Orienteering and Cross Country

ORIENTEERING & CROSS COUNTRY

Orienteering at Karamu is closely tied to the Hawke’s Bay Orienteering Club who run all the local events. The year starts with a summer sprint series from January until March, which is a great introduction to the sport for our students. At the end of the summer series the Hawke’s Bay Schools Sprint Championships are usually run, but this year……we had covid-19 instead. From March onwards we had several months with no orienteering, however, once out of lockdown we were able to hold the Sprint Champs in July, running on the EIT map on a VERY wet day. The best Karamu run of the day was Pierson Clement who was 4th in a strong Senior Boys field. The Hawke’s Bay Schools Long Distance Championships were postponed three times due to covid-19 before finally being cancelled. Also postponed were the New Zealand Secondary School Orienteering Championships which were due to be held here in Hawke’s Bay, firstly in July, then October, but also finally cancelled. Hopefully we can host this event in 2021. Like all school sports, it has been a very disrupted year for orienteering, and I would like to acknowledge Pierson and Rory McKay for their service to the sport in a difficult year. Despite the disruption of covid-19 we were lucky enough to be able to run two of the three major local interschool cross country events this year. The only event cancelled was the ECNI Cross Country Relay Championships usually held in May at Anderson Park, Havelock North. Covid-19 restrictions did mean the ECNI Cross Country Champs, traditionally held in Gisborne, were held later than usual and were moved to Napier. This was in an attempt to minimise student movement, as usually Hastings and Napier schools make up over 80% of the competitors at the event. The new course at Park Island was undulating and spectator friendly and, personally, I think it is a great improvement on the flat Showgrounds course in Gisborne. Karamu had four students competing and the best Karamu run of the day went to Pierson Clement coming in 23rd in the large Senior Boys’ 6km race in 23.36. The ECNI Road Race was able to be held as usual at Frimley Park in August. Our three boys competing, Pierson, Rory Mckay and Hamish Wood, all ran well but all outside their PBs. These three boys are all members of the Hastings Harriers Club , and with coaching there by Richard Potts and regular training and events held throughout the season, I have seen a great improvement in their running over the last two years. I highly recommend students keen to improve their running join this local club based in Windsor Park.