President’s Introduction

Kia ora all.

A huge thanks to everyone who helped at Tūāraki Northern Champs, especially our day leaders Renee Beveridge, Marquita Gelderman, Andrew Bell, Dave Middleton and Rob Garden, and overall director Jenny Cade. It is times like these that the purpose of the club is so clear to me - the orienteering was simply phenomenal and without the expertise, effort, coordination and team spirit we would not be able to deliver, and therefore experience, such amazing orienteering.

Newsletter Contents

• Auckland Calendar of Events
  • North West's Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series 2026
• Key events coming up around New Zealand in 2026
  • NZ Mountain Bike Orienteering Champs
  • Auckland Triple Crown 2026
• Schools Orienteering
  • Auckland Secondary Schools Champs - Long
  • New Zealand Secondary Schools Champs
  • New Zealand Secondary Schools Team - Selection Notice
  • AIMS Games
• Club Nights
• Member News
  • Marquita Gelderman, Life Membership of ONZ
  •  Member Results
    • Tūāraki Champs
    • NISS Champs
  • Membership Fees due now
  • NWOC Club Shirts
  • New Members

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

Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series 2026

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

• Sunday 10 May, Barlow Road, Riverhead Forest
• Sunday 24 May, Leighton's Farm, Woodhill Forest
• Sunday 14 June, Grass Track Road, Woodhill Forest

All event info is on the Rogaine Series section of our North West website here 

Enter now here enterO - Pre-enter before midnight Wednesday of the week leading up to the event and pay reduced entry fees! Pre-entry is the preferred option. It helps us better manage the event and it's much simpler and faster for you on the day! 

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

Enter for this Sunday's rogaine here NOW - entry fees increase from midnight Wednesday so enter now & SAVE. 

Directions to Events - Ignore GPS Coordinates

When planning your route to an event, please follow the Driving Instructions given on the Event page and/or in the Pre-Event email. Please do not put GPS Coordinates into Google Maps. Typically Google Maps will direct you to private roads that you may not be allowed to use. As part of our Forest User Agreements, we have to gain permits to be in specific areas of a forest. This includes access routes. Unfortunately noone is allowed to randomly drive or walk in many parts of private forests.

Key events coming up around NZ

NZ Mountain Bike Orienteering Champs

Schools Orienteering

Auckland Schools Champs - Long - Tuesday 12 May

To be held in Woodhill Forest on the Celebre Map. 

Event details here

Entry Instructions: Colleges must enter via CollegeSport. Intermediate students MUST enter via the sheet found here.
Note: Intermediates from a school that also includes a college MUST also use the entry form and not enter via CollegeSport. If a student has not orienteered in a forest before the MUST enter the standard grade.

• Entries close Thursday 7 May.

New Zealand Secondary Schools Orienteering Champs 

Christchurch is the place to be from Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 July for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Champs. All Event details are here

Entries are open here. Check with your School Sports Coordinators that you will be entered. 

• Entries close: midnight, 22 June 2026

Public race entries will open at a later stage for parents, support staff etc. 

New Zealand Secondary Schools Teams - Selection Notice

Attention all NWOC Juniors keen to be in the 2026 New Zealand Secondary Schools Teams.  Teams will be selected based on performances at the Auckland Triple Crown Event to be held over King’s Birthday Weekend, Saturday 30 May to Monday 01 June 2026.

Read the full Selection Notice here 

Details of Auckland Triple Crown here Enter here 

• Entries close Friday 15 May

Zespri AIMS Games - Saturday 5 to Friday 11 September 2026

AIMS (The Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools) Games is an annual multi-sport event held in Tauranga, the largest annual sporting event in Australasia. It provides Year 7 and 8 students the opportunity to compete as individuals or in teams against the best of their age across a range of sports, with the aim of encouraging competition, fair play, and enjoyment. In 2025, a record 14,000 intermediate-aged athletes from 431 schools competed across 27 sporting codes. Orienteering is now a regular sport code - this year's events are on Monday 7 & Tuesday 8 September. Registrations for 2026 registrations are officially open, enter via your school sport coordinator. 

For more info about the orienteering events see here

Club Nights

Gene Beveridge leads a Club Night every second Wednesday from 6:30pm to 8:30pm in Epsom. Next Club Night is Wednesday 13 May. 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 include coaching discussions using courses and maps from recent and upcoming events. More info, including dates for 2026 here

Member News

ONZ Life Membership Award - Marquita Gelderman.

At the recent AGM of Orienteering New Zealand, Marquita Gelderman was awarded Life Membership for her services to both ONZ and Orienteering in New Zealand. It was great timing after all the effort she has put recently for the Tūāraki northern champs.

Marquita is an exceptional orienteer, representing NZ in foot and MTBO (a former World MTBO Champion). She served 6 years on the ONZ Board and leads the Technical Committee. She is both an A Grade Controller and IOF Senior Event Advisor (someone called upon to oversee World Ranking Events here and abroad).

Congratulations Marquita - this is a well-deserved honour. How lucky are we to have you as a member of North West! Thank you for all you do in your dedication to orienteering.

Member Results

Above  Left - M14A Boys,     Centre - W12A Girls,     Right - M16A Boys

A note about Tūāraki Champs generally, thanks to an absolutely fabulous effort from Team North West, this was a very successful event. Read a short summary of the event here. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the event. 

North Island Secondary Schools Champs 2026 - NWOC Results

Congratulations to the following North West Juniors for podium places at NISS Champs.

Sprint

• Senior Boys - Tahi Harris, 3rd
• Intermediate Boys - Aidan Barrett Hamilton, 3rd 
• Junior Boys - Alexander Finn,1st
• Junior Girls - Arietty Smith-Godoy, 3rd
• Year 7/8 Girls - Dorothy Leung, 3rd

Long

• Senior Boys - Tahi Harris, 2nd
• Intermediate Boys - Aidan Barrett Hamilton, 3rd
• Junior Boys - Alexander Finn, 1st
• Junior Girls - Emily Thompson, 3rd

Above - Aidan Barrett-Hamilton, Right, Intermediate Boys, 3rd

North West Membership Fees for 2026 are due now please

If you haven't already, please renew your fees before the Bivouac Outdoor Rogaine Series to be eligible for member's rates.

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

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. 

North West Club shirts

We have new stock of short sleeved Bryzos brand club shirts.  The shirts have short sleeves, mesh side panels and a short neck zip in North West's distinctive colours. Cost $45 per shirt - go to Shop on our website.

Get in now and purchase yours while stocks last. To order, contact Lisa Mead mead10b@gmail.com. 

New Members

A warm welcome to new members Theo Callan, Lisa Callan, James Gray, Max Johnstone, Jessica Taylor, Chiara Fuss and Hayden Brown.