AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2025
27 September to 5 October 2025 Brisbane, Queensland
Program of Events
Pre-Championship Events
Travel via Stanthorpe for the Queensland Middle Distance Champs and a classic Orienteer of the Year event on the preceding weekend: 20-21 Sept. Then be in Brisbane on Thursday 25 Sept for the Midweek Championships.
2 Days in Stanthorpe Region: Sat-Sun 20-21 Sept
Travelling to Brisbane for the AusChamps? Come a week early for awesome Orienteering at Stanthorpe en route.
The Qld Middle Distance Championships will be held on Saturday 20 Sept (East of Stanthorpe), and a “Queensland Classic” event will be held on Sunday 21 Sept on the iconic Cascades map.
Be sure to include this weekend prior to the AusChamps in your itinerary for some of the best granite terrain in Australia.
Midweek Champs- Glider Forest: Thur 25 Sept
Come and join the locals as they fight it out for the best midweek orienteer. For over 30 years orienteers of all ages have met on a Thursday in a low key, social orienteering event. It is a lovely assembly with shade and free tennis courts if so inclined.
Glider Forest is classic Brisbane koala bushland, typically good running but quite physical, a bit of green with some tracks. Try and beat the locals in their own backyard.
2025 Championship Events
The Australian Orienteering Championships run from Sat 27 Sept to Sun 5 Oct, and include the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships (Tues-Thurs).
Aus Sprint - University of Qld Brisbane plus ‘Dash for Cash’: Sat 27 Sept
UQ is one of the great Australian Sprint maps and has been fully updated to reflect new sprint standards (including small sections of double level). The area near the lake has had a multi-year and multi-million dollar redevelopment completed only in 2024 and will be new to all competitors.
This is a World Ranking Event (WRE).
The Dash for Cash Knockout Event
The Top 8 in M21E, M20E, W21E and W20E will go into an 8-person knockout final with Cash prizes for the winners. Stay and watch the elites battle it out in a high speed, high stakes sprint knock-out in one of the most scenic sprint maps in Australia.
2. Aus Long - Bigges Hill, Wivenhoe: Sun 28 Sept
Classic long distance terrain with big hills, fast and slow run and rocky detail, huge cliffs and vaguer flat areas where termite mounds will be your guide. The map is fully updated and will not have been used for over four years.
This is a World Ranking Event (WRE).
St Peter’s Lutheran College: We are waiting for the finalisation of permission, but if granted, this map is a cracker and will be new to every Queensland Schools Runner. We haven't used it for many years, but it is exceedingly complex! Narrow paths, tight but sufficiently large campus and beautiful gardens, as you would expect from one of the most prestigious, older private schools in Brisbane.
3. Schools Sprint - St Peter’s Lutheran College (TBC): Tues 30 Sept
with public event: Run the River Race 1
4. Schools Long Distance - Old Hidden Vale: Wed 1 Oct
with public event: Run the River Race 2
An iconic MTB location in South-East Queensland, and again, no local Schools entrant is familiar with this map, creating the ultimate level playing field for the Australian Schools Championship. Pleasant to very fast running in places but with "Green Blobs" in flatter gullies. A large number of tracks may be your friend or foe. Go Hard or Go Home on this map.
5. Schools Relay Championship - Deebing Creek: Thurs 2 Oct
with public event: Run the River Race 1
A moonscape in the middle of Ipswich. One of the most peculiar maps in Brisbane with extensive erosion in the North, enough to swallow a small, unsuspecting child. We thank all our illegal 4WD buddies for carving this place up and leaving their burnt-out wrecks, creating a surreal location for orienteering. Sandy creeks make for tiring running. The map is small, the erosion deep, the green complex and the tracks everywhere. We recommend you navigate or else you might become another Deebing Creek Wreck.
Something different – a twilight/night relay for elites!
We don’t often get a chance to enjoy night orienteering in the Australian bush, and this map provides a relatively safe environment for it and useful experience for those who might like to run in Tiomila or Jukola in the future. And a chance to beat the heat and run in the cool of the evening.
The map is only a few kilometres away from Wivenhoe Hill but completely different terrain. This is an area of gentle hills, friendly ponds, giant kangaroos and fast running. It typically has low grass year round and no rock underfoot, meaning that during the day 4mins/km is not uncommon. But make a mistake and relocating in daylight on this map is difficult, at night bordering on impossible. It seems easy enough, so don’t let your team-mates down, go fast and go straight and be home for dinner.
6. Australian Relay Championships - Logans Inlet - Wivenhoe: Sat 4 Oct
7. Australian Middle Distance Championships- White Rock - Ipswich: Sun 5 Oct
This is a map with mood swings and we can’t tell you how it will be feeling in October. Sometimes it is moderate speed and pleasant, but when in a foul mood it drops its branches and creates considerable fallen timber, longer grass and lantana patches, all whilst inviting you to find the flag in areas of very complex rock detail. Sandy creeks typical of Western Brisbane, that go from flood to dry in weeks, create complex erosion and breaks in the relatively thick forest. Sandstone outcrops that are frequently similar sized along the ridgeline make control finding difficult. Vegetation varies from open forest to regrowth to short, intertwined trees with low branches that makes running and visibility difficult. This map, as a Middle Event should, will favour the best navigator who can pick their way through the varied terrain. Wear old clothes and plan a shower before your flight home.
