Message from President Gene Beveridge

Kia ora all. Thanks to everyone who attended the prize giving and contributed to the great atmosphere and community vibes. Special thanks again to Rob and Marquita for hosting and organising the rogaine, it was such a great venue. There is a lot to look forward to in 2025, especially with Oceania Champs kicking off the season. But, aside from entering and booking accommodation for Oceania, this time of year can be a great time to focus on friends, family and other activities, knowing that orienteering will come back bigger than ever in due course. See you all next year!

Newsletter Contents

• Auckland Calendar of Events for 2025
• Events early in 2025
  • Oceania 2025
  • Katoa Po Night Relay
• Schools Orienteering
  • AKSS Sprint Series
  • Other AKSS Events
• NZ Club Champs 2025
• Rogaine Series 2025
• The Orienteering Route to Christmas
• Have a go with OCAD
• North West Member News
  • Club End of Year Event, AGM & Prize Giving
  • North West Prize Winners for 2025
  • NWOC Hosted events in 2025 - can you help?
  • Junior Camp
  • Welcome New Members

Auckland Calendar of Events for 2025

North West together with Auckland and Counties Manukau Orienteering Club have a wonderful programe of events planned for 2025 - details coming in the next newsletter. For now, first events will include a sprint at AUT Akoranga campus on Sunday 2 March and the first forest event is on Sunday 16 March. 

All upcoming events in the wider Auckland area for 2025 will be added to our NWOC website here
New Zealand wide events are on Orienteering New Zealand’s website here

Events coming up early in 2025 

Oceania Orienteering Championships 2025 - Sunday 18 to Monday 27 January

A carnival of top quality orienteering in New Zealand's stunning sand dune forests in the lower North Island. Hosted by Orienteering Wellington and the orienteering clubs of the lower North Island, the event provides six days of racing and two training days, with time in between for travel and catching up with your mates. The six racing days include two great warm-up events and finish with the four official Oceania 2025 races. It’ll be a veritable carnival of summer orienteering, with hard but rewarding days followed by long evenings to kick back and debate route choices over a craft beer. 

• Event website with all info here
• Entries close here 11.59pm Friday 3 January.
• Merchandise orders close here at 11.59pm this Friday, 20 December . 

Oceania 2025 is the first of 3 Selection Races for the 2025 JWOC team to compete in Trentino, Italy from 26 June – 3 July 2025. Details here

Katoa Po Night Relay &  Explorer Rogaine 

Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 March 2025   

Katoa Po is te reo  for “all night” and the event is the annual interclub night relay hosted by the Taupo Orienteering Club. A weekend for all night owls and also a great option for adventure racers looking for navigation practice in night-time conditions. 
The relay features teams of 7 or 5 runners with courses suitable from younger runners to elite orienteers. The Night Explorer option features teams of 2-4 members and is not a relay.  More info here 

Typically North West enters teams in this event and members travel together to Taupo for a fun weekend.  If you're interested in being in a team, email us at northwestorienteering@gmail.com

Schools Orienteering

AKSS Sprint Series

February sees the return of the awesome Auckland Secondary School Sprint Series (Years 7-13), run by Lactic Turkey Events, with sport ident equipment and support provided by North West. Event dates are 17 February to 27 March. The sprint series programme is available now on the Auckland Schools Orienteering website here.  Entries must be submitted online via College Sport’s EnterNOW site.

For more information email info@schoolsorienteering.co.nz and/or talk with your School Orienteering Sport Coordinator.  You can also follow Auckland Schools' Orienteering on Facebook here. And for regular updates about secondary school orienteering, subscribe to the mailing list via this link here 

Other dates to note

• AKSS Individual Orienteering Champs – Thursday 22 May, 2025
• AKSS Relay Orienteering Champs – Thursday 6 May, 2025
• AKSS Individual Orienteering Champs – Thursday 22 May, 2025
• AKSS Rogaine Champs – Sunday 8 June 2025

All school event details here 

New Zealand Orienteering Club Champs 2025

Nationals 2025 will be held in Canterbury over Easter weekend, Friday 18 to Monday 21 April and will include 4 events (Sprint, Middle, Long, Relay), one each day.  The NZOC website has all the information on Nationals 2025.

