Home | Bush | Australian Orienteering Championships 2024 Results & Recap

Australian Orienteering Championships 2024 Results & Recap

The 2024 Australian Orienteering Championships was held in Armidale, NSW from 28 September – 6 October 2024.

Over the 9 days, this national event contained a plethora of events and activities for people of all ages:

  • Australian sprint, long, middle, & relay championships
  • Australian schools sprint, long, & relay championships
  • Public Thunderbolts 3 day
  • Independent Athlete Development speakers program
  • 57 different classes to compete in
  • And much more!

Glenburnie and the adjoining property Orana (or Oranah), on which the 2024 national orienteering championships were being held, lie on the land of the Nganyaywana (Anaiwan) traditional owners.

Australian Middle Distance Championship – 28 September

The first day’s courses utilised detailed, runnable and hilly granite terrain on the new map: Rola Lantherana, 21km south west of Uralla. The area had very little green apart from along one creek that many Hard courses cross.

Here are the podium winners for the elite classes:

Men 20 EliteWomen 20 EliteMen 21 EliteWomen 21 Elite
1st PlaceSam WoolfordNea ShinglerFelix HuntRenee Beveridge
2nd PlaceJake McLellanJustine HobsonJulian DentMikayla Cooper
3rd PlaceJamie WoolfordPhoebe HuntMatt DoyleMikaela Gray
Full results for the Australian Middle Distance Championship can be found here.

Australian Relay Championship – 29 September

The relay area was very varied from recently cleared forest, with large piles of felled trees mapped as thickets, through to fast open farmland with scattered rock, to areas of intricate rock detail. Overall, the area was open, easy running with great visibility. All courses except those being used in the Mixed Age class had forkings designed to bring competitors together, or close together at frequent intervals.

There was a common spectator control approximately 2/3 of the way around courses 1-10 and at the last control for course 11, adjacent to the arena for friends and family to cheer on the competing athletes!

Men 20 EliteWomen 20 EliteMen 21 EliteWomen 21 Elite
1st PlaceNZL 5
1. Felix Hunt
2. Eddie Swain
3. Jake McLellan
Orienteering NSW 1
1. Nea Shingler
2. Erika Enderby
3. Mikayla Enderby
Orienteering Queensland
1. Matt Doyle
2. Blake Reinbott
3. Ryan Gray
Orienteering ACT 1
1. Shannon Jones
2. Justine Hobson
3. Grace Crane
2nd PlaceOrienteering NSW 1
1. Cooper Horley
2. Oskar Mella
3. Sam Woolford
NZL 8
1. Juliet Freeman
2. Phoebe Hunt
3. Tide Fa’avae
Orienteering ACT 1
1. Paul de Jongh
2. Toby Lang
3. David Stocks
NZL 2
1. Renee Beveridge
2. Amelia Horne
3. Briana Steven
3rd PlaceOrienteering NSW 2
1. Seth Sweeney
2. Nick Stanley
3. Jamie Woolford
NZL 9
1. Nika Rayward
2. Alison Power
3. Georgia Lindroos
Orienteering SA 1
1. Ethan Penck
2. Jack Marschall
3. Leith Soden
Orienteering Victoria 1
1. Milla Key
2. Aislinn Prendergast
3. Natasha Key
Full results for the Australian Relay Championship can be found here.

ASOC Sprint Championship + T3D Day 1 – 1 October

The sprint championship was held at the Armidale School, an 1890s school campus surrounded by sports fields, a lake and gardens.

There was an arena passage and map flip on certain courses. After the runners punched the last/spectator control, they followed the mandatory route before splitting into either the finish chute or towards the restart.

Senior BoysSenior GirlsJunior BoysJunior Girls
1st PlaceCooper HorleyMilla KeyHayden DentAriadna Iskhakova
2nd PlaceEuan BestErika EnderbyMatty MaundrellElla Clauson
3rd PlaceOwen RadajewskiLiana StubbsRory SheddenSanda Halpin
Full results for the ASOC Sprint Championship can be found here.

ASOC Long Championship + T3D Day 2 – 2 October

The long championship map covered a range of terrain, from farmland paddocks and open eucalypt forest with outcrops of rock, to steep hilly areas with dense and complex rock detail at property Pine Tree. All ASOC courses had a long-distance character. Courses 1 (Senior Boys) and 2 (Senior Girls) passed a spectator control towards the end of the course.

