Gavin Milne is the 2024 recipient of the Auckland Orienteering Club’s Technology Advancement Award and also a previous winner of the AOC Comedy / Mispunch of the Year. It was time to catch-up with New Zealand’s most consistent GoPro orienteer, who loves sharing NZ terrain and orienteering events. Gavin first discovered orienteering while teaching at MAGS in 2012, where he was asked to help manage the sport. As an avid runner in Xterra and other events, he didn’t know much about orienteering but he was urged to take it on as “It’s just like running.” He has become one New Zealand’s most consistent video documentary orienteers and he straps on a GoPro 11 every time he heads to a startline.

Orienteering became a family affair when Gavin’s primary-aged children were introduced to the sport. They started with SummerNav events, and Gavin saw it as a great way to keep his kids active and get them outside. His eldest son, who had been playing soccer, joined rowing and orienteering when he started secondary school . In Year 9, he achieved well at the National Secondary School Orienteering Championships, and orienteering quickly became the priority sport.

Gavin supported his children, and then started out himself on white courses, and within a couple of years, progressed to the more challenging red courses. As a science teacher, Gavin appreciates the sport’s intellectual side, calling it a “nerdy sport,” but he also enjoys its social aspects. Orienteers love to chat about their runs afterward, comparing notes and learning from one another. Gavin finds it rewarding to see his kids engage with others who are eager to improve, “orienteers are interesting people.”

Even though he now teaches at Dilworth, Gavin is back at MAGS, helping coach the next generation of orienteers. His GoPro videos have become a resource for students to study terrain and relive the courses. His GoPro captures every move, so there’s no hiding from any mistakes. Gavin is transparent about this, posting comments to point out any where he has gone wrong. Gavin has run and filmed 84 events—though not all were official. During a holiday in Queenstown, he reached out to the Remarkables Orienteering Club for an old map, then created and ran his own course. 

Gavin Milne Orienteering’s YouTube channel now has 248 subscribers showcasing New Zealand’s terrain to a growing global audience with many Finnish viewers enjoying the challenges of a recent orienteering event. And recently, he has received attention from France, a French Sport Science Lecturer at the University of Perpignan has used Gavin’s footage in his teaching, and in a final exam paper. 

Originally inspired by Joseph Lynch’s videos, and other sport YouTubers, Gavin is happy with his growing events online, but some favourites are the 2024 Long and Middle Nationals, especially the Cannan Downs event, and he really enjoys sprint courses in complex CBD areas –  the event in the Secondary School Champs in Blenheim was really a fun challenge.

Visit Edinburgh, Oslo, Antigua and London with Gavin’s video headcam recommendations below: 

• Minion Orienteering – WOC Tour 2024  WOC Tour public race Day 4 was a Long race around the Old City of Edinburgh
• Kiziev – Holmenkollen, Olso  A deaf orienteer from Ukraine, who is running in the forest Lutvann, Oslo, Norway here. 

• Terje Mathisen – Antigua (Carribean Tour)  PWT tour map at English Harbour on  Antigua in the Caribbean. Join the run from the shore up to the highest point on the map on a hot rocky hillside
• O is for Outdoors – London City Race 2022 An outdoor channel with a lot of orienteering content, follow this run in the Temple and the Barbican areas of London
• See and follow more of Gavin’s NZ footage  

Photo above: Gavin receiving his award at the AOC AGM from Kieran Woods, and reflection of Gavin running in in an event