Rogaine Series 2025

Our ever-popular Auckland Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series will be back in 2025. Three 90 minute Foot Rogaine Events will be held on:

• Sunday 18 May 
• Sunday 25 May
• Sunday 8 June 

All event info will be posted on our North West website here  

The Orienteering Route to Christmas

Have a go with OCAD this summer! 

OCAD is the software used for orienteering map making and course setting. NWOC has several OCAD licences and over the next couple of months they won't be being used for planning events and thus are available for interested members to have a 'play' with. If course setting interests you and you'd like to have a go with OCAD, contact us at northwestorienteering@gmail.com and we'll arrange access for you. We'll provide the OCAD software together with a "play" ocad map file, so you can design courses and perhaps have a go at updating a map file. You might even want to make an o map of a local park or school?

North West Member News 

Club End of Year Event, AGM & Prize Giving

On Sunday 1 December, Rob & Marquita once again hosted the North West end of year event for 2024. Around 70 North West members and family attended. The afternoon started with the Annual General Meeting for 2024 then a 60 minute rogaine followed by the prize-giving and dinner.

President Gene Beveridge's report of NWOC's activity in 2024 is here

The rogaine provided plenty of variety - a mix of farmland and forest, up hill and down and included a challenging maze! The final control provided for bonus points and required a (welcome) dip in the pool and opportunity to cool off as well the bonus points!     

Special thanks to Marquita & Rob for generously hosting the event and for organising the rogaine. Thanks also to others who helped with organising key aspects of the event:

• Judy Ng-Wai Shing for the delicous ham
• Lisa Mead for the engraving of the trophies and catering assistance
• Trevor Carswell for the portaloo
• James Christie for the event timing. 

An album with all photos from the event is here 

North West Prize Winners for 2024

Age-grade winners*  

 *not all grades were contested

Above: Some of our Club Champs for 2024 - L to R - Renee Beveridge W21E; Chris Gelderman M80; Rob Garden M60; Marquita Gelderman W50; Dave Middleton M70. 

North West Special Prize Winners for 2024

Each year North West awards trophies to club members to recognise special service to the club or excellence in orienteering.  Our 2024 recipients are:

Most Improved Junior Male           Aidan Barrett-Hamilton

Aidan has had some impressive results this year including

• 1^st in the long and 2^nd in the Sprint for year 7/8 at the NISS Champs
• 6^th in the Sprint, 4^th in the Long and 4^th in the Relay for year 7/8 at the NZSS champs.
• At Tuaraki Northern Champs over Labour Weekend, in M14, 1^st Sprint, 1^st Long and 4^th Middle

Most Improved Junior Female   awarded to Emily Thompson & Eva Scott jointly

Emily Thompson competed in a remarkable 14 events this year showing steady improvement along the way culminating in some great results at Tuaraki Northern Champs over Labour Weekend. In W12 Emily placed 6^th in the Sprint and 5^th in the Middle.    

Eva Scott also showed consistent improvement with some great results including AKSS Sprint Series 4th, AKSS Champs Year 7/8 4^th Long. AIMS Games 3^rd Sprint. 

Top Junior Male   Tahi Harris

Tahi has had another wonderful year orienteering. His list of impressive results includes:

• NISS, Intermediate Boys, 2^nd in both the Sprint and the Long  
• NZ Club Champs, M16, 1^st in both Middle & Long
• NZ Secondary School Champs, Intermediate Boys 3^rd Sprint, 1^st Long, 1^st Relay
• Tuaraki Champs, Labour Weekend M16 1^st in Sprint, Middle & Long. 

