About Us

Our History

Our Club, originally established in 1980 as the Southern Overlanders Orienteering Club (S.O.L.O), underwent a name change in 1982 to become the Southland Orienteering Club (SOC). In 1989, we officially became an incorporated society as the Southland Orienteering Club Inc.

The Club's formation was spearheaded by the Dunedin Orienteering Club, which also created our first map of Sandy Point. Although they began work on a second map, Pebbly Hills, it was halted due to a tree disease that forced the forest to close. However, in 1984, the forest reopened, and British orienteer Jack Maitland completed the map. Since then, we’ve expanded our mapped areas, including an extension of Sandy Point as more forest matured.

Our largest mapping project took place in 1988 when an area of the Waikaia Forest was mapped for the 1989 Moro South Island 7-Day Orienteering Festival. This significant project involved three Swedish mappers for fieldwork, with cartography completed by DOSLI (Department of Survey and Land Information). This map has been updated multiple times and is considered one of the best orienteering maps in New Zealand.

In 1997, we upgraded our heavy steel control stakes to lightweight fibre and aluminium ones. In 2012, we further advanced our technology by adopting the SPORTIdent timing system for electronic punching. Today, we continue to stay at the forefront of technology, using software like OCAD,
O-Lynx, and Purple Pen to design courses.

We regularly host monthly events, and sometimes even more frequently, offering a variety of orienteering challenges, including classic point-to-point, mountain bike, night, and score orienteering.

Committee & Contributors  2024

Andrea Patterson (President) 

Micheal Young (Vice-President)

Nathan Harrison (Treasurer) 

Ayrton Shadbolt

Ciaran Thayer

Evan France

Helen Stewart

Karen Burrows

Mark Hotton

Paul Horner

Ron Munro

Sally Duston

Simon Welson