The sport of orienteering, born in Scandinavia and
fondly referred to by enthusiasts as “the thinking
sport,” has attributes that make it an ideal sport for our
time. It requires minimal equipment, causes little harm
to the environment, can be done for pleasure or competition, and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Using a topographical map and a specially designed compass, the orienteer walks or runs a cross-country
course through woods and fields, navigating streams
and avoiding hills and rough terrain.
History
Orienteering was developed in 1895 in what was then
the Kingdom of Norway and Sweden as a military exercise. The first nonmilitary orienteering event is believed to have taken place near Bergen, Norway, in June
1896. Subsequent events were held in southern Norway
over the next few years. Orienteering was introduced to
Sweden by Sigge Stenberg, a Swedish engineer who
wrote about the sport after visiting Kristiania (now
Oslo) in about 1900. The first Swedish national orienteering event was held in 1902.
Orienteering was soon adopted by the Swedish
scouting movement as part of its outdoor training program. Ernst Killander (1882–1958), a Swedish scoutmaster and president of the Stockholm Sports Federation from 1917 to 1934, is considered the father of
orienteering. Its popularity in Scandinavia during the
1930s is credited with helping the Finns resist the Soviet invasion in 1939 and enabling Norwegian resistance fighters to escape to Sweden following the 1940
German invasion.
The first international competition was held in Norway in 1932 between Norway and Sweden. Beginning
in the 1930s, the sport—and competitions—spread
elsewhere in Europe.
The word “orienteering” was coined in 1946 by
Björn Kjellström (1910–1995), a former Swedish orienteering champion and lifelong promoter of the
sport. The International Orienteering Federation
(IOF) was formed in 1961 by Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
Bulgaria,West Germany, and East Germany. Orienteering now has about 800,000 participants in 50 nations.
Most participate in the traditional manner on foot;
ski- and bicycle-orienteering are recent additions to
the sport.
Rules and Play
The sport of orienteering consists of finding one’s way
to a designated point through unfamiliar terrain using
a detailed topographical map and a special compass.
Participants may walk or run, alone or in groups,
purely for the pleasure of finding their way through the
woods. In competition, orienteers may compete as individuals or on teams in various different events.
Course lengths range from 1 to 15 kilometers (0.6 to
9.3 miles), and variations in terrain determine the degree of difficulty. Today’s orienteering maps are fivecolor maps in the scale 1:15,000, or 1:10,000 in very detailed terrain. Even bigger scales are used for teaching
and introductory purposes.
The orienteering compass, developed in 1930, is actually a liquid-filled magnetic device that revolves on a
transparent base. The base also serves as a protractor
and contains various markings to assist with map
reading and to help determine location, direction, and
distance.
At competitive events, race officials set the course
in advance, marking checkpoints with orange-andwhite flags. Each competitor gets a map on which the
control points have also been marked. Competitors are
started at intervals of from two to five minutes. Using
map and compass, they find their way sequentially
from one checkpoint to the next in the shortest possible time.
Point-to-point orienteering is the sport’s classic
form and is used in regular competitions. The course
setter selects control points in the field and participants find their own routes from one control point to
the next. The goal is to find each of the control points
in the predetermined sequence and in the shortest possible time. The numerous variations on point-to point
orienteering include “Score-O,” in which competitors
locate the control points in any order with the objective
of finding as many as possible within a certain time;
“ROGAINE” (Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance), in which teams compete over a much larger area for anywhere from 6 to 24
hours using the Score-O format; and “Relay-O,”which is
designed for teams of three or four, each member of
which uses a different course.
Preset courses are another major type of orienteering event, mainly for beginners and children. In this
case, the course setter chooses the control points and
presets the routes for competitors to follow.
People with physical disabilities may compete in
“handicapped-O,” in which competitors may receive
help in moving along the preset course but must do
their own plotting to find the control points.
Map reading is the fundamental skill required, but
participants must also be able to compare features on a
topographical map with actual terrain features. The
compass is used to turn the map toward the north and
sometimes to take a bearing in a certain direction.
Whereas beginners normally use most of their time
for map interpretation and decision making, top-level
competitive orienteers expend a great deal of physical
effort. Their main challenge is to avoid making mistakes in map reading and compass use while running
quickly in uneven terrain.
At present, the IOF has 41 full member nations and
6 associate member states. In 1966 the first World Orienteering Championships (WOC) were held in Finland.
Orienteering has been a recognized Olympic sport
since 1949, but has never been on the program at the
Olympic Games.
Multiday events are becoming very popular. One of
the biggest orienteering events is the annual Swedish
five-dagars (five-day) event, which attracts up to
25,000 orienteers of all ages to participate in five competitions on consecutive days. Indeed, hundreds of orienteering events are organized around the world, most
of them for all age groups, both sexes, and different levels of competitiveness.
—ROLAND SEILER
Bibliography: Braggins, Anne. (1993) Trail Orienteering.
Doune, UK: Harveys. Palmer, Peter. (1994) Pathways to
Excellence—Orienteering. Doune, UK: Harveys.