Orienteering: Embracing the outdoors - by David Goddard, AFOEM
Going outdoors stirs one’s senses – the smell of a wet forest, the soft outline of trees in light mist, a scatter of dewdrops on spiderwebs on a cool summer morning, blue wrens darting from bushes. After rain, normally dry gullies burble with water. In the afternoon, the golden sunlight forms long shadows and highlights in bright filigree the long hair of other runners. A little later, the dimming rays of the sinking sun light the high branches of the nearby trees in pink and cloak surrounding hills in gold. In winter, joy comes from a run through the generous golden balls of blooming wattle, or in rain, when diffused rays of the setting sun fill the western sky with wild orange. There is the quietness of a morning of heavy frost save for the crunch of footsteps. And months after a bushfire, wildflowers blaze in colour from the ash-rich soil. So much beauty.
Orienteering takes me outdoors. It is an amateur sport where competitors visit a series of control sites in a forest, a park or a school campus using a detailed map for navigation. Successful competitors concentrate well and make quick decisions while moving as fast as they can. Most events are for people who go solo on foot; some events are for mountain-bike riders. Standard forest events are set for course durations for around an hour; sprint events on campuses of schools and universities take 15 to 20 minutes. Male and female participants span many ages – from middle primary school to over 80 years, so championship events have a range of age-classes. Nearly all events are public – open to all – but many require pre-entry via the State orienteering association’s website.
Forest events are set in varied terrains, ranging in complexity of navigation. The most challenging terrains include the deeply eroded areas of past goldmining, hillsides strewn with huge granite boulders and forested sand dunes. Because runners leave the tracks, areas where undergrowth is thick are generally avoided.
The maps are made painstakingly by orienteers. A typical scale on forest maps for foot orienteering is 1:10,000, i.e., 1cm represents 100 metres. Sprint maps have a larger scale, e.g., 1:4000. The maps depict the shape of the ground using contour lines, and offer features as small as pits, mounds, thickets, minor tracks, and individual large rocks.
The challenge is to get efficiently between one control site and the next, guided mainly by the shape of the ground. In flat areas, a direct route is often quickest; however, if the map indicates that a direct route involves steep climbs or thick vegetation, then some deviation helps. The way between control sites is called a ‘leg’. Control sites are not shown as dots on an orienteering map. Instead, they form the centre of a circle of 30 metres radius. If a leg is, say, 500 metres, then planning it requires first finding on the map near the circle an identifiable point on the terrain from which the orienteer may ‘attack’ (reliably find) the control site, then planning a route to reach that point from which the ‘attack’ may be launched.
Navigation through a forest requires the ability to match features shown on a map with what you see around, to select from the many map features those that will guide your route, and to find ways to cope when you find, through haste or lack of care, that you’ve strayed to a place which does not match what you expect to see on your map. A novice can quickly develop sufficient skills when guided by an expert, but to become reliably efficient in all types of terrain takes years of participation and reflection. It’s a sport where you keep learning and refining what you do – in competing, obviously, but also in making maps, setting courses and use of technology at events.
In a forest event, the control itself is a metal stand about 70cm high, near the top of which sits a flag held by a frame so that it is readily visible from all directions. Surmounting the stand is a small computer, a little larger than a cigarette packet. Each competitor wears on a finger a smart card which interacts and registers with the small computer as the competitor passes. When a competitor finishes the course, he or she downloads the smart card and obtains a print-out of the time taken for each leg. This can foster discussion with others. High quality events within a single state will commonly attract between 100 to 200 competitors. National events typically attract competitors from New Zealand and numbers attending can be 800 to 1000.
Maps are stored electronically then, for use, most are printed on waterproof paper and depict magnetic north. The essence of the sport is map-reading, but a compass can help, especially when the day is overcast. GPS is not used for navigation but can serve to reveal one’s route after completion of a course, sometimes embarrassingly. Orienteering is often humbling. Quick route decisions made on the run can, when thought about afterwards, bring self-reflective enquiry: “How on Earth could I have been so stupid?”
In most Australian states and New Zealand, events are run by orienteering clubs. Each event requires an organiser, a course designer and a person who checks the fairness and quality of the courses set for that event. The organisers and course designers are competitors on other days – in this sport, officials and competitors are the same people.
For an event, a forest or other location with an existing map is selected. Permission is sought from the landowner or relevant government authority and, increasingly, from first nation traditional owners. The course designer will plan control sites then visit the area to check the sites and whether the map needs updating because of, say, the appearance of new tracks or changes to vegetation since the area was last used. Typically, on the day before the event, the organiser transports tents, bunting, start and finish flags, water barrels and dozens of other items to the forest where all are arrayed. On the day, individual club members’ abilities are harnessed, orchestrated, and blended with good humour to bring a sense of companionship and achievement at the end of the day. The opportunity to partake in well-run minor projects is satisfying.
Events run despite bad weather. Two things cause cancellation – a declared fire ban and a fall of snow because it is dangerous to run if you can’t see the ground, and tree limbs laden with snow can fall. Electrical storms are dangerous but usually soon pass.
Most people get around well. Occasionally there is a sprained ankle or a scratch from a jagged branch. Seeing snakes during an event is very rare, and mineshafts are mapped.
Cardiorespiratory limitations at age 76 mean that now my pace around a course barely exceeds a brisk walk. But it’s something that both my wife, Ruth, and I enjoy. We just love “being out there”.