What is Orienteering?

Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points. Originally a training exercise in land navigation for military officers, orienteering has developed many variations. Among these, the oldest and the most popular is foot orienteering.

Competition

Basics

The competition, or race, is intended to test 'the navigational skill, concentration, and running ability of the competitors'. High levels of fitness and running speed are required to compete successfully at an international or elite level. To ensure fairness between competitors the map is not usually provided until the start, and starts are normally staggered with competitors starting at not less than one-minute intervals.

The objective on each leg is to follow the fastest route between controls. The fastest is not always the shortest route, and can depend heavily on route choice.

Map

Orienteering competitions use specially prepared orienteering maps. They are topographic maps although much more detailed than general-purpose maps. The ISOM map scales are 1:15,000 or 1:10,000, with grids aligned to magnetic north. Map symbols are standardized by the IOF, and designed to be readable by any competitor no matter his background or native tongue.

Courses

Orienteering events offer a range of courses, of varying physical and technical difficulty, to meet the needs of competitors. The orienteering course is marked in purple or red on a map. A triangle is used to indicate the start and a double circle indicates the finish. Circles are used to show the control points.

Competition types

Classic

Classic orienteering involves a race between controls in a preset order. The winner is the person who completes the course in the shortest time. Courses are normally designed so that the fastest route is not straightforward to find on the map, or to follow on the ground.

Relay

A relay race is run by a team of competitors each running a course, and the result is based on the team's total time. Relays usually employ a mass start instead of a staggered start. To reduce competitors following each other, parallel courses are provided. For a team of three: three courses could be provided (a, b, c) with each of the team members running one course. To prevent following, teams run the courses in different orders, e.g., abc, bca, cab. In the larger events these courses cross over and have a common control. Those courses can then be split into two parts, e.g., a, b, c and x, y, z. Each team has to run all six parts but competitors run one of nine different combinations, e.g., ax, ay, az … cx, cy, cz”

Sprint

Shorter events, often held in city parks and other more urban settings. Map scales are usually 1:5,000 or 1:4,000. Control sites can include benches, litterbins, sculptures, and other objects common to urban parks.

Night

Competitors use a headlamp to navigate in the dark. Reflective markers often are used on control point flags, which shifts the tactics from precision navigation to searching. Competitors can travel at high speed to the vicinity of the control point, then sweep the area with the light to catch a reflection off the control flag. If a night event starts before dark, a mass start must be used so all competitors have equal time in the light and dark. The two classic club relays, Tiomila and Jukola, both include night legs.

Personal equipment

The basic equipment required for orienteering is usually listed as a compass and appropriate outdoor clothing.
Competitive orienteers usually use specialized equipment:

A thumb compass, or protractor compass on a short wrist cord.
A clear map case to protect the map. May be provided by organizers in competitions.
A clear plastic sleeve, worn on the forearm, to hold control descriptions.
Eye protectors to protect eyes from insects, dust and wind blast.
IOF rules forbid the use of artificial aids so GPS and other electronic navigation devices are not used.

You can find more detailed information on orienteering on Wikipedia Site on Orienteering or you can go to the Website of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).

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