Well, what a difference a month makes. At the end of February we were looking to trials for JWOC and WUOC, and those in Wellington were fully engaged in preparations for the ONZ Champs. Now we wonder when we are even going to be able to orienteer again, and globally major events, if not cancelled, […]

After the sprints of January there has been somewhat of a lull throughout February although weekly club events have started up around the country. From a HP perspective the main happening has been a training camp held in Nelson/Nelson Lakes, reported on below. But as we move into March and the serious business of trials, […]

Season 2020 is underway! A highly successful Lonely Mountain Sprint series saw a strong international field and gave a great demonstration of the new IOF knock-out sprint format. A full report follows, including an analysis of the map choice option of splitting that was used in the semi-finals. Also, as we move into 2020 a […]

With essentially no events of note the main feature of December is the Under 23 Development Camp, held this year courtesy of Counties Manakau Orienteering Club. However, after a long year it also provides a chance to take a short break before launching into the next year. Of course, 2020 will see an early start […]

After the plethora of events in October, November has seen a dearth! Hence, no pictures, no results, but the chance to reflect on a couple of the issues that came to light before and during October – not least the allegations of cheating that arose out of the world Military Games and World Cup races […]

October has been a month with a hectic start and an even more hectic finish. Beginning with the second weekend of the Oceania Carnival – which saw some excellent individual performances , but Australia taking the Aspin-Key Trophy – and culminating with both the final round of the IOF World Cup and the Auckland Championships […]

It seems somewhat odd to be writing this in Wellington while a substantial number of NZL orienteers are in Australia at the Oceania Carnival. Nevertheless it has allowed me to keep an eye on both the goings on over the ditch over the weekend, and the happenings in Switzerland where the final round of the […]

A little later in the year than usual, but the first forest only WOC since the advent of sprint orienteering has now come and gone. The compressed programme compared to previous years left little time for reflection during the event, those appear below. WOC has also left little time to consider other issues so the […]

July is the traditionally busy month in world orienteering although this year the later date for WOC has made things a little less congested. Nervertheless, JWOC, WMTBOC, O-Ringen and World Rogaine Champs have all fallen within it. Having been in east of Canada for when JWOC was on I found it quite hard to follow […]

As usual June has seen a major upturn in happenings. This started, of course, with the massive turn-out at Queen’s Birthday. This was followed a week later by the first round of the World Cup for 2019, though it was not particularly uplifting from the local point of view. Now we have the departure of […]

With no second JWOC trial this year to fill the gap between the ONZ Champs and Queen’s Birthday there has been a bit of a lull, notwithstanding events on the various local scenes. Following the naming of the JWOC and WOC teams, in mid-month there was a successful HP camp held in Auckland, largely, but […]

So the ONZ Championships, with new locations and a variety of challenging terrain, have come and gone. Congratulations to all the winners and place getters and to PAPO as the lead organizers. Out of the ONZ Championships we now await the final announcement of the WOC and JWOC teams and, below, is updated the points […]

As we move towards the ONZ Championships at Easter, March has been a relatively busy month, not only with the start of many of the regional OY Series, but also a HP camp in Rotorua, the Otago Champs and, at the end of the month, the first set of JWOC Trials. Outside orienteering there has […]

After a busy January with training camps and the South Island Champs, February almost seems like a break between the summer and the real orienteering season starting, as despite numerous local mid-week introductory events, the only goings-on at HP orienteering level have been somewhat in the background. Nevertheless if we look more widely at the […]

A New Year, new hopes for all of us as we seek to improve our own and others performances and further develop orienteering. Before launching fully into the new year, below are further comments on a couple of issues arising from the Under 23 Camp in December – food for thought at least. There is […]

Having reported in brief on the Canterbury Champs last month, the main happening in December has been the Under 23 Camp which has again tested the physical and mental stamina of our up-and-coming elites. Also, however, December has seen the submission of the ONZ bid for JWOC2022. So now, sit back, relax and enjoy the […]

Although November started with CDOA Championships, highly successfully hosted by OBOP, it has since been an essentially quiet month. On the HP front much of it has been taken up with final preparation of the ONZ bid for JWOC2022, and with mapping, planning and general organization for the U23 Development Camp which starts next Saturday. […]

October brings with it the end of the international season and, with the exception of the rejuvenated CDOA Champs and the Canterbury Champs, also the wind-down of the domestic competition year. Still to come of course are the U23 and Junior Camps in December. Here though we can summarize the last round of the World […]

September always seems to be a bit of a dead month coming after the excitement of JWOC and WOC, and before the Australian Championships Carnival. For that reason it is the time to pause, take stock and work out where we are. Hence…no major event reports but a lot of reading. How did we really […]

Clearly the single outstanding highlight of August was Tim Robertson’s silver medal in the WOC sprint – the first ever podium finish at WOC for NZL. However, there were other pleasing results, as well as a few disappointments. Also, we should not forget the performances of Georgia Skelton at the Junior WMTBO Champs in Austria. […]

July has seen an explosion of international events. This includes not only JWOC but also WUOC, EYC, WMOC and WMMTBOC. Notwithstanding some excellent JWOC results it has also seen New Zealand win no less than an unprecedented 6 gold medals! Reports, in chronological order, on all these below, plus Kiwis at O-Ringen 2018, and a […]

As we await the start of the 2018 round of World Championships, June has seen the Pinestars-Bushrangers Test Match and some keen individual competition at Queen’s Birthday in Auckland. This also saw the culmination of the SuperSeries for 2018 with well deserved senior titles going to gene Beveridge and Imogene Scott. Also below a few […]

May has seen an upsurge in events both domestically and overseas. At international level we have seen the first round of the 2018 World Cup, in association with the European Championships, with mixed results for the small New Zealand contingent. At home the second round of JWOC trials, early in the month, including the Ultralong […]

Click here to view the latest edition of High Performance News   With the ONZ Championships done and dusted for another year, April has been another relatively quiet month at home, the main feature being the South Island Championships hosted by Dunedin. This has been followed by both North island and South Island Secondary Schools […]

Although the early part of March kept many of riveted watching the unfolding drama of Godzone2018, there has been very little orienteering activity until the ONZ Championships over Easter. With Easter overhanging March into April, I have left this issue until completion of competition and selection or partial selection of JWOC, WOC and WUOC teams, […]

February usually brings about a pick-up of activity. This year, with no Waitangi sprints, SOW being at the end of January, and no opportunity to build a camp around these events seems to be the exception. Nevertheless there are many out there training diligently with an eye on Easter and beyond, competing overseas, or flying […]

So a new year starts… Despite SOW creeping into January this year, it is a quiet period. Hence below you will find a more extended summary of the seminar given by DFSNZ at the Under 23 Camp in December, as well as, of course, the SOW results, and a few other snippets of information, as […]

With the competition season ending with the WOA Champs at the end of November, I was anticipating this HP news to be short. But with a report on the recent U23 Development Camp, plus a few other issues of interest, it seems to have expanded well beyond expectations!. So, holiday reading for all and see […]

After the ONZ Champs at Labour Weekend November was perhaps always going to be a bit of an anti-climax despite both the AOA and WOA Champs being on the calendar. Brief reports on both are below. Also revealed is the draft programme for the 2018 SuperSeries, and some reflections based on two weeks in Norway […]

It seems strange writing about the ONZ Championships in October, but in some ways it is perhaps fitting that the National Championships have come, once again, not withstanding the Auckland and Wellington Champs to come, more or less at the end of the season. The ONZ Champs reported on below were the final chance for […]