The ONZ High-Performance Steering Group provides strategic oversight and advice for the development of High-Performance orienteering in New Zealand. The group is responsible for developing High-Performance policy, overseeing athlete development pathways, and providing recommendations on selection policies, development programmes, and other High-Performance initiatives. The group works alongside the National Performance Leader and was created one […]

EASTER 4-DAY — DAY 1— THROUGH THE EYES OF AN M45A’er When reading in the programme that the starter may exclude competitors who were inadequately clad, one wondered what we were in for. Much to our surprise Easter in the Wellington region was near perfect. Sunny, dry days made for long and enthusiastic post-mortems on […]

WOW what a busy July we have had – and we haven’t even had a Board meeting! Our athletes have been racing hard at the NZ Secondary School Champs (thanks PAPO for organising). We also have had athletes competing overseas in Genoa, Italy for WOC – check out Orienteering Wellington’s club post about one of the World Champs knock-out sprint semi-final […]

JWOC26  |  Karlskrona 29 June – 4 July  Individual SprintThe Individual Sprint kicked off the 2026 Junior World Orienteering Championships with 338 Athletes lined up along with and 98 team officials from 40 countries.  It was a sharp-witted start to the first up race. Several runners were caught out by a tricky initial direction decision straight […]

The four day Secondary Schools Orienteering and Rogaine Championships kicked off in various locations around Ōtautahi Christchurch in July. The national orienteering championships marked an important milestone as it follows an announcement by the International Orienteering Federation that Canterbury, New Zealand will host the Junior World Orienteering Championships in 2029. Many of the secondary school […]

It was a huge turnout for the 2026 Orienteering Big Day Out with a  large increase in participation in spite of an initial postponement due to bad weather. Over 600 Primary and Intermediate school students from eight schools in the Taupo and surrounding districts took part in an orienteering big day out with rogaining events […]

Nelson and Marlborough Orienteering Clubs invite all orienteers to Te Tau Ihu o te Waka-a-Maui to celebrate high-quality spring orienteering during the A-level 2026 Taitonga South Island Orienteering Championships, Labour Weekend of 24-26 October 2026 in the beautiful Tasman District. We look forward to welcoming fellow orienteers from the South and the North Island of […]

The Canterbury Schools Orienteering Festival is an annual event and the 2026 event will also incorporate the South Island Secondary Schools Orienteering Champs. If you’re a school-aged student attending a primary, intermediate or secondary school, or you’re homeschooled, in Canterbury or beyond, you’re invited to be part of this exciting schools orienteering festival. With a range of […]

The Hodgson sisters received the inspiring ‘Team that stands out from the rest award’ at the New Zealand Secondary School Orienteering Championships (NZSSOC). We caught up with the family to hear their reflections on the championships and what else they also love to do when they travel to orienteering events. As a family we love to run, […]

This is the final year these sponored awards will be in this format. around the NZSSOC. Do let us know what you thought of these awards for school athletes, teams and supporters.  Nateva winnerThe NSSOC Nateva Award went to Micah Dunn from Nayland College. His nomination said: “I’d like to nominate Micah Dunn because he […]

Hot off winning three medals the NZ Secondary School Orienteering, PAPO member Luke Jansen was in the winning U18 team at the very first Junior Adventure Racing World Championship (JARMS) with his Canterbury team mate Silas Jones from July 23 to 26, 2026 in Quebec, Canada. Endurance Aventure announced the Black Diamond NZ team as inaugural winners […]

The Great Forest Rogaine continues to evolve with record youth participation. More than 540 competitors took part in this year’s Great Forest Rogaine, reaffirming its place as one of New Zealand’s premier navigation and endurance events. Hosted by Orienteering Bay of Plenty (OBOP), the event once again brought together mountain bikers, rogainers, adventure racers, families […]

An ONZ Controllers Clinic will be held in Christchurch over the weekend of 7th – 8th of November based at St Martins School.  The Clinic will be run by Alister Metherell. The course will be of interest to course planners, controllers and organisers who wish to update their skill-set, for all events from club events […]

The IOF Young Leaders Academy 2026 took place from the 27th of June – 5th of July in Val Di Sole, Italy.  I was lucky enough to attend this year. YLA is run in conjunction with the 5 days of Italy orienteering event which this year had over 2000 participants and 46 nations attending. YLA […]

Dates:  Junior Camp – Arrive Mon 14th Dec (pm), depart  Fri 18th Dec (am)  Youth Camp – Arrive Fri 18th Dec (pm), depart Sun 20th Dec (am)  Location:  Teapot Valley, 200 Teapot Valley Road, Brightwater, Nelson More information will be released in the next month

