President’s Introduction

Kia ora all. I'd like to extend a big thanks to our lead organisers for Forest Cup 2 last weekend, Nick Harris, Tahi Harris and Steve Pyatt. We put on another quality event in excellent terrain. We also saw many first time volunteers take up jobs on the day and are very grateful for all those involved. This was a further test of our job allocation system and useful feedback was gained in the process. We are now in the middle of Auckland's competition series, the Forest Cup and I wish all our members good luck in these races!

Newsletter Contents

• Auckland Calendar of Events 
  
  • Forest Cup #4 & Forest Cup Final
• Club Nights
• Key events coming up around New Zealand
  
  • Tūāraki North Orienteering Champs, Rotorua, November
• Schools Orienteering
  
  • AKSS End of Year Event
  • AIMS Games
  • NZSS Champs Results
• Member News
  
  • Club Events
    • North West Club Champs
    • Auckland Interclub Relays
    • North West End of Year Event
  • North West Club shirts
  • Member Profiles
  • New Members

Auckland Calendar of Events 

Forest Cup 2025

The final two events in Forest Cup 2025 are

• Forest Event #4* on Sunday 7 September
• Series Finale on Sunday 14 September.

Each event caters for the full range of orienteering courses - white, yellow, orange and red. Pre-entry is preferred and is via enterO here. Details of each event will be posted on the Events Calendar on our North West website and on the Forest Cup page here.

*The event on Sunday 7 September doubles as North West's Club Champs for 2025. See details below. 

Speed Limits on Sunday 7 September

Please note the Event Centre for Forest Cup #4 will be accessed from Slater Road and then on private driveways - similar to those used on Sunday 17 August for Forest Cup #2.  Please be mindful of the speed limits on this access route: 30km on the road and 20km past houses. We received reports after the last event of cars driving much faster than this. Please drive carefully and slowly on the gravel driveways and observe the posted speed limits. And respect those people who have given us permission to use their driveway to access the forest. 

Club Nights

Club nights are held every second Wednesday, at 6:30pm, at St George’s Scout Hall, 13 Griffin Ave, Epsom. The next session is on Wednesday 27 August. 

Other Events

Details of all upcoming events in the wider Auckland area for 2025 are added to our NWOC website here 

New Zealand wide events are on Orienteering New Zealand’s website here

Key events coming up around NZ

Tūāraki North Orienteering Champs, Rotorua, November

Entries are now OPEN for Tūāraki Northern Regional Champs, an annual event which this year is being hosted by Orienteering Bay of Plenty & Taupo Orienteering. This is an event suitable for members at all levels of orienteering. The event includes:

Saturday 8 November

• Sprint at The Toi Ohomai Campus & Tihiotonga Centennial Park, Rotorua
• Middle at Lake Okataina Scenic Reserve; 28km from Rotorua CBD
  • ​Chasing start, based on Sprint results

Sunday 9 November

• Long event at Opepe on the Napier-Taupo Highway.

All details, including entry info here 

• Early bird entry fees are available up until Midnight, Sunday 12 October
• Standard entry fees are available after this, and close Midnight, Tuesday 28 October

Schools Orienteering

Auckland Schools End of Year Event

• Date: Sunday 31 August
• Time: 4-6pm
• Venue: Griffin Scout Hall, 13 Griffin Ave, Epsom
• includes student rep election, prize-giving and a micro sprint!

AIMS Games

Good luck to all our Juniors heading off to Tauranga to compete in orienteering at AIMS Games from 30 August to 5 September.  Draw and Results here 

Results from NZ Secondary Schools Champs held in July

A large contingent of North West Club Juniors competed in the NZ Secondary Schools Champs held in July with some fantastic results. 

In very wet and trying conditions for the Sprint, notable results in Championship Grades were:
Year 7/8 Girls • Lacey Gornall 2nd 
Year 7/8 Boys • Huxley Dewe 3rd 
Junior Boys • Aidan Barrett-Hamilton 1st; • Cormac Grey 2nd

For the Long Event, the challenges came from steep hills and technical terrain. Results in Championship Grades were
Intermediate Boys • Daniel Porteous 3rd 
Junior Girls • Eva Scott 5th
Junior Boys • Aidan Barrett-Hamilton 3rd; • Quinn Harris 4th; • Cormac Gray 5th
Year 7/8 Boys • Alexander Finn 1st; • Huxley Dewe 4th 
Year 7/8 Girls • Lacey Gornall 3rd

And in the Relay event; teams on the podium that included NWOC Juniors were:

Intermediate Boys - Auckland Grammar 2nd place including Isaac Stewart
Junior Boys - Green Bay High School 2nd - Aidan Barratt-Hamilton & Cormac Gray
Junior Girls - Green Bay High School 3rd - Jessica Radley, Fran Ishida & Tsubaki Moore
Year 7/8 Boys - St Peters College 1st - Lachlan Denton; Glen Eden Intermediate 3rd - Huxley Dewe, Oli Dyer & Alexander Finn*
*This team just pipped the Orewa College team of Hunter Tipene, Harlem Hope-Jensen and Lacey Gornall.

Congratulations to you all 👏👏👏 And well done to everyone who took part; for many this was their first experience of a national event.

