Greetings North West members

It has been a challenging 82 days - and counting - for Aucklanders while we wait to reach the elusive the 90% vaccination coverage and for our lives to return to some sort of normality.   I hope you are making the most of our beautiful beaches, parks and bushy reserves until we can offer you regular organised orienteering events again.

We are excited to be able to offer club members the chance of an informal training day in the forest at Slater Road – with many thanks to Rob and Marquita and their kind neighbours. This will be next Saturday 13 November, with limited spaces available and registrations essential.

Assuming we will be at Alert level 3, Step 2 from next Wednesday 10 November, outdoor organised exercise groups can expand to 25 people, including instructors. Physical distancing of 2 metres is strongly encouraged.

Current Covid regulations won’t allow us to hold our annual dinner, prizegiving and AGM at Coatesville Hall on 28 November as planned. We do need to hold our club AGM before the end of December and will make a decision shortly as to whether this will be an in-person meeting or a Zoom AGM.  Please don’t be shy about putting up your hand to be our new club Secretary or if you would like to be more involved with running the club and planning events in any way.

We are hoping that we can have a club get-together and BBQ before Christmas – keep an eye on   our newsletters and the website.

Hope to meet you in the forest again soon,

Kia kaha, Lisa Mead
President NWOC

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1. Events Calendar
2. Training day at Slater Road forest 13 November
3. Training at Riverhead Forest and Sanders Reserve – any time
4. Alternative Junior Camp
5. Situations Vacant – we need a new secretary

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1.Events Calendar

November 2021

Sat 13 NWOC Training Day Slater Road, South Head.  REGISTRATION essential.

SummerNav park events cannot be held under the current Covid conditions. Please check on the Auckland O Club website – a number of courses are being offered as MapRun6 courses. See below.
Wed 17 AOC SummerNav  Waiatarua Reserve
Tue 23   AOC SummerNav  Western Springs, Zoo carpark
Sun 28  NWOC Club dinner, prizegiving and AGM Coatesville Settlers Hall  POSTPONED
Tue 30   AOC SummerNav  Ambury Regional Park

December 2021

Sun 12   CMOC AOS 9 Waiuku Forest South                     NEW DATE (originally 22 Aug/ 21 Nov))
Tue 30   AOC SummerNav  Ambury Regional Park
Thu 07   AOC SummerNav Mt Roskill region
Fri 10-Sun 12 Orienteering Hutt Valley- The Big Trig. Celebrating 30 years of rogaines – Details here.
Thu 16   AOC SummerNav Waterview region

The AOC SummerNav events cannot take place under Covid Level 3, but are now being offered as orienteering training courses with MapRun6.  New maps (pdf versions for you to print out a copy) are being uploaded to the AOC website and in MapRun each Saturday (or thereabouts) and will only be on the Auckland club homepage for one week.  Details on MapRun are given here.

There is a QR code on the printed map to access the activity in MapRun. However, you can still find the event in the App using "Select Event" and then going to New Zealand > Auckland > Auckland O Club> ParkO > 2021 and choosing the map of interest. PDF versions of the maps can be found on the Auckland Club website.

January 2022
7-16 January  South Island, NZ.   Oceania Orienteering Champs (or Not-the-Oceania Champs in the event the border is still closed with Australia): Plan your escape from Auckland and an orienteering summer holiday now!
Standard entries close on 01 December. All the details can be found here.

Check out the NWOC club website for details of other events in 2021/ 2022: https://www.nwoc.org.nz/events/
AOS = Auckland Orienteering Series – events generally have 9 courses of varying lengths and difficulty.

2. Informal training day at Slater Road Forest 13 November 2021

Rob and Marquita are providing access to their wonderful forest terrain and organised access to the terrain of one of their neighbours to create a self-guided orienteering event, signposted at the entrance of Slater Road, South Head. A number of flags are placed in the forest, and a map will be provided (for you to print out at home): We have 4 red courses of 8.7, 6.2, 4.7 and 2.6km plus a 3.7 km orange course. There will not be any electronic timing. This event is not suited for beginning orienteers.

Maps are currently being finalised and will be emailed to all participants on Thursday or Friday, after closing of the entries. It is YOUR responsibility to print your own map and bring it with you.
You will also need to bring your own water.

To stay within the 25 persons limit, we request all participants to sign up, on the NWOC website, for one of the five one hour Start Time slots available. Full = full. Please sign up earlier to avoid disappointment. Once you have started within your time slot, there is no time limit, provided you are back by 5PM latest.

This training session is initially open to members of NWOC, Cameron’s training group, and Llewellen’s training group only. After midnight Wednesday 10 November, any remaining places are also open to members of AOC, CMOC, other orienteering clubs and members of the public, again on a full = full basis.

Registration for this event opens at Mon 08 Nov 2021 17:00.

