Auckland
Orienteering Club (AOC) is a sporting club serving the orienteers of Auckland
City, the largest city in New Zealand, with around 1 million people, lots
of volcanoes (mostly dormant), two coasts (Tasman Sea, Pacific Ocean),
a lot of beaches, and the Americas Cup.
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 around 80 members, a couple of dozen maps, and runs 20+ events
each year.
Our
neighbouring clubs are NorthWest 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, 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 -
whose death was somewhat exaggerated. The lone pine tree, with its
distinctive lean, has stood on the hill for most of this century, despite
determined attempts to cut it down in the dead of night. The parkland
surrounding One Tree Hill is one of the Auckland Orienteering Club's best-used
maps. Many of our members first orienteered here, searching for controls
among grand avenues of trees and ancient kumara storage pits on the terraces
which ring the hill. Two orienteers were married on the Hill a few years
ago - 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 Wednesday of every month except January, the venue
rotating among Club participants. The Auckland 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. Details of Club meetings are published
in The Auckland Orienteer.
Membership
Benefits
Each
month, members receive The Auckland Orienteer, the newsletter of the Auckland
Orienteering Association. The newsletter gives details of coming
events and is a vital source of information for orienteering in the Auckland
region.
Each
quarter, members receive New Zealand Orienteering, the magazine of the
New Zealand Orienteering Federation.
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 from the Junior Training Fund.
Entry
fees are paid for members representing the Club or New Zealand at any event.
The
Club runs training events every month, which are free to all orienteers.
The
club runs a number of social events each year.
Affiliation
to the Auckland Orienteering Association confers the right to compete in
the Orienteer of the Year competition. (Others may attend events
but are not "official".)
Affiliation
to the New Zealand Orienteering Federation confers the right to compete
in designated Badge events (national competitions) throughout New Zealand.
Non-affiliates must pay a rather heavy one-day affiliation fee for these
events.
And
finally, most important of all: members get a nice hot cup of tea after
their run, made in the Club's Official Heroic Teapot.
Summer
Series
The
Auckland Orienteering Club's main source of income is its hugely popular
Summer 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.
Affiliations
Auckland
Orienteering Club and its members are affiliated to regional, national
and international orienteering bodies.
Auckland
Orienteering Association
New
Zealand Orienteering Federation
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.