News

February 2026 News

Published Fri 06 Feb 2026

President’s Introduction

Welcome to a new season! I'm really excited about the many great competitions in Auckland this year, more on that below. My focus for the club though, is on our event operating capacity. Events are the club's source of income, and this income is used to cover our expenses like equipment, land access costs and our paid roles. We will be pre-allocating volunteers again this year and making the club's mission more explicit.

The truth is that orienteering events require a lot of work and skill to operate smoothly and safely. The purpose of this organisation is to ensure such events exist for our members to enjoy. In the past this was much easier, but now the size and quality expectations of our events require us to harness the full breadth of our membership. On one hand there is more work to do and on the other there are more ways for the club to reward it's members, especially financially.

Newsletter Contents

Auckland Calendar of Events and first events for 2026
Club Nights
Key events coming up around New Zealand in 2026
- Katoa Po - March
- NZ Champs - Easter
- Tūāraki North Regional Champs - April
Schools Orienteering
- AKSS Sprint Series
- North Island Secondary School Champs
North West's Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series 2026
Member News
- Working Bee - Sunday 15 February
- Coaching for NWOC Members - Sunday 22 February
- Club Membership Fees due now
- New Members

Auckland Calendar of Events

For the first three months of 2026, we are in the early season phase of the Auckland Events Calendar. This is when school events start and club orienteers are getting themselves ready for NZ Champs to be held over Easter.

To ease everyone back into orienteering, Counties Maunkau Club will host a forest/park event on Sunday 1 March at Totara Park. Details to come here

Next up is a true forest event on Sunday 8 March. This event, hosted by Auckland Club, is being held in conjuntion with Team Trials Weekend, incorporating selection races for the 2026 EYOC, JWOC and WUOC teams. Info about the weekend is here

The public event on the Sunday will be held after the conclusion of starts of the long distance trial. There will be 9 courses on offer, suitable for all age categories and different levels of orienteering ability. More information will be published closer to the event on here and the AOC website.

Auckland Club would be grateful to anyone who is able to help to ensure the smooth running of this weekend. Perhaps if you are a parent of a young person competing in the trials, you could offer to help while there supporting your child?

Susy Carryer, Event Coordinator has set up this google form to indicate your availability and willingness to help out. Please indicate all the times you are available, so that Susy can balance availability and need.

Sunday 22 March is the next forest event hosted by North West Club. The venue is the Okiritoto Stream, Muriwai. Event details will be posted here as soon as they are available. Pre-entry will be preferred and will be live on enterO here

Club Nights

Gene Beveridge will be leading a series of club nights at 6:30pm to 8:30pm every second Wednesday in Epsom. These are open to all members and non members. We expect these to be well attended by AOC, CMOC and NWOC members. Each night will have a main topic communicated in the days prior.

Other Auckland Events

All upcoming events in the wider Auckland area for 2026 will be added to our NWOC website here
New Zealand wide events are on Orienteering New Zealand’s website here

Key events coming up around NZ

Katoa Po - Saturday 14 & Sunday 15 March, 2026

Katoa Po is a Maori translation for “all night” and the Katoa Po weekend is based around the annual interclub night relay hosted by the Taupo Orienteering Club. This year's event, the 46th Katoa Po, will be based on an iconic map from the past, Opepe, which is around 10Km from Taupo. The area is rolling farmland incised with intricate gullies, and patches of grazed native bush. The weekend involves several events including the Katoa Po Explorer, a teams rogaine event that has been designed for rogainers and adventure racers of all ages wanting to practise their night navigation and teamwork. Katoa Po Explorer comprises a three hour rogaine on Saturday night and a 90 minute rogaine on Sunday morning for teams of two to five.

Dates: 14 - 15 March 2026
Details: here

North West invites members of all abilities to make up our club teams.

Gene Beveridge is coordinating our North West teams - if you're interested in being in a team, please email gene.beveridge@gmail.com

New Zealand Orienteering Champs 2026

Nationals 2026 will be held in the Wairarapa area over Easter weekend, Friday 3 to Monday 6 April. There are 4 main events (Sprint, Middle, Long, Relay), one each day. The NZOC website has all the information on Nationals 2026.

Are you new to orienteering? Don't be put off by the name National Champs - this is an event for everyone with courses for all levels.

Tūāraki North Regional Champs, 25-27 April 2026

North West is excited to host this event with courses for all levels of orienteering. Being close to home, maybe this is your opportunity to experience a multi-day orienteering event?

The champs will be comprised of three multi-day-length events in classic Woodhill terrain.
All three days will be on the Lake Rototoa map, which includes a number of new areas that have been recently mapped.
There will be chasing starts for most grades on the final day.
Camping is available close to the event centres in a beautiful deer farm, ideal for those picking up a small camper van or who are willing to stay in a tent. It is 20 minutes drive to the Parakai hot pools and food places.

Keep an eye on this page for further updates on the event and entry details.

Below - map snippets from Lake Rototoa

Schools Orienteering

AKSS Sprint Series - starting very soon!

AKSS Sprint events start Monday 16 February. This is a 5 week series within each of the five regions of Auckland and is open for years 7-8 students and secondary school students. The series culminates in an Auckland Regional Final (2 events on one day) for the top students qualifying from each region.

All details are now available on the Auckland Schools Orienteering website here.

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 2026

Orienteering Taranaki will host the North Island Secondary School Champs in New Plymouth from 17-19 April. All events close to New Plymouth. More details to come here

Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series 2026

Coming back in 2026 is our annual Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series. Three 90-minute Foot Rogaine Events will be held on:

Sunday 17 May, Barlow Road, Riverhead Forest
Sunday 24 May, Leighton's Farm, Woodhill Forest
Sunday 14 June, Grass Track Road, Woodhill Forest

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

Thanks to a new sponsorship deal with Bivouac Outdoor we will have more prizes than ever before!

Member News

Working Bee - Sunday 15 February - can you help please?

North West Members, Paul Ireland & Andrew de L'Isle, are developing an area in Riverhead Forest for a new map. As it's a new area, a network of tracks needs to be made to suit white and yellow courses. A start was made on the tracks before Christmas however there is more work to be done and a second working bee is planned for February.

Details

9am - Meet at the end of Drury Lane, off Blackbridge Road, Dairy Flat. There is a short walk from there into the forest.

How long? - Andrew will be there all day to approx. 4pm; if others can help all day that would be great; if not, a few hours to half a day's help would make a big difference.

Bring - the most helpful tools are rakes and grubber tools. BYO food and drink.

If you can help, please text Andrew on 027 294 7991 so he knows who to expect. As is typical in forest, mobile reception could be patchy. If you plan to arrive late or are delayed on the day, please text Andrew, ideally before 9am.

This is an exciting new area with lots of interesting features; it's a bit different to some other areas of Riverhead Forest previously used for events and will be an exciting addition to North West's map repository.

Thanks in advance to those who help.

Photo above shows NWOC members helping at pre-Christmas working bee.

Coaching for North West Members - Save the Date

A forest training event for Club members is being planned for Sunday 22 February. More details coming soon ...

Course Setter Opportunity!

We need a Course Setter for the event North West is organising on Sunday 22 March on the Okiritoto Stream map at Muriwai. Here's your chance to work with experienced Course Controller Geoff Mead - Geoff will provide guidance to anyone learning the art of course setting! If you're interested please email northwestorienteering@gmail.com

North West Membership Fees for 2026 are due now please

NWOC membership fees remain unchanged for 2026 and are due NOW please. Thanks to those who have paid already.

Category	Membership Fee 2026
Senior	$50
Junior/Unwaged	$20
Family/Couple	$90

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.