Auckland Orienteering Club (AOC) is a sporting club serving the orienteers of Auckland City, the largest city in New Zealand, with around 1.3 million people, lots of volcanoes (mostly dormant), two coasts (Tasman Sea, Pacific Ocean), and a lot of beaches.

The primary purpose of an Orienteering Club (OC) is to organise orienteering events, navigation races on a specialised map.  That means that one of an OC's major tasks is preparing and printing orienteering maps.  AOC has more than 300 members, a couple of dozen maps, and runs 30+ events each year.

Our neighbouring clubs are North West OC to the north and Counties-Manukau OC to the south.

Club Logo - One Tree Hill

The Auckland Orienteering Club's logo is a stylised silhouette of One Tree Hill, Maungakiekie, an extinct volcanic cone and a prominent iconic landmark visible from most of Auckland City.  It is indeed the place that Bono sang about - U2's song One Tree Hill was in memory of a New Zealander.

The monument was raised early this century in "memory" of the Maori race.  The lone pine tree, with its distinctive lean, stood on the hill for most of last century, despite multiple determined attempts to cut it down in the dead of night. In the end it was damaged beyond repair and was removed for safety reasons.  The parkland surrounding One Tree Hill was one of the Auckland Orienteering Club's best-known maps.  Many of our members first orienteered here, searching for controls among grand avenues of trees and  interesting contour features on the hill. Two orienteers were married on the Hill - they returned to the place they met to formalise the arrangement!

Committee Meetings

The Auckland Orienteering Club is governed by its committee meetings.  We meet on the first Monday of every month except January, the venue rotating among Club participants.  The Auckland Orienteering Club's meetings are purely administrative affairs.  All Club members are welcome, although the constitution says only elected or co-opted members may vote.  The meetings are rarely the scene of major power struggles!  In practice we tend to see a small number of people at our meetings , most of them holding "official" Club positions. 

Membership Benefits

• Discounted entry to club level orienteering events
• The club runs a number of social events each year.
• Skill development opportunities
• Members of the Club are eligible for financial support for representing New Zealand at international level from the Nicholls Memorial National Representative Fund. 
• Junior members of the Club are eligible for financial assistance for attendance at training events and international event fees from the Junior Training Fund.
• Entry fees are paid for members representing the Club, such as the Auckland Relays and Katoa Po night relay event.
• Access to the club resource library materials
• Access to orienteering training sessions
• Access to training camps
• Participation in event running
• Affiliation to Orienteering New Zealand confers the right to compete in A-grade events (national and regional competitions) throughout New Zealand.  Non-affiliates must pay a rather heavy one-day affiliation fee for these events. 

SummerNav Series

The Auckland Orienteering Club's main source of income is its hugely popular SummerNav Series, a series of orienteering events run during the summer in urban parks.  The events take place in the early evening, and attract both navigationally challenged runners and seasoned orienteers.  Courses are designed for all comers, although the longest and most difficult courses cannot attain the same level of technical challenge as events on forest maps.

Club Trust Funds

The Auckland Orienteering Club manages three trust funds that have been set up to support club members at different experience levels develop their orienteering skills.

The trusts are funded by contributions from the Club’s operating surplus plus donations from members.  They are governed by trustees who are appointed to consider applications and award grants.  Grants are at the discretion of the trustees. However, applications must be received in writing (or email) from the club member to be considered. If you would like to be considered for funding towards a trip or project, please apply in writing to the trustees (send to the club President in the first instance, to be forwarded to the trustees; president [at] orienteeringauckland.org.nz).

Junior Training Fund.

The Junior Training Fund was created to assist juniors and students under the age of 21 with training expenses and for fees/expenses for regional, national and international events.

Nicholls Fund.

The Nicholls Fund was established to assist senior members of the Club to compete in international competitions held within New Zealand or overseas.

Gergo Memorial Fund.

The Gergo Fund was established in memory of our late club member and friend Gergo Verhas, who died from a fall while climbing Mt Rolleston in the South Island in 2016. The initial establishment of the fund has been driven by Kat Petho, who was Gergo’s partner, and we are indebted to Kat for generously donating sufficient funds that can now be used to assist club members compete internationally.

The fund description (from the Trust deed) says:

“As a young man and until he died just short of his 32^nd birthday, Gergo was a great adventurer and traveler, his passion for the outdoors taking him to many parts of the world before he arrived in New Zealand, where he fell in love with the countryside, its plants, its birds and people and made it his home. He started orienteering as a little kid in Hungary, Pecs and his big dream was to participate at O-Ringen, in Sweden.

To continue the spirit of a young person adventuring to pursue their dreams, the purpose of the Gergo Fund is to help Members aged between 18 and 31 inclusive develop their orienteering skills through exposure to international orienteering events by assisting them to meet the expenses of traveling and competing overseas. In addition to applying the benefit towards the purpose described by the Member in their application the Trustees may apply a separate amount to commemorate Gergo’s sense of adventure through the purchase of a special training shirt to award to the Member."

On behalf of the Club, we once again thank Kat for what is a wonderful initiative to support young club members, and a fitting tribute to Gergo.

Affiliations

Auckland Orienteering Club and its members are affiliated to regional, national and international orienteering bodies. 

• Auckland Orienteering Association
• Orienteering New Zealand
• International Orienteering Federation

Club O-suit

Orienteers wear special-purpose "O-suits" which give full body cover - very handy when you are hurtling through all sorts of underbrush.  The Auckland Club's official O-suit uses traditional Auckland colours of blue and red.