By Louis Johnston

The increasingly popular orienteering event at the Zespri AIMS Games, now in its third year, kicked off on Monday at Tauranga Racecourse in Greerton.

Tauranga Intermediate competitors Jimmy Miller and Zane Williams say the orienteering community at AIMS has been as welcoming as ever.

“It's a wonderful environment, very encouraging. It's just been a great experience,” Jimmy says. 

“You get to work together with your friends. It's also just nice to get out into nature, have a run, just give it a go!”

He says he loves the togetherness of orienteering, and the compassionate nature of the AIMS atmosphere. 

“I love the team environment cause everyone is quite caring,” Zane added.

“It's been pretty fun, running around, lots of fresh air, out of school, which is nice. I just like running in general.” 

Secondary Schools orienteering champion Oscar Burns unfortunately missed out on competing in the AIMS Games during his intermediate years, as Covid-19 put a hold on the 2020 and 2021 competitions.

However, the 18-year-old was quick to put his hand up to volunteer this year and has been out and about at the 2026 AIMS Games supporting the next generation of Kiwi trailblazers.

“I’d definitely like to help out as much as I can, just to keep growing the sport,” he says.

“Doing a bit here and there to show to people what you can do when you get a bit older, and also just making sure everything runs smoothly.”

Oscar says the energy and enthusiasm at the AIMS event this year is great to see.

“I think it's pretty awesome for the sport in general, getting so many people introduced to it. The sport has definitely boomed since AIMS has started,” he says.

“There’s maybe one or two events in the year you'd see this many people in New Zealand at an orienteering event, so it's pretty cool.”

Oscar says that the problem-solving side of orienteering is what sets it apart from other sports. 

“It gets called cunning running,” he says.

“On a run, I find myself getting a bit bored if I'm just running around a field, but with orienteering you have to be thinking so much. You could relate it to doing math problems in your head while you're running.”

Oscar has used the sport to blaze his own trail in the world.

Earlier this year, he was selected to compete in the New Zealand Junior World Champs team in Europe.

He believes his dedication to the sport has given him the chance to see some amazing places, both in Aotearoa and beyond.

“We travelled to Sweden at the end of June for the Junior World Champs and that was awesome, just being able to see that next level of orienteering in Europe.”

Oscar’s mum, Rachel Smith, is co-ordinating the AIMS event.

She herself took up orienteering in her youth, which Oscar says was a massive motivator for his own journey.

“I’ve been orienteering pretty much from before I was born. I’ve been doing it for fun for a while and then started to explore the elite side of orienteering in the last five or so years, and seeing where that takes me.”

Orienteering has 303 competitors this year and will wrap up on Tuesday at McLaren Falls Park, Lower Kaimai, Tauranga.

Article added: Monday 07 September 2026