| Date | Newsletter |
| 2025-07 | Newsletter July 2025 |
| 2025-05 | Newsletter May 2025 |
| 2025-03 | Newsletter March 2025 |
| 2025-01 | Newsletter January 2025 |
| 2025 | |
| 2024-11 | Newsletter November 2024 |
| 2024-10 | Newsletter October 2024 |
| 2024-09 | Newsletter September 2024 |
| 2024-02 | Newsletter February 2024 |
| 2024 | |
| 2023-11 | Newsletter November 2023 |
| 2023-10 | Newsletter October 2023 |
| 2023-09 | Newsletter September 2023 |
| 2023-08 | Newsletter August 2023 |
| 2023-07 | Newsletter July 2023 |
| 2023-06 | Newsletter June 2023 |
| 2023-05 | Newsletter May 2023 |
| 2023-04 | Newsletter April 2023 |
| 2023-03 | Newsletter March 2023 |
| 2023-02 | Newsletter February 2023 |
| 2023 | |
| 2022-12 | Newsletter December 2022 |
| 2022-11 | Newsletter November 2022 |
| 2022-10 | Newsletter October 2022 |
| 2022-09 | Newsletter September 2022 |
| 2022-08 | Email NOC Mayor Relief Fund August 2022 |
| 2022-08 | Newsletter August 2022 |
| 2022-06 | Email NOC June 2022 |
| 2022 | |
| 1998-08 | Top of the South Newsletter - August 1998 |
| 1998 |
Most recent newsletter - July 2025
From the president
As I write this, we are three-quarters of the way through the NOCturnal series with one event left to go.
Not so much orienteering happening in Nelson but plenty of Nelson Orienteering Club members competing on the world stage. There has been a lot of late evening dot watching on screens as we were represented at the World Cup, World Orienteering Championships, Junior World Orienteering Championships and lately the European Youth Orienteering Championships.
During the last weekend of the school holidays, three young club members were in Auckland competing at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships. Getting to the event was the first challenge! Micah Dunn, Keshia Linyard and Nia Linyard represented Nayland College proudly.
We have a good group of club members along with some Marlborough orienteers who have signed up for a two day Controllers Clinic in August – entries still open, so join us if you’ve been hesitant so far.
Richard Dunn
NOC club shirts
As announced in the previous newsletter, club shirts have arrived and have been handed out to everybody who pre-ordered. Thank you to all for paying without the need for follow-up!
A very limited of shirts are still available and can be ordered via the email address below. At the time of writing this newsletter, the following shirts can still be ordered:
· Rapid Junior (size 160, child size)
· 2XL Trail male
· XL Trail female
· XL Standard male shirt (2 items)
· XS Trail female
· L Rapid male (2 items)
· L Rapid female (2 items)
· S Rapid male
· S Trail male
· S Trail female (2 items)
The shirts have an extremely narrow fitting, and are designed for skinny upper bodies. Generally, you will need to order up at least one size, maybe two.
To try out prior to purchasing at a next NOC organised event, please contact NOC via messenger or email (below) so we can bring the correct size and type with us to the event.
Fleur Murray (fleurandneil@gmail.com)
Scholarship Policy Update
Earlier this year the committee updated the scholarship policy to support members competing at a high level / international events. A copy of the policy can be viewed on the website. This renewed policy was implemented to support club members this year who have travelled to world competitions.
2025: Online pre-registration only
Participants at events run by Nelson Orienteering Club need to pre-register online for each event.
At events there will only a very limited number of additional maps printed.
This helps the event organisers to run all events smoothly:
· No long queues at Registration during the event: participants only need to pick up their hired SportIdent, in case they do not have their own;
· Minimal crew needed at Registration during the event;
· There are enough maps printed for all participants, and no maps go to waste;
· Financial report is easier, with cash eliminated.
Controllers’ clinic in Nelson
Nelson Orienteering Club will host a Controllers’ Clinic in Nelson on 23 and 24 August, with Alister Metherell leading the event.
Please reply to Richard Dunn at president.noc@gmail.com asap if you are interested in joining the group of NOC-ers and MOC-ers already registered.
Pelorus Challenge
The Pelorus Challenge is a competition contested by members from both the Marlborough and the Nelson orienteering club when running in OY events. You must be a club member to qualify for points. In addition, you must run in the same grade throughout the year.
Each grade winner at a OY gets 25 points, other competitors points are based on their time proportional to the winners, down to a minimum of 5 points. The planner and controller of an OY each get full points - 25 points.
There are a number of events on offer this year. Each event will accumulate points towards your final total. Your worst event score will be deleted.
The current point standing can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/56yrvy5m
JWOC 2025
The New Zealand delegation from JWOC 2025 consisted of twelve members, with three representatives from our own club: Tide Fa’avae, Riley Croxford and Eddie Swain.
Eddie had joined in Jukola the previous week , and arrived injured, and as a result participated selectively.