After the recent JWOC29 Announcement we wasted no time asking the Gustafsson family what they thought of the terrain around Christchurch. They were touring around New Zealand and their family joined in the New Zealand Secondary School Orienteering Champs events in July.  1. Where are you from in Sweden and what made you want to come to […]

The next Australia-New Zealand Challenge will be held in Canberra, Australia from 26 September to 04 October 2026, in conjunction with the Oceania Orienteering Championships. The Challenge will consist of an Individual Challenge, based on the Oceania Long Distance, Middle Distance and Sprint Distance Championships, and a Relay Challenge, based on the Oceania Relay Championships. […]

The fourth round of the 2026 IOF World Cup will be held in the Druskininkai, Lithuania from 22-27 September 2026, in conjunction with the 2026 European Orienteering Championships. The programme will consist of a long distance, middle distance and relay. New Zealand is entitled to enter up to 8 men and 8 women in all […]

The MTBO Selection Panel has selected the following team to contest the AUS-NZL MTBO Challenge that takes will be contested as part of the Australian MTBO champs help in Ballarat, Victoria 8-11 October 2026 W21 Marquita Gelderman, North West  Lisa Haycock, Bay of Plenty  W40 Karyn Kerrison, Bay of Plenty  Tui Hambrook, Bay of Plenty Nicole […]

Following an appeal being upheld, an independent selection panel was convened to reselect the Men’s team for World Cup 3. In accordance with the ONZ Appeals Policy, the reselections are a result of an Appeals Panel decision approved by the Board and are therefore final and binding and not subject to appeal by any athlete. […]

The 2026 European Youth Orienteering Champs saw sixteen young New Zealand athletes traveling to Nova Gorcia, Slovenia. The competition took place from 25th to 27th June. The team was coached by Kieren Woods and managed by Sonja Herrmann and, Kevin and Clodagh Hoare. We arrived two days before the competition in order to adjust to […]

The King’s Birthday orienteering events kicked off on Saturday 30 May in Woodhill Forest South with the Long event. Planner Dave Crofts, with Jeff Greenwood as A Grade Controller, crafted a course that blended demanding legs with testing control placements. Dave flagged that some seemingly straightforward areas had hidden challenges – particularly a section of […]

A small group of kiwi athletes attended Jukola/Venla this year. The event was hosted one hour east of Helsinki in Kotka, over 1,800 teams, raced in seven stages. The men lined up to start the race at 11pm, in the dark and non-stop rain. Yet more were flocked in the airfield / rally circuit for the arena. The start of women’s race had added […]

Event details:29 June individual Sprint: Trossö in Karlskrona. 30 June Sprint Relay. Trossö in Karlskrona. Mixed four-member team relay, the first and last legs are women’s legs. 1 July Long DIstance Augerum. Varied vegetation, from beech forest with fast runnability to areas with coniferous forest3 July Middle Distance event Bussevik. Countryside, mainly forest (pine, oak, beech) with a few small areas of […]

School student entries have closed, but public entries are open longer – until 13 July.  Enter hereThere are also several training courses available in Bottle Lake, please visit the website for maps and information:  www.nzssochamps.nz 

New Zealand’s most popular and one of the longest standing Rogaines is back for 2026! What is the 2026 GFR? The Great Forest Rogaine has several categories: 3 hour foot, 3 hour mtb and for 2026, we are introducing a new adventure category to replace the 6 hour mountain bike. This new category will be a combination of foot […]

Maze-O has been used as an introduction to orienteering in  South Australia as a programme for the community funded by Orienteering Australia’s Moira Whiteside Bequest. It consists of orange traffic cones with custom S.I. units that fit over a cone.  Since October 2025 it has been used around South Australia at a range of community and school […]

The National Orienteering League is the sport’s premier domestic series, fought out over forest and sprint races across the country from December to May, with separate men’s and women’s titles in each discipline. The 2026 season came down to the final weekend at The Auckland Triple Crown competitions, and it delivered four champions and a […]

An was convened to hear an appeal to the Men’s World Cup 3 selections. The appeal was made on grounds:  1.4 (a) Selection criteria were not followed and/or implemented  1.4 (b) Athlete was not afforded a reasonable opportunity to satisfy the selection criteria.  The Appeals Panel recommended to the Board that the appeal be upheld […]

The Southern Cross selectors were once again impressed by the strength and depth of school-level orienteering, which has motivated the decision to take an extended group to Australia again this year. The athletes named below were identified through their results at King’s Birthday and/or through the attitude and commitment they’ve shown.   Above all, we are looking […]