.
The new style is dayglo yellow with "Orienteering" written on it. Follow
the arrows on the signs and they will lead you to the event.
Orienteering can either be a race, or a casual recreational activity, depending totally on your own attitude towards the event - and at typical events, you will find people of all inclinations and athletic abilities.
Orienteering is considered a competitive sport by some; the winners being the ones who've been to all the control points in the least amount of time, usually running the whole way. Competitions are held at all levels including the World Championships.
But, it's also considered a recreational activity by casual walkers. People come out alone, with friends, or with family, admiring the view and taking time to appreciate nature. It can be considered a walk with some mental challenge added.
There are usually several courses at each event, and they vary in difficulty. What differentiates them is the length of the course, and the placement of controls. So the course for experienced Orienteers might be 8-12km (4-6 miles) long, and finding the control markers would require advanced navigational techniques and an experienced pair of eyes reading the map. On the other hand, the course for beginners would only be about 2-3km (1-2 miles) long, and the controls would all be displayed prominently near paths. The other courses fall somewhere between.
There are variations of orienteering that are also popular, such as Ski-Orienteering (which takes place on cross country skis), relay competitions, and Night-O. You will sometimes find, especially at low-key club meets some of the less common variants, such as 'score orienteering' or map-memory.
Alternatively, you could contact a member of your local club who will be able to help get you started.
If you are mobile, then you will need directions for the event. There may be directions to the event in the fixtures list. Alternatively, you may be able to use what details are provided there to find the event on a road map.
Other sources of information are the newspapers and the telephone hotline.
Once you get close to the event, keep your eyes open for "Orienteering
Signs". There are two types of these signs. The old sign is a square divided
diagonally into red and white .
The new style is dayglo yellow with "Orienteering" written on it. Follow
the arrows on the signs and they will lead you to the event.
Once you have arrived and parked, look out for "Registration". This can be in a car or a tent. There will be a "REGISTRATION" sign or a list of courses and prices in front of it.
Choose a course from the list and ask to enter it. You can enter individually or in a group. You will normally receive 3 pieces of paper:
There will be another car for "Start Times". Queue up here and get a start time (you will need your control card). In Leinster, it is traditional to get a start time first and then to get ready. elsewhere, it's more normal to get a start time when you are nearly ready to start.
Once you are ready (changed into old clothes, filled in control card, got start time, copied down map corrections etc.) head to the start. This is usually signposted from near registartion and may be a few minutes walk away. If in doubt, ask!
When your start time is called, go up to the start official and hand
him your control card. He will keep the stub and hand back the rest.
Once
you have handed the stub to the start official, you must give the rest
of the control card to an official at the finish before you go home. You
must do this even if you do not finish your course. Otherwise someone could
spend hours looking for you.
If you are not sure what time it is or
when you should start then you can go straight to him when you arrive and
he will sort you out.
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Once you have been started, you should go to the master
maps and copy down your course. It will look something like the course
on the left. Make sure you copy down your course carefully from the
correct master map. If you mark a control in the wrong place, it will be
very difficult to find it. If you take down the wrong course then it may
not be suitable for you.
The course is made up of a triangle, several numbered circles and a double circle, all joined by lines. The triangle is the start, the circles are the controls and the double circle is the finish. The numbers and lines show the order in which you should find the controls. Don't worry that the map seems very complex. There is usually
a legend on the map to explain the colours and symbols. You will
get the hang of it after a while. Just remember that white and green
means forest, yellow is open land, black lines are usually tracks and roads.
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There is other, specialised, orienteering and running equipment that you will see other orienteers using (eg. studded shoes, compasses, light-weight clothing etc.). There is absolutely no need for you to get any of this unless you start orienteering regularly.
You may think that these courses seem very short (1 - 2 miles) but you should note that if you make a mistake you could end up going much further than that. If you find that the course you picked was too short then you can usually do a second at no extra cost.
The easiest place to meet up with club members is at an event. It's even easier if they are running the event. In this case just ask the person selling maps or giving you your start time. There is usually a person in charge of new members. They will give you all the information you need.
If you do join a club then it's a good idea to get to know other members of the club. Many clubs hold regular social evenings or training sessions. This is a very good way of meeting people in the club. By far the best way of meeting other club members is to help at club run events.
