The Auckland Rogaine Series was hugely successful, once again. Pats on the back to all those who helped run the events, especially Rob & Marquita who lead the whole thing.

A warm welcome to our new members - I hope you'll come along to "Club Champs" on 30 July 2017. We'll be having a shared picnic after the race so it'll be a great chance to meet you. 

A round of applause for our club-mates Gene, Cameron, Kayla & Alice who have been representing NZ at WOC & JWOC. Travel safe - looking forward to hearing your stories! 

Nick Harris, President

In this issue:

1. Upcoming Events
2. NWOC Club Champs and Social Gathering
3. WOC and JWOC
4. Congratulations to those named in NZSS team
5. Club Member Profiles - Jessica Sewell and Ryan Moore
6. SI Training
7. Welcome to new NWOC members
8. New Club T-shirts
9. Coaching Corner
10. Good luck for NZSS Champs
11. Other Events of Interest

Upcoming Events

30 July          AOS 5 but more importantly… 2017 NWOC Club Championships (more details below)

30 July          Shared picnic lunch after AOS 5

13 August     Club Training Day - more details closer to the time

27 August     AOS 6 Maramarua

2 September NWOC SI Training

NWOC Club Champs and Social Gathering

The North West Orienteering Club Championships will be held at AOS 5, Sunday 30^th July 2017. Simply turn up at AOS 5 and run a course that has an age group you are eligible to enter. The table below outlines the course you should enter that day for various age grades. Of course, if you do not wish to enter that particular course, you can still run, but it will not be counted towards the Club Champs. Trophies are awarded to grade winners at the Club Xmas function at the end of November. 
Note that you must be a paid up NWOC member to be eligible for the NWOC championships. 

We also encourage as many members as possible to stay on after their run, to socialise and enjoy a shared picnic lunch together.

This spreadsheet has the course/grade table along with last year's winners.

WOC and JWOC

Thanks to the NWOC orienteers who have been competing recently at World Orienteering Championships in Estonia (Gene Beveridge) and Junior World Orienteering Championships in Finland (Cameron de L’Isle, Alice Tilley and Kayla Fairbairn) for providing us all with much excitement and late night ‘dot-watching’!

WOC

Gene has posted a reflection on his WOC experience on his blog http://genebeveridge.co.nz/woc-2017/ Well done on 37th place in the Long Distance - NZ’s best result since 2011. Middle Distance (41st).

JWOC

The main excitement was of course, Tommy Hayes (AOC) winning Silver in the Sprint. 
Great result also from Cameron de L’Isle finishing 45th in the Sprint (second fastest kiwi).

Middle Distance results
Cameron de L’Isle (20th in B Final)
Kayla Fairbairn (28th in B Final)
Alice Tilley (48th in B Final)

Sprint results
Cameron de L’Isle (45th)
Alice Tilley (89=)
Kayla Fairbairn (122nd)

Long results
Cameron de L'Isle (98th)
Alice Tilley (94th)
Kayla Fairbairn (104th)

Congratulations 

Congratulations to Daniel Monckton, Jessica Sewell and Ryan Moore (as reserve) who have been named in the 2017 NZ Secondary Schools Team who will compete in Bathurst, Australia in September. Daniel and Jessica have both made the team for the second time. Jessica and Ryan are profiled below - Daniel’s profile from a year or so ago can be found on the NWOC website.

Club Member Profiles - Jessica Sewell and Ryan Moore

Jessica Sewell

Number of years orienteering?  
I started in year 7 with the school sprint series. Then forrest events in year 8 so 3 + years of good times.

How were you introduced to orienteering?
Started through Dio's 'have a go day'  (year 7) where we could try out various sports before signing up. It was so much fun. From there I did the school sprint series. My first ever event we were paired with an experienced orienteer - my buddy was Lauren Holmes. 

Key orienteering achievements to date?
Each year I have a goal. Last and this year was to be selected for NZ Secondary Schools team to compete in Australia. Being selected and competing )now for the second year) is one of my key achievements thus far.

Current orienteering project or goal?
My first goal this year was to make the New Zealand Secondary School team. This meant doing well at the Queens Birthday trials - which was more a trial against a recurring virus. Also in my grade I was up against some very talented orienteers.
Next goal for this year - improve on my results from last years Australian events. 

Favourite map and why?
Ranjit Rock in Tasmania. I ran this when Tasmania held Oceania 2015 - my first real competition. It had open rock surfaces to run along with added goldmine features and then the wildlife! Who doesn't admire the kangaroos and colourful birds. Did not see any snakes!

Map you have yet to experience but aspire to orienteer on?
Any map in Switzerland - my next BAG (big audacious goal). Europe here I come.

Orienteering hero?
Tove Alexandersson did you see her recent WOC - Middle and Long? Just awesome.
From our club - I have a couple of standouts: 
1 Matt Ogden - such sound snippets of advice. 
2 Mike B who saw potential
3 Heidi S my training buddy.
But orienteers in general are so helpful and willing to impart their knowledge. 

Day job?
Student 

Other interests?
Sport sport sport, the outdoors, music and art.   