Senior BoysSenior GirlsJunior BoysJunior Girls
1st PlaceOwen RadajewskiErika EnderbyAlton FreemanKatie Clauson
2nd PlaceEuan BestMilla KeyRory SheddenElla Clauson
3rd PlaceAlex WoolfordXanthe SchubertMatty MaundrellSophie Hartmann
Full results for the ASOC Long Championship can be found here.

ASOC Relay Championship + T3D Day 3 – 3 October

Also at property Pine Tree, the courses for the relay championship went through a variety of terrains, from fast running farmland, forest with occasional rock outcrops, steep hilly areas with dense and to complex rock detail.

Senior BoysSenior GirlsJunior BoysSenior Girls
1st PlaceOrienteering NSW
1. Cooper Horley
2. Nick Stanley
3. Jamie Woolford
Orienteering NSW 
1. Rebecca Craig
2. Maggie Mackay
3. Erika Enderby
Orienteering Victoria
1. Matthew Layton
2. Xander Greenhalgh
3. Jayden Styk
(only finishers)
Orienteering ACT 
1. Sanda Halpin
2. Katie Hogg
3. Ariadna Iskhakova
2nd PlaceOrienteering Queensland
1. Miles Bryant
2. Will Barnes
3. Eric Lovell
Orienteering ACT
1. Aoife Rothery
2. Mira Walter
3. Ella Hogg
Orienteering Tasmania 
1. Sophie Hartmann
2. Ella Clauson
3. Katie Clauson
3rd PlaceOrienteering ACT
1. Max Walter
2. Oliver Bishop
3. Owen Radajewski
Orienteering Queensland
1. Alexandra Edwards
2. Ingrid Young
3. Xanthe Schubert
Orienteering NSW
1. Jessica Dun
2. Justine de Remy de Courcelles
3. Tiffany Palmer
Full results for the ASOC Relay Championship can be found here.

Australian Long Distance Championship – 5 October

The long course map, Rola Birkungirra, featured granite terrain with undulating, open forest and farmland with scattered trees, covered in various granite rock features scattered across the terrain. There were many steep slopes and was rough under-foot, rugged to traverse, and covered in granite rock features from big (3-5m high) to gigantic (15-20m high).

Men 20 EliteWomen 20 EliteMen 21 EliteWomen 21 Elite
1st PlaceCooper HorleyNea ShinglerFelix HuntHanne Hilo
2nd PlaceOwen RadajewskiErika EnderbyZefa Fa’avaeGrace Crane
3rd PlaceSam WoolfordJustine HobsonDavid StocksKaia Joergensen
Full results for the ASOC Long Championship can be found here.

Australian Sprint Championship – 6 October

For the final day, the sprint championship was held at the newly mapped campus of the University of New England, which hadn’t been used since XMAS 2015. This classic university campus featured a mix of larger and smaller buildings, creating complex sections within the map, including narrow passageways, canopies, and stairs. The terrain was situated on a slope, adding to the physicality of the courses, and features open grass sections between the complex building areas.
All courses had a mandatory route through the arena for a spectator loop at around 80% of their course before coming back to the arena to finish.

Men 20 EliteWomen 20 EliteMen 21 EliteWomen 21 Elite
1st PlaceCooper HorleyNea ShinglerEthan PenckHanne Hilo
2nd PlaceSam WoolfordMilla KeyPatrick JaffeKaia Joergensen
3rd PlaceEuan BestAnna BabingtonFelix HuntMikayla Cooper
Full results for the Australian Sprint Championship can be found here.

A major thank you to everyone involved in helping shape this year’s Australian Orienteering Championships 2024 into what it was! This national event truly could not have been set up without all the volunteers’ help from event organisers, map makers, supporters, people who donated, photographers, and many more. We hope everyone who attended and competed across the nine days had a wonderful time.

If you’re already itching to see what’s to come for Australian Orienteering Championships 2025, visit auschamps25.com.

It will be held from 27 September – 5 October in Brisbane, Queensland.

We hope to see you there!

All photos by Terry Cooke.

Related News

In this temporary volunteer position, the Australian Team Manager will be on the ground and coordinate the Australian team in the AUS/NZ Challenge. Send your expression of interest today.
Learn to Orienteer programs are currently running, and more are planned… but we need more coaches! Join us on zoom to discover how to become a Learn to Orienteer coach and what support you will receive.
Selection criteria and preliminary team information for National Orienteering Teams have been published. Nominations for these teams is now open.