We are pleased to announce that entries for the 2026 NZ MTBO Champs are now open HERE.

Come along for a great week of MTBO and socialising around Rotorua.   Early bird entries close 12th April.  Final entries close 10th May.  Any on the day entries will only be at the discretion of the organisers.

Enter early to win!

Be one of the first 50 competitors to enter early and also go in the draw to win an A3 size Autopilot mapboard.  The best mapboard for MTBO and other navigation adventures on a bike.  These mapboards are robust and can fit most handle bar sizes.  Thank you to Andrew McNeill, who sells these mapboards in NZ.

We are still taking names for the prizegiving dinner on Saturday evening.
This will be at Iceinline in Alexandra, adjacent to the sprint map.
 
Berry Farm Bakery and Catering are providing a BBQ buffet with Pulled pork and beef burgers with a good selection of breads and salads.
There will be lemon tarts, brownie cookies and fruit to follow.
Berry Farm has an excellent reputation and they have been warned that Bike Orienteers have big appetites.
 
It will be a great chance to fuel up after two great races, ready for an epic day in Naseby on Sunday.
 
BYO drinks.
 
Get back onto the NZ MTBO Champs website, and under entries you’ll find the dinner under “order merchandise”.
 
Once entries close at midnight on Saturday, you can still book dinner by emailing [email protected], till a few days before the event.

The closing date for entries has been extended to Saturday 18th January, so make sure you get your entries in by then! 

The planning team are making great progress on the courses, and the events are shaping up really well. Event organizer, Joe Sherriff, says "the diversity and mix of terrain types across each event will really delight MTBOers - each day has a different feel and type of challenge, so we are confident people will really love this!".

Bulletin  and other info will be out by the week before the event, so stay tuned for more info, and get in touch if you have any questions.

Hi everyone, please note some important updates on entry fees:

• Discounts on entry fees for the Recreation classes - this is to encourage newcomers to have a go and try the sport in a low key class.
• Early bird entries close Midnight Sunday 22 Dec 

Details in the Enter O entry portal, accessed through the links on this website, or here.

Make sure you don't miss out, and remind your friends to get their entries in too!

A fantastic weekend of competition, challenge, and fun for mountain bikers, orienteers, and adventure racers of all abilities. Add in the rogaine on the Monday for more nav riding.  The 2025 NZ MTBO Championships will be hosted by Dunedin Orienteering and held in Central Otago over the weekend of 1st / 2nd February, with a non-championship MTBO Rogaine following on Monday 3rd February. The event is to be hosted by Central Otago Orienteers and Dunedin Orienteering 

• Morning Saturday 1 February  |  Sprint distance MTBO championships:  Alexandra 
• Afternoon Saturday 1 February  |  Middle distance MTBO championships:  Matangi Station .
• Sunday 2 February  |  Long distance MTBO championships:   Naseby Forest   
• Monday 3 February  |  Rogaine optional extra MTB nav fun, not a championship event 

We are delighted to confirm the 2023 NZ MTBO Champs will happen near Christchurch on 29 and 30 April! Planning is well underway, so stay tuned for more information through this website and the NZ MTBO facebook page!

Thank you for entering! We have been delighted with the late surge in entries, which whilst still below what we had originally hoped for, are still respectable enough and will see some great competition across many grades. 

Start lists are now up and can be found on the website here.

IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO A MAJOR ORIENTEERING EVENT BEFORE, READ THIS

• ​This event has pre-allocated start times, which means you must start your race at the start time allocated to you in the Start Lists that are uploaded to this website.
• You should aim to be at the start area at least 10 minutes before your start time
• 4 minutes before your start time, you will get called up by an official, and enter the start area - this is a taped off area with 4 stages that you move through in sequence
• All of this is explained in detail in the bulletin, which can be downloaded from this website
• This will feel a bit more structured and formal compared to many club orienteering events, so hopefully this is useful for those of you who are new to a major event
• If you have any questions ask an official at the event 

Good luck!

Hi MTBOers! The event planning is going really well and boy do we have some great events lined up for you! The maps are looking great, courses are set and top quality, and the event team are primed and ready to put on two great days of racing for you!

All we have to hope for is some great weather, and to see a few more entries - numbers are sadly down this year, but we hope to get a few more in before entries close Sunday night. So please, get your entries in and make the event teams day by coming and enjoying the best MTBO event of the year!

We have had a few challenges in recent weeks in our preparation for the champs. We had mentioned in an earlier post that we had hoped to host the Sprint on a new map in Rotorua - the bad news is that this hasn't transpired and the location we had in mind proved not really to be suitable for a Sprint MTBO.

The good news however is that the Sprint WILL be going ahead, but on a previously used map, using the Puarenga Park/Scion dog walking area. We had used this for the Middle Distance event in 2019, however it is a quality area that will challenge competitors - especially as we have a really capable Planner/Controller combination with Grant Unkovich and Greg Flynn. We have now issued an embargo notice for this area, so please read up, and also check out the map from the previous event listed in the "2022 Champs" page of this website. 

We also had a bit of a wobble with the potential loss of access to our brand new Onepu map, due to a change in ownership of the Onepu Mtb Park and issues around insurance. Fortunately our ONZ Liability insurance proved invaluable for mitigating the concerns the new owner had, so we are very pleased to be going ahead with this event at that venue. Big thanks to the owner, Shane Le Prou, who has been super supportive and positive about our event!

All other planning is going full bore, and the team is working hard to finalize courses and everything else which will make this an awesome champs. If you haven't entered, please do ASAP, and also remind other friends to do the same!