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.
