WHAT IS ORIENTEERING ALL ABOUT?

Well….. the basic idea is to navigate your way around a course, most often in the woods, but also in towns, parks and open rugged countryside, using a specially drawn map which shows features such as streams, fences, boulders and crags. You have to start at the Start, finish at the Finish and visit a series of control points along the way, but it’s entirely up to you how you get from point to point and whether you run as fast as you can, or have a gentle stroll and enjoy the outdoors.

How can I give it a go?

The easiest way is to come along to any of our events. Newcomers are welcome at all of our events, and there’ll be someone available to help you get started. If you want to try it out in your own time, you can visit one of our Permanent Orienteering Courses across the county.

Where do events take place?

We hold events all over North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. The areas vary from vast Parkhall Country Park, to the open parks of Stoke-on-Trent, to the streets of the towns of Newcastle, Staffs Moorlands and Stoke-on-Trent.

What to bring?

Dress as if you were going for a cross country run. Usually orienteers wear long trousers and gaiters though to counter brambles:

• Trainers or lightweight boots and tracksuit bottoms or similar that you don’t mind getting a bit muddy
• A compass if you have one for orientating the map. Don’t worry if you don’t: it isn’t essential on most courses
• A drink/snack for afterwards
• Around £5 to pay for your entry. 

What to expect at your first event….

Having parked, go to the registration tent to register. You’ll be asked to register with your name plus some other details and which course you want to try. If you dont have a dibber (the electronic device which you carry round with you to show you have been to a control) then you can hire one off us. Don’t be afraid to ask advice about which course is the best for you. To begin with try the Easy or Moderate courses as they have the easiest navigation. Easy is suitable for children and beginner adults, while moderate is perfect for confident adult beginners. There is absolutely nothing to stop you doing more than one course at a local event. So if you come along and do an Easy course and decide it wasnt enough of a challenge then by all means register for another harder course. After you've registered you’ll be told where the start is and at our local events you can usually start in your own time. So you can go back to your car, get all your kit ready and then go to the start. The volunteers running the start will ask what course you are on and when you are ready to start you can. To start you will dib the start which is when your time officially begins and you will either be handed a map or told which map to pick up. 

The map

The map will look a little strange at first with colours and symbols but you should be able to recognise the linear features such as tracks, paths, fences and streams. There will be a legend printed down the side of the map to explain the other features but for beginners courses you’ll be using linear features so make sure you know what a track, path, stream, fence and a wall look like and forget about the rest for the time being. The other thing you should note about your map is the scale – most of our events use 1:5000 scale maps to get the necessary detail in. That means that 1cm on the map represents 50m on the ground. Other map scales which we may use are 1:7500 (1cm = 75m) and occasionally for larger areas a 1:10,000 (1cm = 100m)

• The control descriptions…. will show a list of controls and unless you are on a score course you must visit them in that order. Control sites are marked by orange and white “kites” to make them easier to spot at a distance. Each control on the list will have a number or letter code next to it. When you actually reach that control, it will have a code on the box attached to it so you can check whether you’ve got the right one. The list also gives a brief description of the feature that you’re looking for, e.g. path/stream junction, fence bend, to help you home in on it once you’re in the right area on the map. Sometimes the descriptions are written in plain English, but at some events, they are in the form of a pictorial code. Even experienced orienteers sometimes dont know all the codes but all the common ones should be learnt. The full list of pictorial codes can be viewed on the IOF website or by googling. 
• The dibber…. is the means by which you prove you have visited every control site. It is a small piece of plastic and should be attached to your finger using the strap. Every time you get to a control, including the Start and Finish, place the dibber into the hole on the electronic unit on top of the control. The control unit will emit a sound (a beep) which confirms to you that you have properly "dibbed" the control. Then its off to the next one. Air dibbers (also known as SIAC) are a relatively recent invention and only require the runner to be in the vicinity of the control box (within about 1-2 metres). These can be bought although as a club we only have the normal dibbers available for hire.
• Before the Start... you will have to clear any previous course held in your dibber at the Clear station. Again, don’t be afraid to ask for help on the use of these – there is always someone around to help.
• Starts…. generally you can start whenever you like after you have registered and got your dibber. However, there will be a last start cutoff time and also a time when all courses close, as obviously the people organising would like to get home sometime the same day! If you want you can leave your car keys at registration before setting off.
• Finish…. once you’ve punched the Finish control, go to the download point (often the same place as registration) and hand in your dibber to be downloaded. You will be given your time and results on a slip of paper which shows how long it took you between each control. IMPORTANT – Even if you don’t finish your course, you must still go to download to hand in your dibber – this is the only method we have of knowing that you’re back safe and sound.

What is a Colour Coded Course?

Most POTOC local events offer 4 courses : Easy, Moderate, Short Hard and Long Hard. At higher level events however courses are denoted by a colour. Usually the colours run from White to Brown.

There are 2 elements to consider when thinking about the difficulty of an orienteering course: its length and how hard the navigation is. Easy navigation is defined in orienteering as technical difficulty 1 (TD1). At TD1 all controls are on paths and at every decision point, for example a path junction, there will be a control. Most people start out at this level to get used to map reading. The hardest technical difficulty is TD5. Here is a list of the typical range of colour coded courses and their technical difficulties:

• White TD1 - Easy navigation, all controls on paths, a control at every decision point.
• Yellow TD2 - Easy navigation, all controls on paths, some decisions to be made about which path to take.
• Orange TD3 - Slightly harder navigation, controls may be just off a path or line feature on the map
• Light Green TD4 - Controls may be some way off a path and some interpretation of contours may be necessary
• TD5 - all other courses from Short Green to Brown. 

An orienteering course at the hardest technical difficulty will test a competitor by requiring them to run off paths, through a forest or across open moorland with no line features to guide them. It may require the competitor to take compass bearings and to interpret contours and other features on the map to succesfully find control sites. The difference between a Short Green and Brown course is therefore only in its length.