President’s introduction

Kia ora all and welcome to a new year! We've got many exciting events to look forward to this year. The club will have a presence at all major and local events and looks forward to reconnecting with returning members and new members alike. Look out for the NWOC flag when you arrive at the event.

Newsletter Contents

• Auckland Calendar of Events for 2024
• Events coming up in Auckland soon
  • JWOC trials inc public events
• A snap shot of key events on around New Zealand in 2024
  • Katoa Po
  • NZ Champs
  • Kings Birthday Carnival
  • Tūāraki-Northern Regional Championships - Labour Weekend
• Schools Orienteering
  • AKSS Sprint Series
  • NISS Champs
• North West's Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series 2024
• Member News
  • Can you help?
  • Club Membership Fees are now due

Auckland Calendar of Events for 2024

Last year the three Auckland Clubs implemented changes to the Auckland calendar of events primarily with the intention of providing a progression of competitiveness throughout the season. (see December 2022 news for more detail). After a review of the 2023 season, the plan for 2024 events is as below.

Easy Season - (Jan, Feb, Mar) is when schools are finding their feet and club orienteers are getting themselves ready for NZ Champs:

• SummerNav park events
• School Sprint Series
• Sprint and forest events leading into NZ Champs
• NZ Champs at Easter Weekend

Mid Season - (Apr, May) is the time for schools to transition from sprint to forest orienteering and club orienteering, to reflect on what went right and what went wrong at NZ Champs, and the skills they want to improve over the season.

• Rogaines (CMOC, NWOC and Lactic Turkey Rogaines)
• Forest events
• North Island Schools

Competition Season (Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep) is the time to test those skills in competition:

• King’s Birthday competition
• Winter Sprint Series - 4 events scoring points, prize giving after final
• Forest Cup - 4 events scoring points, prize giving after final
• NZ Secondary Schools

Later Season (Oct, Nov, Dec) allows time for some after-season fun events of a more social nature.

• Northern Region Champs at Labour Weekend
• Auckland RegionRelay
• SummerNav park events
• Junior Camp

All upcoming events in the wider Auckland area for 2024 will soon be added to our NWOC website here
New Zealand wide events are on Orienteering New Zealand’s website here

Events coming up in Auckland early in 2024

Summer Nav is underway with weekly events across Auckland and Auckland Triple Crown event will be held from 2 to 6 February. (Entries have now closed for this event.)

JWOC Trials 2024 including public forest events - March 2024

Auckland Club (AOC) will host the trial middle race at Riverhead on Saturday 16 March and North West Club (NWOC) will host the trial long race at South Head/Woodhill on Sunday 17 March.

Public races will be held on both days following the JWOC race starts. More event info and entry details coming soon. Pre-entry will be preferred and will be live here soon

JWOC selection notice is here
An embargo notice for JWOC competitors is here:

The first Auckland Forest Event is on Sunday 14 April at Robinson Road, Riverhead Forest. More details to come.

A snap shot of a few key events on around NZ in 2024

Katoa Po - Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 March

Katoa Po, or night relays, provides a unique weekend of orienteering. The night relay starts at dusk and continues into the small hours of the morning! This year’s programme includes the 44th Katoa Po Night relay as well as a Saturday Explorer event and a Sunday morning rogaine. Events will cover a wide variety of terrain with typical Taupō farmland as well as some forest.

We need members of all abilities to make up our NWOC teams - see below for specifics about the course level for each leg.
5 or 7 person teams; Leg 1 White; Leg 2 Yellow; Leg 3 Orange; Leg 4 Orange/Red, Legs 5, 6 &7 Red
Camping will be available at the Event Centre.
Event Programme
Saturday 9 March
- 2.30pm – Park/town line event at 3 Mile Bay
- Dusk – start of Night Relay
Sunday 10 March
- 9.30am – start of 90 minute rogaine
Camping will be available at the Event Centre for the Night Relay.