JWOC has started with a exciting Sprint Relay. The terrain for the Relay was an urban park with a mix of paved areas, streets and residential areas on a mostly flat course.
The individual Sprint took place in the old city of Cembra, with a network of streets and foot paths mainly with hard surfaces, steep in some areas and many narrow corners in the alleys, with high visibility and runnability. In general, the terrain was more technical than the previous day, resulting in a tight, extremely exciting competition. This terrain resulted in better results for the kiwi team, becoming one of only two nations with three male participants finishing in the top 30, with a special mention for Jake McLellan (Hutt Valley), finishing 7th.
The Long took place at Fornace, Pian del Gac. The terrain was mainly open deciduous / coniferous forest, with some areas of dense young forest and brambles, high above sea level. The terrain is moderately hilly with some steeper parts, while runnability and visibility varies from medium to excellent. Wow, this event resulted in a show of courage, backbone and solid navigation. NZ ended up in the top 10 of performing nations!
JWOC 2025 - Tide Fa’avae’s impressions
Dolomites
I was super grateful to have had the opportunity to race my second Junior World Orienteering Championships. Italy had some pretty cool maps for us, from the technical maze of narrow streets and alleyways on the Sprint disciplines to the hilly, marshy, pitted terrain of the forest.
JWOC this year was synonymous with a week spent running through the hilly Italian terrain of the Dolomite region. The Dolomites lie in the most northern regions of Italy, Veneto, Trentino Alto-Adige, and Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Sprint Relay: 28/6/25
The terrain for the Sprint relay was an urban park with a mix of paved areas, streets and residential areas on a mostly flat course. I was the first leg in a mixed team. It was a very hot day with 40% of the race in a park. Although the heat was very draining, I had a good, clean run.
Sprint: 29/6/25
Next was the sprint, which was the cute little old town of Cembra with heaps of narrow alleyways, keeping us concentrated to avoid missing our turn. A couple of slightly questionable route choices and hesitation from me, but overall happy with the run, coming in 57th, and the first NZ female.
Long: 30/6/25
For the Long, with there being such a network of tracks in the forest, it was faster to take the slightly longer route as the speed through the forest was slow. On the second leg I attempted to cut through a block of forest before getting stuck and bee-lining straight back out. My run was going relatively well until control 12, a small leg where we had to sidle around the hill. I lost map contact and found myself down the hill, scrambling through blackberries. Unfortunately, this cost me around five and a half minutes. So I was pretty disappointed, placing 53rd, and placed as the second NZ female, after Rachel Baker.
I had a nice rest day, spent some time at the lake and restocked the snacks and energy levels.
Middle: 2/7/25
The Middle distance had some really nice runnable open forest. I think it felt very similar to the Czech terrain from last year, with blueberry bushes covering the ground: yummy to eat, but tiring to run through. I had some clean satisfying legs, however my run was pretty shocking as I made two large mistakes, spending a little bit too much time in the marsh area. 100th, 5th NZ girl.
Forest Relay: 3/7/25
Finally, the forest relay. I was running 3rd leg, 1st NZ team with Rachel and Katherine. I was really hoping for some clean navigation, but again I drew a couple of small circles with my GPS. Luckily, they were early enough on that I finished the race on a high note. A big thanks to Nelson Orienteering Club for their support and our JWOC coaches / managers Briana Steven, Tane Cambridge and Kieran Woods.
“JOWC2025 was not quite what I was expecting or hoping for with my racing, but that happens to everyone, and I’m just happy to get
some more European experience and having had a really fun week surrounded by friends.” Tide Fa’avae
2025 European O Impressions - Zefa Fa’avae
Jukola (Mikkeli, Finland,14-15/6/25)
My 2025 international orienteering season began in Finland, at Jukola, the world’s largest orienteering relay. I ran the first leg, coming into the finish in 35th place out of 1800 teams a good confidence boost and a fun way to start the trip.
WOC1 (Idre Fjäll, Sweden, 19-22 June 2025)
From there, I travelled to the Swedish mountains for my third Orienteering World Cup (WC), and the first WC of 2025. The terrain was stunning but incredibly challenging due to the lack of features, making navigation very tough. The event started with a qualification race where the top 20 from each heat progressed to the A Final.
I did not have a great run and did not qualify, but it proved a valuable learning experience. I went on to race in the B Finals for both the middle and the long distance, gaining more time in technical terrain.
The World Cup ended with a relay, where I ran first leg again. This was part of my preparation strategy in case I was selected to run the first leg at the World Orienteering Championships (WOC).
After Sweden, I returned to Finland to begin final WOC preparation with the New Zealand team. We spent a week training in the local terrain, working on route choice and compass technique in the complex Finnish forests.
