National Success Earns Henry International Selection
By Jeni Martin | Posted: Tuesday April 21, 2026
Year 12 student Henry Hodgson has been selected for the New Zealand Orienteering team and will compete at the European Youth Orienteering Championships being held in Slovenia in June.
Henry competed in the highly competitive M18 grade at the NZ Orienteering National Champs over Easter in the Wairarapa. Henry was 3rd in the Sprint Distance event (only 11 seconds behind the 2nd placegetter), 5th in the Middle Distance event (1 second behind the 4th placegetter), and 5th again in the Long Distance event. These impressive performances have earned Henry a place in the 4-person M18 New Zealand team competing at the European Youth Orienteering Championships being held in Slovenia at the end of June.
The events will take place in Nova Gorica, western Slovenia, near the Italian border on the Adriatic Sea—about 150km from Venice in neighbouring Italy. Some of the events will be near sea level, with daytime temperatures in the high 20s or early 30s. The Long Distance event will be in the mountains at around 1000m altitude. Several events will be across karst (limestone) terrain.
Live tracking of competitors takes place at these big international competitions.
