Message from President Gene Beveridge

Newsletter Contents

• 2023 Event Calendar
  • New Forest Cup
• Next NWOC Events
• ONZ Controller's Clinic
• Junior Camp 2023
• Member News
  • North West Club Champs Results
  • Winter Sprint Results
  • Scottish 6 Days
  • Member Profile - Isaac Stewart
  • Trophy Return
• New Members

2023 Event Calendar

All upcoming events in the wider Auckland area are listed on our NWOC website here
New Zealand wide events are on Orienteering New Zealand’s website here
Check the links above for details of events coming soon.

The Forest Cup 2023 - a new initiative

This 4-race series is a new initiative shared by the 3 Auckland Region clubs. Event #1 was held on Sunday 13 August; the remaining 3 events are coming up soon.

• Forest Cup #2 - Sunday 20 August @ Mushroom Road, Woodhill Forest
• Forest Cup #3 - Sunday 10 September @ Waiuku Forest South
• Forest Cup Final - Sunday 17 September @ Hucks & Deviation Road, Woodhill Forest

All event details here

Pre-entry is preferred for ALL events. Please enter via enterO here

Forest Cup General Info

If you wish to be part of the Forest Cup points competition, please read below, if not then please feel free to enter the course of your choosing.

• There is a points competition with points based on time behind the winner.
• There will be a prize giving after the final based on the best 3 scores across the 4 events. Top 3 in all grades will be celebrated.
• Enter online (preferred) or at the event by choosing your course, as usual for Auckland events.
• You will be automatically assigned to the most appropriate grade for the course you have entered. See table below.
• Some very competitive orienteers may choose to "run up" a course from that of their typical age grade. An example: Someone who is eligible for the M14 grade (which is on the Orange Long course) may choose to enter the Red 3 course and will score points in the M16 grade.
• Some more casual orienteers may choose to "run down" a course from that of their typical age grade. They will score points in the open grade for that course.

Forest Events to be hosted by North West

The last two forest events that we will host in 2023 are coming up soon:

• Sunday 20 August - Mushroom Road, Woodhill Forest. That's this Sunday! Pre-entry for this event closes tonight. Enter here
• Sunday 17 September - Hucks Road/Deviation Road map, Woodhill Forest. Pre-entry for this event closes at 11.59pm on Thursday 14 September.

Pre-entry is preferred as this enables us to better estimate how many maps we need to print. Printing maps isn't cheap and we print our maps on Fridays hence why entries close on Thursday nights.

Earn a Voucher for Volunteering We always need help from members for events - whether that's learning what's involved as a course planner or helping on the day of an event e.g pitch tents, be on registration, direct people to parking, pack up at the end of the day or collect controls - there’s a variety of jobs and something for everyone. And we'll support you! Plus you also get to meet and know Club Members.

Club Members who help with events are given vouchers for reduced entry fees to other North West events. If you can help with this Sunday's event please contact Lisa Mead on 0211359631 or mead10b@gmail.com

ONZ Controllers Clinic - are any NWOC members keen to go?

The Club sponsored lunch of Subway & Sushi afterwards was much enjoyed by members too. It was great to meet some of our newer members and as always it was a good opportunity to compare maps and discuss route choice.

Winter Sprint Series

Run by Auckland Club, this series of 6 events provided some great competition. The overall winners are announced in the photo below. Congratulations to North West Members:

• Mack O'Brien and Ben Ross for placing 1st and 2nd respectively on course 2.
• Liam Stolberger - 3rd overall on course 1.

Scottish 6 Days: something for the bucket list?

In late July, North West members, Phillippa Poole, Rob Garden, Marquita Gelderman, and Lana Gosse headed up to Morayside, a delightful region east of Inverness, for a multiday event with over 3,000 competitors. They caught up with club members Nick and Rosie Monkton who are staying locally.
Based out of the beautiful town of Forres, the five competition days were held in the coastal sand dune forests of Lossie, Roseisle and Culbin, plus Darnaway further inland. These forests have been used for many major events including WOC. As such, the terrain and courses were challenging, with a strong resemblance to Woodhill apart from the plentiful heather underfoot and some remnant defences from WW2. The ‘Rest’ Day offered a town sprint, one of the three MTBO events, and the chance to try Trail O, which was two hours of surprisingly difficult orienteering. There were 19 problems, and for each you had to stand at a viewing point on a trail and identify which one (or none) of the flags that had been placed on the ground was the one on the map we had been given. Another feature was walks of up to 3km to the start and from the finish to the arena. Fortunately, it was relatively flat and the weather generally mild.
The Scottish 6 Days is really well-organised and friendly, with grades to suit everyone. The next event is in 2025 and will be based in Royal Deeside near Aberdeen. For more information and pictures visit https://scottish6days.com/. Thanks to Pip Poole for this report.

L to R Lana Gosse, Marquita Geldeman & Rob Garden; the town of Forres; Pip Poole at Trail O

Member Profile - Isaac Stewart

North West Junior Isaac Stewart featured in our Member News stories recently when he placed First in the Junior Boys Sprint and Second in the Junior Boys Long at the NZ Secondary School Champs. Keen to know more about what Isaac enjoys about orienteering, we asked him a few questions.
Number of years orienteering? I did my first event three years ago but have been competing for the club for two years.
How were you introduced to orienteering? A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to compete in the central zone orienteering champs for intermediate schools where not only did we qualify for the Auckland finals, but our team came first. Unfortunately, I miss-punched at the next race but still really enjoyed it.
Key orienteering achievements to date? Recently I competed in the NZSSOC and won first in the sprint and second in the long. Apart from those races, I haven't won many events apart from the odd club race.

Current orienteering project or goal? I am hoping to place at North Islands and Nationals next year. But basically just to cut back on navigation mistakes when I'm running.

Favourite map and why? Pretty much every Woodhill map is always awesome but I think that my favorite map is probably Lake Kareta. Because this is the map that I had some of my first big success on, so it's pretty memorable.

Map you have yet to experience but aspire to orienteer on? I'm not really sure but I would like to do some of the other maps from around NZ as I have not done too many events out of Auckland.

Orienteering hero? I don't have an orienteering hero as such not but Tahi Harris is the person who introduced me to the sport and club so I have to give it to him.
Other interests? Food, Guitar, Travelling, Running, Reading, Biking, and Skiing.

Photo Credit Steve Knowles, Sportzhub

NWOC Trophy Return

If you won a trophy at last year’s prize-giving could you please bring it/them to the event on Sunday 20 August or 17 September and return them to Lisa Mead.