school sports code at the Zespri Aims Games, and the numbers have improved from 260 to 320 per day which is a good increase. Most are doing both events as the price incentivises students to do both the sprint and rogaine events giving  young people the […]

Planning is well underway and courses are being fine tuned for the Tūāraki North Champs, coming up on 7 – 8 November. A reminder that early entries close 12 October. This is an event not to miss, with highlights being:  Enter now here 

A reminder that Standard entries will close just before midnight Friday 3rd October. Late entries will close Sunday 12th October.   The middle and long are respectively on Knottingley and Koitiata, but different parts to those used at Oceania. So complex sand-dunes for both. Koitiata (aka Turakina Beach) in particular is an area that was essentially not touched at Oceania […]

Nelson Orienteering Club invites all orienteers, from New Zealand and abroad, to celebrate top-quality orienteering in the South Island of New Zealand.  Would you like to revisit those stunning locations from King’s Birthday 2024? Did you miss out and wish you had been there? Alternatively, do you need navigation training or want to test your […]

Get your entries in for the 2025 Junior Camp asap. It is based at Houghtons Bush Camp, Murawai, hosted by Auckland Orienteering Club from Thursday 11 and Tuesday 16 December. Enter through the ONZ Website here   

What? A parent-led 3 day residential orienteering training camp at the start of the summer holidays, supported by Peninsula & Plains Orienteering Club (PAPO).  Who? All keen young orienteers, of any level/experience, up to school year 8.  When? Starting 9am Saturday 20 December, ending 2pm Monday 22 December.  Where?Spencer Beach Top10 Holiday camp, 20min north of Christchurch CBD.  More […]

This year the Auckland Orienteering Club hosted the 2025 New Zealand Secondary Schools Orienteering Championships. It opened with a sprint on an inner-city school campus, and then Long Distance and Relay events followed in the iconic Woodhill Forest.  Watch it on Māori Active YouTube

The Canterbury Schools Orienteering Festival is an annual event with the dual aims of providing an introduction to orienteering for school aged students as well as a competitive race for experienced orienteers. It is designed for all school-aged students from  primary, intermediate, high school and those homeschooled in Canterbury. PAPO plan plenty of training opportunities in the lead up […]

Organised in conjunction with the New Zealand Rogaine Association, the location is likely to change. So Highland Events are working on a new 2025 event area. Check-in on the website