Lake District Sports - Lake District Orienteering

It has been called 'cunning running'. It's also variously known as ma racing and map hiking, because you can go as fast, or as slow, as you like. But to the many devotees, it is simply 'O'.

The great thing about an Orienteering event - and Cumbria hosts some of the best you can find - is that anyone can turn up and join in the fun. Held in forests or open terrain, it's a race-with-navigation in which you are supplied with a map and a course of control points to locate.

It's up to you which orienteering course you enter and whether you walk, jog or get seriously competitive. There are even special courses for families or children, as well as Trial Orienteering for the less able-bodied. Check out the local orienteering fixtures, usually held on Sunday mornings. Or for beginners, why not visit the permanent course in Whinlatter Forest Park?

Lake District Orienteering Operators

Climb365, Country Adventure, Go Higher, High Points, Holmescales Activity Centre, Lanehead Outdoor Centre, Pleasure in Leisure Ltd, River Deep Mountain High, Summitreks, Water Park, Windermere Outdoor Adventure

Technique

An orienteering course is marked in purple or red on a map using a triangle to indicate the start and a double circle to locate the finish. Circles are used to show the control points. A staggered start is often used, with competitors starting at one or two-minute intervals. Results are based on the time taken to complete the course, visiting all the controls in the correct order.

High levels of fitness and running speed are required to compete successfully at an elite level. Success is also heavily dependent on choosing the fastest route between controls. While controls are generally the same for the competitors in any particular category, the routes they choose may be very different. Competitors are often required to cross rough, undeveloped terrain where accurate navigation is essential.

Orienteering races usually offer a range of courses with varying physical and technical difficulty to appeal to competitors of differing abilities. Often courses are classified by age class, e.g., M35 for men 35 years of age and older. Sometimes several courses are available for each age class, e.g., W18L: women 18 years and younger long course, W70S: women over 70 short course, M21E: men's open elite etc.

Some countries, such as the United States or the United Kingdom, use color-coded courses at smaller races to define the difficulty of the courses. A "white" course, for instance, might be a short, easy course aimed at beginners whilst a "blue" course would be both technically and physically more demanding.

Recently some local orienteering clubs have begun to organize orienteering courses solely for fitness purposes. These may be permanent courses, and are used for practice and training. Maps of the courses are usually available publicly for a fee. Sometimes these are collected back after completing the course, and certainly so if the course is later intended also for competitive orienteering. All major competitive events should have completely new control points on the course, and the general area of the competition can be closed for competitors during the construction of the course.

Maps

Maps are specially created by orienteers and professional mapmakers. They are much more detailed than general-purpose topographic maps and are typically at scales of 1:15,000 or 1:10,000. Map symbols for the 1:15000 scale are standardized by the IOF (International specification for orienteering maps - ISOM), and designed to be readable by any competitor no matter his background or native tongue. Map symbols for the 1:10000 scale shall be a 150% enlargement of the symbols for the 1:15000 scale.

Control points are usually placed on distinct features, and clarified on a "control description sheet". They are marked in the terrain by white and orange (or white and red) flags, like that illustrated above. A competitor registers his or her visit by punching a "control card" with a needle punch, or using an electronic chip.

Equipment and Clothing

The basic equipment required for orienteering is usually listed as a compass, appropriate outdoor clothing and, in some countries, whistle. The whistle is for use in emergency situations. Competitive orienteers usually use specialized versions of this equipment, such as a "thumb compass". Competitors may also use a "punch-card holder" for hands-free orienteering. A modern variation on the punch card is electronic punching, where a small plastic 'punchcard', which straps to a competitor's finger, is inserted into a special, battery-operated station at the control point. The time at which the control was punched is recorded. Some electronic punching systems have stations that beep and/or flash a light to notify that the punch is OK. For important events there should be some kind of independent backup available in case of equipment failure.

Purpose-made lightweight nylon or lycra suits provide full body cover for racing in areas with undergrowth. Gaiters are also often worn. Lightweight studded (and often cleated) orienteering shoes are commonly used. People sometimes wear visors to keep rain, dust and twigs out of their eyes. GPS and other electronic navigation devices are not normally allowed.

Race Types

World Championship distances are Long (winning time of 70 - 80 minutes for women and 90 - 100 mins for men), Middle (30-35 mins), Sprint (10-12 mins) and Relay.

• Relay - Teams of competitors each run 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 (called forks) are used where runners on each leg of the race can have different course combinations. Additionally, the legs may be run in different order, so the general area of the event has competitors on totally different courses running perpendicularly to each other. Following a wrong fellow-competitor in such an event will be hazardous. To ensure fairness, the total of all the course combinations is always the same for each team.

• Score - Competitors visit as many controls as possible within a time limit. There is usually a mass start (rather than staggered), with a time limit. Controls may have different point values depending on difficulty and there is a point penalty for each minute late. The competitor with the most points is the winner. The large-scale, endurance-style version of a Score-O is known as a rogaine, competed by teams in events lasting (often) 24 hours. A very large area is used for competition, and the map scale is smaller. The format originated in Australia. The term ROGAINE is often said to stand for Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance; this is essentially a backronym, as the name actually originates from the names of Rod Gail and Neil Phillips, who were among Australian Rogaining's first participants.

• Sprint - Shorter events, often held in city parks and other more urban settings. Map scales are usually 1:5,000 or 1:4,000.

• Night - Competitors use a headlamp to navigate in the dark. Reflective control markers are often used. If a night event starts before dark, then 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 relay, both include night legs.

• String - Competitiors follow a string around a short course noting down things that they find on the way. Generally used by young children and people new to the sport who want to find out what it is like.