Information For Beginners
From Deeside Orienteering Club
Types of Orienteering
Orienteering can take place in many
forms and shapes:
and there is even a form, called
Trail-O, designed to
enable the physically disabled to compete equally against the able bodied.
Foot-O
In Britain, the most common form of orienteering is on
foot. However, within
this one discipline, there are a variety of types of event that you can
participate in:
- Cross-country - the most common type
- Here the aim is to find the controls in a set order. Each entrant is
allocated a separate start time. The entrant is timed at the start and
again at the finish. The person who completes the course in the
shortest time wins.
- Relay
- This is a version of 'cross-country' orienteering for teams of 3.
However, in this form, all the teams start at the same time. When the
first runner gets back, the second starts and so on. Each runner in
the team has a different course, and the different teams do these
courses in different orders, so not everyone is looking for the same
controls. The first team to finish wins.
- Score
- Here the aim is to find as many controls in a set time. Some controls may
be worth more points, because they are further away or are harder
to find. Points are deducted if you are late back. The person with
the most points wins.
- Sprint
- This is a version of 'cross-country' orienteering over very short
distances. It is a relay for one person, in that everyone starts
together, but does different loops of their course in different
orders. It is fast and exciting for competitors and spectators alike.
- Night
- This is 'cross-country' orienteering at night. Competitors carry torches
to help them see, but otherwise it is exactly like 'cross-country'
orienteering.
'Cross-Country' Orienteering
'Cross-country' orienteering is further split into different categories,
ranging from the informal to international competitions. The 2 most common
forms are described below. As well as colour coded events and badge events,
you are also likely to come across National Events, which are like badge
events, but more prestigious and held on the best areas in the country.
Colour Coded Events
At the informal end are
colour coded
events which provide a good intoduction to cross-country orienteering. At
these events, the different
courses
on offer are described by colours which represent their length and difficulty.
White is the easiest and black the hardest. OUOC (Oxford University
Orienteering Club) provide an illustrated guide to
what
happens at a colour coded event.
Badge Events
When you get more competitive
Badge events
can offer competition against orienteers from all over the country. At these
events, which usually have to be entered in advance, the courses on offer are
described by 'age classes'. There are seperate courses for men and women,
and for different ages (split into five year bands for adults and two years
bands for children). There are also long and short versions of each course.
This allows the organisers to provide courses which are suitable for
different levels of fitness and navigational skills.
Permanent Courses
If you want to try orienteering in your own time, rather than at an organised
event, then
permanent courses are
for you. There are many courses in Deeside's area.
Maps, Compasses and Control Descriptions
Maps
For all forms of orienteering, one must be able to read a
map.
The maps used for orienteering events are specially produced and are at a much
larger scale than most maps and rather more detailed. It also uses its own
symbols
for features such as boulders, fences, crags etc. These are all depicted on
the map's
legend.
Compasses
As well as being able to read a map, it is useful (and in fact necessary for
the harder courses) to be able to
use a compass. This isn't
too hard a skill to learn. It helps that orienteering maps have magnetic
north marked on them, and that you never have to convert from a bearing on a
map, to how many degrees east or west it is.
In orienteering it is general
practice to keep the map oriented so that the North line on the map and the
north pointer on the compass line up, then the map is pointing in the direction
you are going - this is known as 'setting the map'.
By setting the line on the base plate of an orienteering compass parallel to the
direction you want to go in, turning the capsule so that the North/South line
of the capsule lines up with the North lines on the map, then 'settng the map' you can then ensure that
you are going in the direction you want.
Control Descriptions
Orienteering is all about finding controls. These are marked on the map you
use to navigate between them (the control is at the centre of a small cirle
drawn on the map). To help you find them, you are given a piece of paper on
which are listed descriptions of each control; the number the control is
labelled with on the ground (e.g. 224), what feature (e.g. a crag) it is on,
and where (e.g. at the top) on the feature the
control flag and punch(es) are.
For colour coded events and for young (under 13) children at badge events,
these will be in english (or whatever the local language is). e.g.:
1. 224 Clearing, West side
The above example says that it's the first control on the course, that the
control flag will have the number 224 on it & that you will find the control
on the west side of a clearing.
For badge events (and national events) older children and adults will be
given
control description
sheets which give the information about where the control is in symbols.
This is confusing at first, but once you get used to it, it's actually faster
and easier this way. It's also very useful at events abroad where you don't
speak the language.
N.B. In America, 'control description sheets' are called
'Clue
sheets'.
Control Cards and punching
To keep a record of the controls you have visited you have a control card with
numbered boxes - to correspond to the the sequence of controls on your course.
At a control you will find one or more
pin punches which will make a pattern of holes in the box in your card.
The pattern made will be different for each control.
Electronic punching
A recent development has been the introduction of
electronic punching where each
competitor carries a small unit which they insert into a unit at the control.
This records their time at the control on a chip in their unit, and at the finish
the times can be dowloaded to a 'base station' which will give the 'split times'
between controls as well as the overall time taken for the course.
There are two systems currently in use: Emit and SportIdent. In Britain, for
badge events, it is mainly the SportIdent system which is in use. Emit is used
for International events - World Cup and World Championships.