Editor's Note; Apologies for any members omitted from this list; we do our best to monitor events and note NWOC member results. Please feel free to tell us about your/your families results by emailing us @ northwestorienteering@gmail.com 

Member News

Club Events Coming Up - Save the Dates!

*North West Club Champs 2025 - Sunday 7 September

Our Club Champs will be held as part of Forest Cup #4 to be held on Sunday 7 September. This event is suitable for all members. NOTE - 27 August - this item has been edited since first published

Event details for Forest Cup #4 are here

Pre-entry for this event via enterO is preferred. Enter here

Entries close Friday 5 September.

View this pdf outlining the course you should enter in order to be eligible for the Club Champs in your age category. Please also read the notes below.

• For members who are currently competing on orange courses, these equate to M/W 21B courses and this category covers the whole age spectrum from 14 years to 80 years. Please don't think you have to run a red course just because that's your 'proper' age category. 
• Newer members, we encourage you all to enter the Club Champs. Please don’t be deterred by the word champs -  this is an all comers event! This is your chance to run for North West glory. Your place will be compared with other NWOC members in the same age grade to see who takes home the trophies at the end of year prizegiving. Of course, if you don't wish to compete in the Club Champs just run whatever type of course you wish - there is no pressure!
• If you are unsure which course/grade to enter, Club members Lisa & Geoff Mead will be happy to advise you. Please contact Lisa & Geoff via mead10b@gmail.com
• If you won a trophy at last year’s prize-giving please bring it/them to this event and give them to Lisa or Geoff Mead.

*North West End of Year Event & Prize-giving - Sunday 30 November

North West Club shirts

We have stock of short sleeved Bryzos brand club shirts available to buy.    

The shirts have short sleeves, mesh side panels and a short neck zip in the club's distinctive colours. Cost $45 per shirt - details under Members>Shop on our website.

Get in now and purchase yours while stocks last.

To order, contact Lisa Mead mead10b@gmail.com

Member Profiles

In our last newsletter we mentioned that three North West Juniors, Tahi Harris, Aidan Barrett-Hamilton & Daniel Porteous have been named in the Southern Cross team to contest the Southern Cross Trophy in Australia in September. We thought it would be good to hear from these young men about their orienteering experience and what they are looking forward to at the Australian Champs. 

Tahi has been profiled previously - see here

Aidan Barrett-Hamilton

Number of years orienteering?  2.5

How were you introduced to orienteering? I was interested because my sister Lauren did it and I thought it looked fun.

Key orienteering achievements to date? Being selected for the NZ team to go to Australia and also doing well at National Secondary Schools this year (1st in Sprint, 3rd in Long and my relay team came 2nd)

Current orienteering project or goal? I'm aiming to finish in the top 5 at Aussie Nationals

Favourite map and why? I really like the Mission/Rimmer/Temu Road map at Woodhill Forest because it has big sand dunes and nice views of the ocean.

Map you have yet to experience but aspire to orienteer on? All of the Aussie maps

Day job? I am a student in Year 9 at Green Bay High School

Other interests? I also do Track & Field, mainly sprints and discus. I also swim.

What are you looking forward to about going to the Australian Champs? - The new terrain and meeting new people

Daniel Porteous

Number of years orienteering? About 1.5 years.  I started out doing a rogaine every year or two for fun with the family at the Northwest Rogaine Series. 

How were you introduced to orienteering?   My first taste of actual orienteering was in school-based sprints, starting with two events in Year 8 and then the Auckland Secondary Schools sprint series in Year 9 last year. 

Key orienteering achievements to date?

• 1st North Island SSOC Intermediate Long 2025.
• 2nd in each of Junior Sprint, Middle and Long at King’s Birthday 2025.
• Selected NZ Southern Cross Team junior team, 2025.
• 3rd NZ SSOC Intermediate Long 2025.

Current orienteering project or goal?
To do well to help the NZ team in Australia in Sep/Oct this year.

Favourite map and why?
I really enjoyed the Mt Cass map for the Long at Nationals this year, but don’t really have a favourite yet. I’m still mostly doing new maps each time which keeps it really fun and new.

Map you have yet to experience but aspire to orienteer on?
I don’t have any specific maps I know about and want to do, but I love the idea of orienteering overseas in different terrain to what we have here in NZ.

Orienteering hero?
I don’t have an orienteering hero yet, but have enjoyed meeting the older juniors at events and especially the coaches at Junior Camp last year. 

Day job?
Year 10 student at Takapuna Grammar

Other interests?
I enjoy lots of sports – at present during winter, I’m playing rugby, waterpolo and cycling, as well as running and orienteering.  In summer, I swap out rugby for cricket.

What are you looking forward to about going to the Australian Champs?
Meeting lots of new people, running in a different country and terrain, and making new friends.

We wish Tahi, Aidan & Daniel all the best when they head to Brisbane for the Southern Cross Trophy events that are part of the  Australian Champs from 27 September to 5 October.

New Members

A warm welcome to our new members - Grabriel Ng, Jeff Wong, Gabriella Ng-Wong and Jefferson Ng-Wong, Matthew Rist, Asami Matsunaga and Michael, Marina, Lena and Ray Zheng.