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

Photos above from previous Katoa Po events

New Zealand Orienteering Champs 2024

The 2024 New Zealand Orienteering Championships will be held at Easter from 29 March to 1 April hosted by Orienteering Bay of Plenty

Kings Birthday Carnival 2024

Nelson Orienteering Club (NOC) will host King’s Birthday 2024 in Golden Bay. "Off the beaten track, one bay over from Nelson in the northwest corner of the South Island and in what the organisers say is one of the most beautiful locations of New Zealand". The proposed schedule is:

Saturday 1 June – Middle: the venue is Canaan Downs, located on top of the Takaka Plateau, on the way to Golden Bay
Sunday 2 June – Long: the venue is near Kaihoka Lakes, a brand-new map on the West Coast, almost exclusively on private farmland near the Whanganui Inlet. Think karst rock formations and sand dunes, this terrain is unique in New Zealand.
Monday 3 June – Sprint: the venue is ‘in town’, as locals would say: Takaka’s Golden Bay High School and Takaka Primary School.

More details here

Note - the Kings Birthday Carnival includes the trials for the NZSS team to compete at the Australian Schools Champs during the September School Holidays.

Tūāraki-Northern Regional Championships - Labour Weekend 2024

Counties Manukau will host this year's Tūāraki-Northern Regional Championships over Labour Weekend ie from Saturday 26 October to Monday 28 October. More details to come.

Schools Orienteering

The annual and awesome Auckland Secondary School Sprint Series (Years 7-13) is starting soon – first events are on 19 February. 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.

North Island Secondary School Champs 2024

6198746. West is the host for this year's event which will be held from Thursday 25 April to Saturday 27 April. Event dates & locations are:

Thursday 25 April: Sprint
Friday 26 April: Long distance (Forest)
Saturday 27 April: Relay (RiverheadForest)

First starts from approximately 1.00pm on Thursday 25 April.

More details to come here

North West's Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series 2024

Back in 2024 is our Auckland Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series. Three 90 minute Foot Rogaine Events will be held on:

• Sunday 19 May - Stoneybrooke
• Sunday 26 May - Barlow Road, Riverhead Forest
• Sunday 9 June - Grass Track Road, Muriwai end of Woodhill Forest

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

Member News

NWOC Hosted events in 2024 - Can you help?

A number of events coming up are being organised by North West. First up in March is the Long event of the JWOC trials followed in April by the 2024 North Island Secondary School Champs and then in May & June, our 2024 Rogaine Series. Later in the year we will host other forest events. North West Club members also provide support for Auckland Secondary Schools events especially for Finals Day to be held on Sunday 7 April.

Our group of members who are involved in event organisation is small and we rely on assistance from ALL Club members. There's a variety of jobs to do; some pre-event activities that might involve admin work from home as well as on-the-day assistance with everything from putting up tents to helping at registration to event pack down and control collection at the end of an event. We will call for volunteers for each event and those who help are awarded a voucher for discounted or free entry to another NWOC-organised event. If anyone is keen to get involved now and offer help we would be very grateful and yes you too would receive a voucher for free entry to another event! If you're interested in being involved in 2024, please contact us at northwestorienteering@gmail.com

North West Membership Fees for 2024 are due now

NWOC membership fees remain unchanged for 2024 and are due NOW please.

And as in the last couple of years, we are again offering a combined deal of club membership/rogaine entry fee that offers good savings for those who love our rogaine series. (We have 3 rogaines planned for 2024.) The new combo deal means you effectively get free entry to one rogaine – plus all the benefits of club membership.

To ensure you get members’ rates at all orienteering events, please pay your fee as soon as possible.

Existing members can simply credit NWOC's club bank account (WESTPAC Account 03-0243-0247251-000 and include your name in the reference field.) No need to log in or re-register. Those selecting the membership/rogaine combo deal will receive a credit voucher before the start of the rogaine series.