Orienteering family achieves feat of firsts | Canterbury Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Canterbury

Just champion that's the Cory-Wright orienteering family of Redcliffs.

The four, members of the Peninsula and Plains club, all won a title when the national long-distance championships were held at Maramarua forest near Pukekohe.

Alistair Cory-Wright won the men's over-40 race and wife Jean the women's over-45. Their children Ed, 9, and Kate, 7, won the boys and girls 10 and under titles. That's one better than the family went two years ago in the Oceania championships. Kate was too young to compete then, but the other three won gold medals.

At Pukekohe all except dad, who was competing in the open men's, also won their middle-distance races, too.

Alistair Cory-Wright started orienteering as a 14-year-old in Auckland, and twice represented New Zealand in open competition against Australia. His wife ran for 20 years for Great Britain and competed at 10 world championships.

Inevitably, they met through orienteering at the World Cup races in Czechoslovakia in 1988.

Jean Cory-Wright coached the New Zealand team, with her husband the manager, at the world championships in Norway in 1997 and Scotland in 1999.