WOC 2025 (Kuopio, Finland, 8-12July 2025)
Middle Qualification (8 July 2025)
This was my first WOC race. In a heat of forty runners (with three heats in total), I needed to place in the top 15 to qualify for the final. I had a great run, finishing third, which was a real highlight for me, since especially the very first three controls were extremely tough!
Biggest Learning - traffic lighting
One of the biggest takeaways from the trip came from WOC’s Middle qualification. The first three controls were extremely tough, but I managed them well by using a technique called “traffic lighting”:
· going slow and controlled through tricky sections (red)
· moderate on complex but readable legs (orange) and
· fast where navigation is simple (green).
This approach helped me stay in control and avoid mistakes, proving that slowing down to navigate well is more effective than rushing and losing time at controls.
Middle Final (09/07/2025)
The next day, I competed in the final among sixty of the world’s best orienteers. Despite a few small mistakes, I had a solid performance and finished 30th overall.
Long Distance (10/07/2025)
The Long distance was a hard race, 16 km straight-line distance through blueberries and fallen trees. I had a good, consistent run, finishing in 22nd place with a time of 1:59.
It was one of the hardest races I have done and I was shattered at the end. Joseph Lynch finished 21st, and Toby Scott 26th: these men’s long results are easily the best by New Zealand at any world champs.
"This was my first WOC, and I am really happy with how the event went. I gained loads of experience, learned a lot, and feel excited for what will come in the future.”
Zefa Fa’avae
Relay (12/07/2025)
After a rest day, we lined up for the relay: me on the first leg, followed by Tim (Robertson) and Joe (Joseph Lynch). I brought the team in just outside the top 10, Tim had a strong run to move us into 8th, and Joe brought us home in 9th place overall: this is again a New Zealand record result at WOC!
Thanks to Nelson Orienteering, Orienteering New Zealand, my parents Nathan and Jodie Fa'avae and to all who have supported me over the years.
Zefa
https://www.woc2025.fi : website for additional information, photos, Livelox
Training Focus - speed versus accuracy
The website “Better orienteering” (https://betterorienteering.org/) is an excellent starting point to gain orienteering knowledge as a novice, or to fine-tune your existing orienteering skills once you’ve gained experience.
The information below is taken from a chapter with the interesting title “Only run as fast as you can think”:
Once you have learnt basic navigation, orienteering is about managing your thinking under oxygen debt. You need to feel the level of clarity in your mind and how it is performing on the navigation tasks of a leg and manage your effort accordingly. If you aim to only run as fast as you can think, then you need to learn to be sensitive to how you are thinking under oxygen debt and be honest about when you need to slow to let your head clear. If your level of navigation skill requires you to drop to a walk to avoid a big error, do it. It will save you more time in the long run than charging on into errors. More systematic:
| You | Your navigation |
|
The difficulty of the terrain, the complexity of the leg you are running, how well you know this type of terrain, where you are in the leg |
hus, you need to match your physical effort to the demands of the navigation so that your head is clear enough to navigate well. Anticipating how your level of effort will affect navigation means that you will plan in the literal breathing space in a leg to get the navigation right. For example, 5 seconds gained running up a steep hill is a poor trade-off compared to the additional time reading the map more slowly at the top or getting lost. A lot of high-level orienteers always walk briskly up steep hills staying in contact with the map as a measure of their oxygen debt.
Or, in other words:
"The sport of Orienteering is a set of discrete, non-linear optimisation problems solved through skill, experience, and a robust technique, but ultimately undermined by fatigue, complacency, and inaccuracy." Matt Ogden
Orienteering Maps
Maps are the basis of orienteering and the competitor needs to know as much as possible about the map and how it can be used. Orienteering maps are large scale, very detailed colourful topographic maps. Each orienteering map should have the following components: Title, magnetic north lines, scale, bordering, lettering and credits to the person(s) who field worked and created the map. Ideally also the name of the planner / controller for this specific event.
Legend
The legend of a map describes all map symbols used - a legend is not mandatory on an orienteering map. These can basically be divided into five colour categories:
· BLACK: used for man-made features such as fences, buildings, roads, mineshafts, rock features, impassable earth cliffs;
· BLUE is used for water features such as rivers, creeks, watercourses, dams, marshes;
· BROWN is used for land forms - contour lines, earth features including mounds, pits and embankments;
· GREEN is used to indicate the thickness of the bush. The darker the green the thicker the bush, and the more difficult it is for orienteers to get through it. Out of Bounds is sometimes shown with a khaki green;
· YELLOW indicates cleared areas, i.e., there are no or few trees (semi clear);
· WHITE areas of a map indicate treed or typical forest areas which are easy to move through.
Nelson Orienteering Club
Secretary Katie Malthus
noc.secretary@gmail.com
www.noc.org.nz
This NOC newsletter appears bi-monthly,
on the last Friday of the month,
starting in January
If you’d like to contribute, have photos to share, or would like to respond to an earlier edition, please get in contact with the editor via noc.promotion@gmail.com