Greetings everyone

The Christmas holidays have flown by and while I’m writing this, some of you will be competing under a hot summer sun at the Lonely Mountain sprints in Taranaki, with Sprint The Bay to follow the following weekend in Hawkes Bay.

These events are key for our elite and junior elite club members as they compete for places in the national team for the World Orienteering Champs in Denmark in July, which this year, for the first time, follows an urban/sprint format for all races. Happy racing!

As mentioned last month, we have a couple of gaps in our committee and would welcome hearing from anyone who is keen to contribute to the club in any way. Vacant positions include the newsletter editor and in the longer term – a new club treasurer for 2021.

Geoff, Annemarie, Rob and Marquita and a team of course setters and map-makers have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure we have some great events over the coming months.

It is now time to renew your NWOC membership for 2020, so that you can take advantage of cheaper membership rates at events, be eligible for team selection, get free entry to the Katoa Po relays….
In this issue:

1. North West orienteering Club membership renewal
2. Upcoming Events
3. NWOC events, course planners and helpers for2020
4. Katoa Po night relays
5. New members
6. IOF survey on Fair Play

1   Renew your North West Orienteering Club membership
Subscriptions for 2020 are now due and the club would love you to consider renewing your membership to NWOC for 2020 now. Thanks to all of you who have already done so.

Here are some of the reasons why you should renew:

* Membership includes members' rates for entry fees at events - not just NWOC events but also
   those organised by other NZ clubs.
* Subsidised or free coaching and training sessions for club members of all abilities.
* The club covers relay team entry fees for the Katoa Po night relays (March) and the Auckland
   relays.
* Receive regular email newsletters with news and reviews of club activities.
* Be eligible to apply for grants from the Club's Junior fund to attend Junior camp or some
   overseas events.
* Participation in club trips, in the past we have had very popular and successful trips to
  Australia and within New Zealand.
* To be eligible to win a title at the national championships (Easter Weekend 2020) or to
  represent New Zealand (e.g. JWOC / Australia & New Zealand challenges etc) you need to be
  a member of an orienteering club such as North West.

Orienteering New Zealand has recently added some new questions in the membership database, such as other sporting interests, areas of special expertise etc, and while we have many of your details in the membership database, we know that many of you no longer have a fixed landline phone or may have changed your email address from a school email contact to a personal email address.
We recommend that to check your contact details and other questions asked by ONZ; please logon on to our membership database (https://www.revolutionise.com.au/nwoc).

Go to member login at the top righthand side of the NWOC website page. If you do not have your member log in user name or password, just click on the “forgot login details prompt. Enter your email address and your login details will be emailed to you. If you have any problems logging in, please contact Annemarie Hogenbirk (northwestorienteering@gmail.com) or Lisa Mead (mead10b@gmail.com).

Please pay the  club subscription by direct crediting the NWOC bank account: WESTPAC Account 03- 0243-0247251-000 and PLEASE include your name in the reference field (preferred method). Note – you do NOT need to log in to NWOC in order to pay your membership.

For more information please visit our website or contact Annemarie or Lisa.

The subs are unchanged from 2019 (and 2015/2016/2017 etc.):

• $20 for juniors and unwaged
• $60 for seniors (21 and over)
• $100 Partners/ couples with no children included
• $120 for family living at same address (2 seniors and children over 10 years at same address)
• Over 65 years (generally not working) $20 per person

2   Upcoming Events
Auckland Summernav park events – started again on 21 January. The calendar is here:.

Secondary Schools Sprint Series – extremely popular after school sprint races, starting from 17 February – details coming soon.

NWOC is organising the Auckland Orienteering Series (AOS) events 2 and 3 on 21/22 March. Both events will double as selection trial races for the NZ teams for the World Junior Orienteering Champs and the World University Orienteering Champs. New maps for both days will provide high quality orienteering with course planning for the Middle and Long events well underway by Renee Beveridge, Geoff Mead, Cameron Tier and Gene Beveridge. The events will be on Turkey Ridge (access via Slater Road) and in Woodhill forest north of the Hedley Dunes map (access via Wilson Road) – in the interests of fairness, the competition area is embargoed until the event. Check out the Embargo Notice here: https://www.orienteering.org.nz/news/map-embargoes-trial-races-for-jwoc-wuoc-21-22-march-2020/

Here’s what Gene has to say: “First time on the brand new map being used by @northwestorienteering for JWOC TRIALS. @camerontier will be setting an unforgiving long distance on the most varied area I've EVER been on. Seriously, this terrain is all curve balls.”