Ryan Moore

Number of years orienteering?
Competitively, probably about 3 or 4 years.

How were you introduced to orienteering?
My parents are and were into running adventure sports so I was at rogaine and orienteering events from a young age. My parents mainly would do rogaines and adventure races, but I got really into the competitive orienteering events at about 10 years of age when I realised that I could actually easily get a top place in my M10 grade!

Key orienteering achievements to date?
At Oceania 2017: 1st Sprint, 2nd Middle, 3rd Long, and at Nationals 2016, 1st Middle and 1st Long.

Current orienteering project or goal?
Currently in a race I do either really well or terrible. That's because if I have a clean run, I do really well, but if I get seriously lost, I end up wasting minutes of time because I personally think I'm lacking in relocation skills. So, currently my orienteering goal is to get better at relocating quickly and efficiently so I don't lose so much time.

Favourite map and why?
That's a tricky question. I'd say either Whites Line or Slater Rd. They are both some of the first forest maps I ever ran on and they are so familiar to me now as I have run on them dozens of times. White's Line in particular I know like the back of my hand as I set an NWOC rogaine there. 

Map you have yet to experience but aspire to orienteer on?
I've seen a few Swedish maps over the past few years and I'd love to run in Sweden.

Orienteering hero?
Both Matt Ogden and Gene Beveridge are huge inspirations to me, and I would love to be like them in the future.

Day job?
Year 9 at Avondale College

Other interests?
I'm into programming and anything techy involving computers, and I'm learning how to setup SPORTident systems and the technical aspect of events.

SI Training

In the interests of having more club members able to set up and operate the SI system at events, we are holding a training session (no prior knowledge necessary!) on Saturday 2 September - timing and venue to be advised later. If you are interested in taking part, please email Jenny on northwestorienteering@gmail.com 

Welcome to New NWOC members

Welcome to the following who have recently joined NWOC:

Andrew and Alex Tunnicliffe
Laura Dean and Paul, Tara and Riley Barrett (family)
Holley Graney
Harriet  Hartley-Pollard
Anna and Emma Hainsworth 

New Club T Shirts

We are about to take orders for the new club t-shirt. This will be a similar design to the Trimtex Club race shirt, and, while intended to be a casual shirt, it can be worn as an alternative (cheaper and not as high performance) race shirt.

Cost will be $56 each. We will have samples for sizing purposes at  the Club Champs on 30 July and ordering information will be provided at that time. The shirts will be delivered in time for National Championships at Labour Weekend.

Please note we will also be placing an order later this year for more Trimtex race shirts (we are just awaiting details of a new shirt model).

NWOC Coaching Corner  – The King of our Sport

By Matt Ogden

Quite often the case in sport, it is the ones at the very top that inspire us and keep us hooked on the sport. For me, and for so many in the orienteering world, there has been one champion who has  for so long strived to be the best and in doing so has taught the sport how to truly navigate. The flying frenchman, Thierry Gueorgiou ran his last World Championship race in Estonia recently and collected his 14th Gold Medal – an unparalleled achievement in men’s orienteering. 

Thierry has been particularly influential in my development as an orienteer, especially my focus on the technical aspect of the sport. From an early age I realised that near perfect navigaton was essential for a strong performance, so began the insistent desire to improve my ability to read the map. Thierry is known for making famous the ”Full-speed, no mistakes” style of orienteering which I have spoken about in a previous coaching corner. Basically, it involves finding the most obvious features in the terrain and utilising them as much as possible when orienteering.

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Thierry when I lived in Uppsala, the highlight being when he followed me for a training. Thierry is quite fond of New Zealand, an avid Rugby fan, he very kindly prepared the video below for one of our National Junior Training Camps. To quote his final remarks as a World Championship competitive orienteer – ”Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened”. Thank you Thierry for your time at the top and all that we have learnt from you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBG_j2VTY7I

For more desktop technical training and viewing of the latest international races (such as Thierry’s route from his gold-medal winning race) head over to the link below for some GPS tracking.

http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/

And with perfect synchronicity, while not aware of the content of Matt's Coaching Corner article this newsletter, thanks to Gordon Holmes for finding this article - “Some thoughts on Orienteering Technique from the great French Orienteer”. 

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/d340cc248a147946e62fc17c3/files/CoachConrerTGOrienteeringTechnique.pdf

Good Luck

All the best to those heading to the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships in the Wellington area this coming week.

Other Events of Interest

29 July Great Forest Rogaine, Rotorua http://www.obop.org.nz/great-forest-rogaine-2017.html

28-29 October Hillary Trail run for CureKids
NWOC member, Alan Moore is organising a run along the Hillary Trail on the weekend on Oct 28-29. The 74km is split into two roughly even days with an overnight at Alan and Julia's house in Karekare. This is a fundraiser for CureKids, a $200 donation will secure one of the 10 places available.  Dinner, breakfast and transport included. Email pommie.al@gmail.com for more details.

4 November Pukeko Stomp Adventure Race (Whangarei area) http://www.sporty.co.nz/northlandadventureracing