Orienteers Converge on Seasons Opening.

Many of New Zealand's top orienters will race at the Auckland Champs this weekend in the first big race of the competitive season. They will race both over middle distance (30 minutes) and long distance (90 minutes) in the detailed sanddune terrain of Carter Holt Harvey's Woodhill forest. Woodhill forest is arguably the hub of New Zealand Orienteering with over 20 top quality maps in this strip of coastal forest and rolling hills that stretches from Muriwai to South Kaipara Head.

Challenges the competitors will face include high speed orienteering in mature pine forest interspersed with areas of harder navigation in younger forest and areas with extremely detailed contours. And of course there is also the competition.

Spring orienteering fields are always interesting, seeing which athletes can bring back form from the European and World Championship events and which athletes have been doing the hard yards at home. Particular interest this year will centre on how young stars Thomas Reynolds and Greta Knarston fresh from top 20 results in the Junior World Champs this year will fare in their competitive debuts in the elite grade. While others to watch include grizzled veteran Darren Ashmore getting ready for another crack at the World Champs in 2008 and perennial favourite Rachel Smith rumoured to be making a late entry to the elite womens grade.

Following the Auckland Champs, New Zealand orienteering is sending a team to the Oceania champs in Canberra in the first week of October before another regional championship race in the Hawkes Bay at Labour Weekend.