Photo - Middle distance terrain AOS 2/ JWOC Middle distance trial Saturday  21 March

Everyone can compete at these AOS events plus you’ll see New Zealand’s best young elites in action. AOS events cater for all levels of orienteering expertise. From red (hard orienteering), orange (medium), yellow (easy) to white (very easy).

NWOC Bivouac Rogaine Series – we have four 90 minute rogaines planned for 2020. The series is hugely popular, not just with orienteers but trail runners and adventure racers too. Bring your friends or make up a team with workmates – it is a great introduction to the sport!  The first rogaine is 19 April. rogaineseries.co.nz

A list of upcoming events can be found on the NWOC website: https://www.nwoc.org.nz/events/

Orienteering events outside Auckland – start planning those holidays
National orienteering championships 2020, Easter 10 to 13 April, Manawatu. Information  here  
Oceania Orienteering Championships – January 2021 in Canterbury.  Information here 

3   NWOC Event Volunteers Needed
We have a number of great events coming up in the first half of 2020 - don’t be shy about volunteering to help out at any of these events as we will need lots of person-power to make these events run smoothly. It is a great way to meet people and we also have a lot of fun.

 We still need more co-ordinators to arrange people-power and helpers for the day of the event and make sure all runs smoothly on the day. It takes a bit of organization but is not a difficult role, and is a great way to meet new people. We have a handbook for coordinators, so if you can help in any capacity at any event please get in touch with our secretary: Annemarie, northwestorienteering@gmail.com or club captain Rob Garden rgmg@xtra.co.nz.

Please drop Annemarie an email if you can help at our double AOS / JWOC trial week end, 21 & 22 March. We need set up crew, start crew and pack up crew each day. No experience required.

4   Katoa Po Relays 14 March 2020
Katoa Po is a Maori translation for “all night” and the event is the annual interclub night relay hosted by the Taupo Orienteering Club. Here is their invitation:
This year is special as it will have been 40 years since the first ever Katoa Po night relay was conceived and run, so to honour the occasion we are going to make it a little special.
Graham Teahan was the founder and planner for the first relay and will be the planner for this 40th event. There will also be a “reminiscing” dinner on Friday night for those who planned and organised the various Katoa Po events – particularly the earlier ones. A special commemorative T shirt available for pre order at a cost of $20.

The Programme
Friday 13th March – “reminiscing” dinner and memorabilia display.
Saturday 14th March - Afternoon start from 2pm Short nostalgia warmup event on a NEW MAP – Rangatira Tomos using clipcards and draw your own course ( just like the “old” days)
Saturday 14th March - 40th Katoa Po Relay Starts at dusk
Sunday 15th March - Mini Rogaine Start 9.30am

See the website here for further details

We hope to get lots of NWOC teams together to make this a really special event and retain the Owl trophy. All runners are welcome and NWOC will pay members’ entry fees. 

Don’t worry if you are not experienced or are nervous about running in the dark – the first courses for the junior runners start on dusk and Trevor Carswell always brings lots of high-powered headlamps which light up the night (we can loan you a torch). Better still, no-one fails, as all competitors score points for their team (there are time penalties for missed checkpoints but no disqualifications). The relays don’t actually last all night- usually all completed just after midnight.  Stay and camp at the event just out of Taupo and compete in a fun rogaine event on the Sunday morning. Please contact Trevor Carswell to put your name down for a NWOC relay team: trevnallie@gmail.com

5 New member
Welcome to Edward Ashworth, who is a post–grad student at Auckland University – we look forward to seeing you out in the forest soon!

6   IOF Survey on Fair Play in Orienteering
The IOF is planning on creating a digital education tool about issues of Fair Play in Orienteering. The intention is to help create a common understanding of orienteering fair play issues across disciplines and global regions.
To make this education tool as relevant and comprehensive as possible IOF is seeking input from orienteers worldwide.
Please click on the link  here below to complete the survey before the end of January .