6 minute read
Elizabeth Parsons & Orienteering
Elizabeth Parsons knows a lot about Pythagoras, fractions and rousing our girls with mathematical equations, but she is just as inspirational with a compass and a map.
Elizabeth leads our orienteering programme, a team which has incredible results to report this year.
Orienteering has been growing yearon-year in popularity in schools across Aotearoa, and this is reflected here at St Cuthbert’s as well. It’s an attractive sport for many reasons, such as catering to varying fitness levels, and is a fun activity for the outdoors.
And when it comes to being competitive – we are leading the way!
A number of our students represented St Cuthbert’s in July, at the New Zealand Secondary School (NZSS) competition, held in Counties Manukau, where New Zealand’s top orienteers compete for various titles across categories and races.
We are ecstatic that our team was awarded the NZSS Premier Trophy, for excellence across the Senior, Intermediate and Junior grades, in the Sprint and Long Distance disciplines.
“We have been close to this pinnacle many times but finally have our name on the trophy!” exclaims Elizabeth (Liz).
Students Zara Stewart, Maddie Bell and Zara Toes, were selected for the NZSS team to compete against the Australian states school teams in the ‘Southern Cross Challenge’ in Victoria, Australia. The NZSS ‘Invitational Development Squad’ (open to anyone who wanted to race) included Sofia and Katelin Toes.
While in Australia, the students also competed at the Australian Orienteering Championships, another step up in difficulty. Incredibly, all five girls made it onto the podium with a total of 14 podium aplacings between them, across all nine events.
Special mention to Zara Stewart who, in the Australian Sprint Championship (a World Ranking event), won Gold in the W20 Elite category, pulling her world ranking up to 315, in Open Women’s Elite grade. Zara Toes also had a convincing win in the W14A grade at the same event.
To add to these accolades, our 28-strong North Island Secondary Schools team was awarded the Top School cup in its July competition.
“I’m just so proud of the girls,” says Liz. “They all worked extremely hard, and it’s paid off!”
She also points out that another significant result of 2022, is Zara Stewart’s place in the NZ U20 Junior World Orienteering Championships team, which took her to races in Portugal, and the European Youth Orienteering Champs in Hungary.
The great accomplishments of the wider team speak volumes about the skills of our enthusiastic student participants, but also to the leadership of Elizabeth and our external volunteer coach, Jeff Greenwood.
Elizabeth currently teaches Year 7 and Year 9 maths, but loves managing orienteering for a wide range of year groups and skill levels. And she is quick to point out that she couldn’t do it without the support of Jeff.
“Although Jeff’s daughter has graduated from St Cuthbert’s, he still donates his time to train the team. It says a lot about his passion for the sport,” says Liz. “Jeff is the technical lead. He goes the extra mile, and helps to set individualised training regimes and gives individual feedback to the girls on each race.”
Orienteering parents and students have all emphasised how grateful they are for both Jeff and Elizabeth’s time, enthusiasm and teaching.
Orienteering options at St Cuthbert’s
For many of those unfamiliar with the sport, it’s good to know there are different championship grades. A Grade is usually more experienced and competitive, and B Grade is designed to encourage participation and for those just starting out.
At St Cuthbert’s, there are around 25 students doing A Grade courses, with the others choosing B Grade.
Behind the five girls who starred at the Australian Schools’ Southern Cross Challenge and the Australian Orienteering Championships, there is a group of around 35 students who attend inter-school events, and a core of 20 who are regular and competitive club orienteers.
Girls need to commit to a Sunday once every two to three weeks (for a whole day), but the school provides transport from our College campus, which is handy for many parents.
Students participate in various categories, such as the Sprint (shorter courses often in urban areas), forest racing (which is Long distance), three person relays, or rogaines (done as a pair or team). These school events can take them all over the country to compete.
In terms of training, drawing up a map can be labour intensive, so Elizabeth and Jeff often use club resources for this, or use the College grounds.
What does it take to be a good orienteer?
“You can’t worry too much about spider webs, the odd graze, or mud!” jokes Liz.
She also believes it’s a wonderful way to get out of our comfort zone and head outdoors. “I love seeing the younger girls playing outside in between races, climbing trees, building huts and enjoying the forest.”
You also don’t have to be good with maps or compasses when you start – this is all taught.
Elizabeth explains that becoming a proficient navigator involves learning a number of basic concepts and techniques, and practising regularly.
“It’s also a fantastic way to build collegial networks at school,” says Liz. “It’s lovely seeing the girls make connections outside of school too, when wider regions come together for comps.”
At competition level, there are many opportunities to shine, such as regional events, North Island champs, the Junior World Championship (for under 20s - where our very own Zara Stewart competed), the World University Champs and the World Championships.
“Recently, at a weekend club event, I was delighted to see a past student with her social group. This is where I get joy, seeing students take their orienteering beyond a school sport to a life-long recreation.”
Considering signing up?
Whether you’re an experienced hiker, competitive runner, or just looking for a fun activity (perhaps to complement another school sport you are involved with), orienteering is a fantastic way to improve fitness and navigation skills.
Events cater for a range of abilities and experience so everyone can participate and get an appropriate challenge, adventure and sense of achievement.
If you are interested in giving it a go, feel free to contact Helen Fraser: helen.fraser@ stcuthberts.school.nz
What is orienteering?
Think ‘The Amazing Race’ – but with less drama and more smarts! Orienteering – sometimes called ‘foot orienteering’ can take place anywhere, but usually it’s in forests, parks, or wide urban areas. Most participants would agree, the more unpredictable and surprising the landscape the more fun and challenging an event can be. Our students competing in Australia ran through old goldmining trenches and large rock outcrops, like Hanging Rock!
But - how does it actually work?
Participants (either in groups or individuals) are given an orienteering map, with a course outlining a start, a finish, and several checkpoints in between. The aim of the game is to get to the finish line, fastest.
At each checkpoint (usually a flag) you ‘punch’ your sport ident (a small electronic recorder worn on the hand), showing that you found the correct location, and you can use any route you want between checkpoints - whether that’s going over a hill or round it. If you’re a runner, running against the clock is a familiar experience, but orienteering provides added challenges of a staggered start and deciding your own course. And if you’re a non-runner, automatic timing from control to control provides a way to measure your navigational effectiveness across routes and compare later with others who made different choices. Good route choice can often beat raw speed. Orienteering began in Scandinavia in the 19th century (it’s still extremely popular there) as a navigation training exercise for the military. It soon developed into the competitive sport we know today. There are a few different forms of orienteering - mountain biking and snow ski orienteering for example – but ‘foot orienteering’ is most popular. New Zealander, Tim Robertson, is our most successful Kiwi orienteering export, as two-times Junior World Champ, and two-times World Champs medallist