Top Junior Female   Annie-Rose Collins

Annie-Rose showed good form at the Tuaraki Champs held over Labour Weekend finishing 5^th in the W18 Sprint.

North West Shield for Most Improved Senior   Steve Pyatt

A long time member of NWOC, Steve has had some great results in 2024, as a sign of his improved skills.

• NZ Club Champs, M65, 4th Sprint, 9th Middle, 9th Long
• Tuaraki Champs, Labour Weekend M60 4th in Sprint, Middle & Long - all in a very competitive grade against some of Auckland’s best. 

King Trophy for most Improved Newcomer   Sarah Barrett-Hamilton

Sarah joined North West in 2023 and is a regular at forest events as well as attending NZ Club Champs 2024.  Competing at Orange level, Sarah is showing steady improvement in her orienteering.

Stone Trophy for most Outstanding Performance of the Year Renee Beveridge

Renee is this year’s winner of the Stone Trophy for her performance at the 2024 Australian Champs held in New South Wales. Competing in W21E, Renee was 1st in the Middle event - truly an outstanding performance in a strong field.

North West Shield for Valuable Service to the Club   Jenny Cade

Jenny has responsibility for North West's event promotion via social media and other means. She also writes the Club's newsletter and assists regularly with event set up and pack down. Jenny always brings her A-game to her work for which we are grateful.  

Bert Chapman Junior Service Award   Alexander Robertson

Alexander Robertson has helped at several events during the year, typically with setting up and packing down duties, quietly working away willingly undertaking any task asked of him. We appreciate Alexander's contribution to the Club and know that Bert Chapman, after whom this award is named, would agree he is a worthy recipient of the Junior Service award for 2024. 

Westie Kindness Award Mark Lawson

This award, first given in 2020, is symbolised by the NWOC teddy bear mascot 'Westie', dressed in North West colours and with a compass aiming North-West. This prize, devised by Annemarie Hogenbirk, is intended to honour a North-West club member who performed a kind deed before, during or after an orienteering event. 

Mark is a phenomenal helper at all North West events. He is one of those people who just digs in (literally when it comes to digging holes for portaloos) and gets on with the job. No job is too tough, Mark is tireless and always stays working to the end until everything is packed up, all the controls are collected and all the lost competitors have been found. Thank you Mark. 

The recipient of this prize keeps Westie until he or she in turn decides who the next club-member recipient is, without any time limit. Fellow club members are free to make suggestions and the current holder doesn't need to have witnessed the next kind deed personally.

Above: Some of our Special Prize Winners for 2024 - L to R - Steve Pyatt, Alexander Robertson, Tahi Harris, Emily Thompson, Renee Beveridge.

Congratulations to all our 2024 Prize Winners

Save the Date - Coaching Opportunity - Saturday 22 February

Let’s kick-start the 2025 orienteering season with a morning of coaching in Riverhead Forest.

This coaching will take the form of a walk in the 'nice white' parts of the forest, partnering those at yellow/orange level with an experienced orienteer.

More details to come via email in the new year. 

NWOC Hosted events in 2025 - Can you help?

North West will organise a number of events in 2025 including the rogaine series. We need members to get involved and help with the organisation of these events - there is a lot to be learned from doing so whether in the role of Course Planner, Controller or Coordinator. We recognise the level of experience a member has when agreeing a role and when possible partner an experienced Club member with a less experienced member; this often results in a wonderful learning opportunity and a new friendship!  If you're interested in being involved in 2025, please contact Club Captain Rob Garden rgmg@xtra.co.nz or 021597070.

Junior Camp

Five North West Juniors, Tahi Harris, Isaac Stewart, Zach Boss, Daniel Porteous and Callum Hill are attending the Junior Camp in Taranaki this week.  Typically this is a fantastic experience for Juniors - providing great skills training as well as the opportunity to make friends from the NZ orienteering community. 

Welcome to our New Members

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and a New Year of peace and happiness.

North West Orienteering Club