The five start windows are:

• 10 - 11AM (allocated to Cameron's training group in principle)
• 11 - 12noon
• 12noon - 1PM
• 1 PM - 2PM (allocated to Llwellen's training group in principle)
• 2 PM - 3PM

We are running this training session under the Covid-19 Alert Level 3, Step 2 guidelines, assuming this will be the case Saturday 13 November. We require all participants to act according to the Alert Level 3, Step 2 rules:

• At the start / parking, 2 metre physical distancing is strongly encouraged to help prevent the virus spreading between households.
• At the start / finish / parking, wearing face coverings is strongly encouraged.
• Please do not linger after the event.
• Do not come if you are unwell or awaiting the results of Covid testing

Everybody needs to be back by 5pm latest.
   
Slater Road forest

3.  Training at Riverhead Forest and Sanders Reserve

Orienteering training maps – create your own COVID-bubble event

Check out the newly updated Resources/Coaching tab on the NWOC website home page for links to Permanent Courses, orienteering maps and MapRun6 events.

Riverhead Forest: We have had lots of positive feedback from club members who have been for a run on the training map for red level orienteers in Riverhead Forest – access from Robinson Road, close to Coatesville. This area was mapped by Cameron de LÍsle and first used in May 2021. There are 18 control sites marked with small red/white markers and orange tape. Download the map and use the marked control sites for control picking or make up your own orienteering course. Note that these control sites are not suitable for inexperienced orienteers – further details can be found here.

   Riverhead Images - Annemarie Hogenbirk                                                      

Enjoy doing a MapRun6 event, with a printed map but using your mobile phone GPS abilities. In this case, there are no physical, permanent markers in the terrain.

The MapRun6 events include an easy yellow level course at Sanders Reserve, near Paremoremo.  There is also an option for a short MTB orienteering course – bikers must stay on the tracks. The MTBO course can also be run as a standard foot orienteering course (offering more route choice than the yellow course) – you can run off-track.

Everything you need to know about MapRun can be found on our website – give it a go!

Permanent courses can be found at a number of Auckland regional parks.  Try a permanent orienteering course, with a printed map and physical, permanent markers in the terrain. – you will find links to the maps on our website.

Please obey all Covid regulations!

4.  Alternative Junior Camp
Earlier this year ONZ had high hopes of holding another successful Junior Camp. Initial discussions with hosts Wellington identified maps, transport, accommodation and catering and things seemed well on the way. Since the delta outbreak things have become more and more challenging and camp organisation has felt more like a game of guess and check.

ONZ have made the decision to cancel this year’s Junior Camp. In making this decision, we are recognising that travel restrictions between level three areas (Auckland and Waikato) and level two areas (the rest of the country) are not expected to improve by 1st December. Even if Auckland goes onto the new traffic light system, the restrictions will still be in place at the new red level. We intend to refund all Junior Camp Fees by the end of the coming week (7th November).

By making a decision now, instead of on 1st December as planned, we allow for the running of regional camps. Three clubs have offered to run regional camps in Auckland, Wellington region and the South Island. ONZ will have no part in running these but has undertaken to redirect the $10,000 budgeted for the Junior Camp to help organisers.

Auckland Camp
Hosts – Counties Manukau Orienteering Club
Format – day camp with possible dinner if restrictions permit.
Duration – 3 days
Entry – Auckland-based participants should be in contact with their own club from the second week of November to sign-up. Priority will be given to Junior Camp participants.
Cost – TBC
 

ONZ recognises that this has also been a challenging time for families wanting to plan and book travel. While the cancellation of the Junior Camp was not the desired outcome for anyone, we hope that participants will be in a position to take part in one of the regional camps proposed above.

5.Wanted – NWOC Club Secretary for 2022

Annemarie Hogenbirk has been our fabulous club secretary since 2018. She plans to step down from the role at the upcoming AGM, while still being hands-on in other facets of running the club.

We need a new club secretary to join our committee- could this be you?

Job description NWOC Secretary:

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A committee of volunteer members runs North West Orienteering Club (NWOC). As secretary of the club, you will be responsible for preparing and distributing the agenda and writing minutes of the six annual meetings of the committee of the club and the AGM, supported by the president and the treasurer. In addition, you will be maintaining the central email of the club: archiving the incoming email and responding to it yourself, or forwarding relevant information to other volunteers within the organisation (general information about events, membership questions, invoice inquiries, questions around logistics for upcoming events, more strategic questions for the whole committee). A summary of the emails in between meetings often forms the basis for the agenda, with contributions from the president, treasurer or other members of the committee.

It is a job that can be done entirely from home, aside from the face-to-face meetings. It is a great way to learn more about the inner workings of the club, support fellow volunteers, and work with a great bunch of like-minded orienteers!
 Please feel free to contact Annemarie ( northwestorienteering@gmail.com) or Lisa (mead10b@gmail.com)  if you would like to volunteer or to discuss the role.