Canterbury Schools Orienteering Festival 2026

(Incorporating the South Island Secondary Schools orienteering champs).

The Canterbury Schools Orienteering Festival is an annual event with the dual aims of providing an introduction to orienteering for school aged students as well as competitive race for experienced orienteers. For the 2026 event, this will also incorporate the South Island Secondary Schools orienteering champs.

If you are school aged and go to a primary, intermediate, high school or are homeschooled in Canterbury (or anywhere else in the South Island), you can enter this schools orienteering festival. Plenty of training opportunities to learn and practice your orienteering skills are available around Christchurch in the weeks before the festival.

This two-day competition has something for everyone. You can choose to orienteer on your own in a Competitive grade if you have orienteering experience; or compete with friends or whanau in the Fun competition. We welcome all students, from beginner orienteers who have never orienteered before, to experienced orienteers vying for podium places. 

Events:

The events for 2026 are:

• Day 1: Saturday 12th September – A shorter distance park event. The Groynes. Starts from 1:30 p.m.
• Day 2: Sunday 13th September – A longer distance forest event. Bottle Lake. Starts from 10:30 a.m.

You can enter both days or just one.
We are planning to have other activities in addition to the orienteering courses. Maze orienteering, sausage sizzle, lolly scramble and more.

We will have a prizegiving at the end of each day with certificates for placegetters plus spot prizes!  

Cost and entries:

Cost is $12 per child per day. 

Includes hire of a Sportident stick for recording your time at each control/check point (or you can bring your own if you have one).

Check with your school first. Entries for high schools are normally made by the school sports coordinator for all students. Entries and payments can also be made for each student by their family.

Entries will open in August 2026.

Entries close on Monday 7th September 2026.
All payments by credit card during the entry process.
Please email PAPOentries@gmail.com if you have any entry questions. 

If you wish to change to a different grade or withdraw from a race, please fill this form: <CSOF 2026 requests>. Changes must be made prior to entries closing on Mon 7th Sept.

Gear:

What you need

• Sense of sportsmanship and fun!.
• Clothing according to the weather conditions, footwear suitable for activity.
• A compass if you have one.
• Participants are advised to carry a whistle at the forest event and use it if lost or injured.

What we’ll provide

• A map with the course marked on.
• Descriptions of the location of the controls/checkpoints.
• A Sportident stick for recording your time at each control/check point.
  Students can bring their own if they have one. 

The best course for you?

Orienteering is a sport that requires navigation using a map to find the checkpoints. The fun category will provide a simpler navigational challenge suitable to those that are new to the sport. The competitive category requires more complex navigation and is suitable for those with some previous orienteering experience.

• Fun. If you are a beginner, want to have fun with friends, or just want to orienteer for fun alone. Also for students who prefer a parent to follow them around the course. 
• Competitive. If you have some orienteering experience and want to be competitive on your own. For each age class, the competitive grade offers a more technical navigation challenge. For years 10 and above, a compass is required.

Fun Grade:

All the fun courses are suitable for beginners.  There are three courses to choose from ranging in navigational difficulty, great for those wanting to choose an easier course than that allocated to their school year.

• Easy Short. Easiest navigation and shortest distance. No compass is needed.
  Recommended for primary/intermediate students wanting to navigate as a team or with a parent "shadow".
• Medium. Moderate navigation difficulty and medium distance. A compass is not necessary but it is recommended. School Years 7 and above.
  Recommended for older high school students wanting easier navigation than the competitive course and for all high school students who have never orienteered before.
• Long. Hardest navigation and longest distance. A compass and knowledge of how to use it to keep a map oriented is essential. School Years 10 and above.
  Recommended for older high school students wanting easier navigation than the competitive course or wanting to race as a team. 

We suggest that all those new to orienteering come to the after school training events leading up to the orienteering weekend. If you are unsure about which course to enter, ask the coaches at one of the trainings. Alternatively send an email to PAPOentries@gmail.com.

Competitive Grade: 

For competitive entries in the Canterbury Schools Champs and South Island Schools Champs.
For those that have orienteering experience and are confident about completing a course on their own (there are no team entries or parent "shadows" allowed in the competitive grades).

Competitive grades are according to your year at school (students in years 1-4 are welcome in the fun grades):

• Years 5-6: Beginner (White level)
• Years 7-8: Beyond beginner (Yellow level)
• Year 9: Beyond beginner (longer) (Yellow level)
• Year 10-11: Intermediate (Orange level)
• Year 12-13: Experienced (Red level)

Competitive grades, eligibility & school principal sign-off:

A student is eligible to compete in the competitive grade of CSOF:

1. Be enrolled as a bona fide student in New Zealand at the school of representation and studying at least 80% of a programme that is part of the timetable provided by the school for at least four weeks immediately prior to the event.
2. Have a satisfactory attendance record at the school. The final decision will be at the principal’s discretion.
3. Be under 19 years of age at the first of January in the year of the competition.
4. Year 5-8 students must meet equivalent criteria as bona fide students in Years 5 to 8. Younger children are able to enter the Fun grade.

School principal sign-off

The school principal must sign-off eligibility for all students entered in competetive grades. To obtain a filled-out pdf of students entered:

1. Go to the entries by school page: <URL tbc>
   
2. Choose the school in the dropdown and click List to display a list of students entered.
3. Provide an email address to receive the pdf
4. Follow the instructions on the pdf and email the scanned document to PAPOentries@gmail.com.

Start Times: 

All students will be allocated a specific time to start their race. On Saturday the start times are from 1.30p.m. On Sunday the start times are from 10:30 a.m.
If you have other commitments and need an early or late start time, please fill in this form with your request: <CSOF 2026 requests>
Start time request must be made prior to entries closing on Mon 7th Sept. We will do our best to accommodate requests but these cannot be guaranteed. 

Training: 

There will be after school training opportunities around Christchurch starting four weeks prior to the festival, to practice your orienteering skills.
More info to come.

Public Races

The courses at the Canterbury Schools Orienteering Festival will be available for the public to run following the schools competition. Pre-entries are preferred for the public races to ensure we print enough maps. 
Entries for this will open in Aug 2026.

Questions? 

The final event programme and start times will be sent out to all entrants by email on the Wednesday before the festival weekend.

Any questions regarding this event, please email PAPOentries@gmail.com