The Orienteering ACT Board in collaboration with the Event Planning Committee is proposing changes to be trialled for the 2026-27 summer season.
The proposal is to run an extended series of events only on Sunday mornings with a mix of Park, Bush, and Urban Sprint events. Events would no longer be held on Wednesday afternoons.
The trial creates two distinct seasons for orienteering in the ACT, with Street-O to continue all year round.
- Winter – Bush with Saturday Metro and ACT League events.
- Summer – Park, Light Bush, & Urban Sprint.
The proposed changes have been brought about by six main reasons:
- Number of Events: In 2025 OACT held 132 competition events plus coaching programs. This is the highest number ever run by OACT and has been increasing year-by-year. The number of events is putting a strain on the organisation, clubs, and individuals.
- Overuse of Venues: Twilight and Metro Series events have significant repetition of event venues, such as Bruce Ridge, The Pinnacle, Mt Taylor, Red Hill, Cooleman Ridge, etc. Repeated use degrades course quality and discourages some orienteers from attending. Less frequent use of these venues will reinvigorate the events held during the winter season.
- ACT Parks and Conservation Service (PCS) Access Approvals: ACT PCS’s classification of several of the Canberra Nature Parks as Zone 1 Core Conservation areas has meant that OACT can no longer access some of the highest quality local event venues, including Black Mountain, Aranda Hill, and parts of Mt Majura. This has resulted in overuse of remaining locations that are often less suited to good quality bush orienteering.
- Vegetation and Weed Growth: Many of the bush venues used during the summer season are unpleasant for orienteering in summer due to long grass, grass seeds, and prickly weeds. This varies from year to year, but overall, more areas are being more severely impacted by grass and weed growth.
- Temperature: All sports must consider the impacts of climate and the health and safety of participants. During summer it is common for the hottest time of day to be near the start time for Twilight Series evening events. New extreme temperature guidelines introduced by the International Orienteering Federation and Orienteering Australia, increase the likelihood that events held at these times will need to be cancelled, possibly at short notice.
- Family Friendly and Opportunities to Socialise: It can be a difficult for families to attend or volunteer at events held on weekday afternoons; people who do attend, come, do the event and go home. Sunday morning events provide more opportunities for people to socialise and engage with the sport.
The proposal is to not run the Twilight Series in its present format, and to instead run an extended Sunday morning series of Park, Light Bush, and Urban Sprint events. With the following format:
- 14 events held from early November to end February. Season length determined by the 2026 Oceania Carnival and the 2027 Capital-O Carnival.
- Start window 9.00am – 10.00am, course closure at 10.45am.• Two courses on offer: Course 1 (2.5-3.0km) and Course 2 (1.0-2.0km).
- Locations at urban parklands, school campuses, and small bush areas best suited to short course events in summer.
- Seven Park/Light Bush events before Christmas and seven Urban Sprint events after Christmas.
- The Clubs to organise the pre-Christmas events, and individuals under the guidance of a series co-ordinator to organise the post-Christmas events.
- Series Passes, individual event entry, and Enter-on-the-Day will be available. Separate Season Passes would be offered for the pre- and post-Christmas events.
- Runners Shop Summer competition held across all 14 events, with a points table and end of season awards.
The proposal is a trial for 2026-27, to be evaluated for future seasons.