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! 

Fantastic news! We can confirm that a Sprint distance race will be included in the MTBO Champs programme, so a full suite of events with Middle and Sprint on the Saturday, and  Long on the Sunday is definitely taking place. 

The Sprint will be on a brand new map in Rotorua, with more details to come soon. We are especially pleased to have a great setter and controller combination on this event - Grant Unkovich and Greg Flynn bring heaps of experience, so we can expect a fantastic set of courses on a new map!

We are delighted to confirm that a 2022 NZ MTBO Champs will take place in and around Rotorua, hosted by Orienteering Bay of Plenty with support of Taupo Orienteering.

Details are still being worked through, but we can confirm a Long Distance event and Middle Distance event, with a Sprint event yet to be decided on. 

​More information will be available later in June, however for now please mark your diaries and put aside the 19 - 20 November 2022! 

​What an amazing variety of maps over the three days and a variety of ages participating. The amount of people coming together to attend the event from all over NZ means a lot to us, and really made the competition and event go well. Send us any comments or feedback, it really helps us. 

All the results are up and linked: https://www.mtbochamps.nz/results.html
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A big thank you to our organisers, event planners and controllers for the 2021​  NZ MTBO Champs:
Naseby long event  | 18 Apr 2021 -  Planner: Conal Boland-Bristow  and Controller: Matt Bixley
Chatto Creek champs middle event  | 19 April 2021 - Planner: Viv Prince and Controller: Dave Armstrong
Ngapara Ponds sprint event   | 20 April 2021 - Planner: Joe Sherriff  and Controller: Alister Metherell 
And many helping in other ways:  a special mention to Peter Swanson on THE ONZ committee backing us all the way, and all others on the MTBO Commitee.Graeme Read for his work bringing and operating the caravan for organising our online entries, downloading and presenting results each day, and Dwayne Smith who travelled out just to help Graeme from Wananka, but not sure if he even tried a ride with a map - maybe next time!  There are also key people from Dunedin including Jeni Pelvin, but there were many more helping the crew from Central Otago orienteers. And special thanks to all our landowners and liaisons: Earnslaw One Ltd; Central Otago District Council; Central  Otago 4x4 club; and the landowners at Chatto Creek. 
Here are digital versions of the course one maps.

Wanting to know your start times, and pecking order with your fellow competitors? Start times now up in the "Entries & Start Lists" section....
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Joe and the team have been working pretty hard, and this series of photo's shows some of the clearing work that has been happening to deal with some the windfall on the sprint map, which came down in recent storms. It also provides a good view of the tracks, so worth checking out! 

A sharp eyed competitor has pointed out an error in the Bulletin that was sent out and published yesterday - the Middle Distance event at Chatto Creek is on Monday 19th April - not Saturday 19th April. I'm sure most of you are smart enough to figure it out, but just in case not, we hope you read this! The updated bulletin is now available on this website. Happy reading! 

Previous versions of Chatto Creek and Naseby have been posted on the 2021 NZ Champs Otago page of the website.