Courses at Events

Most Orienteering events provide courses for all levels of experience, physical ability and technical difficulty

Competitions for Orienteering on foot are organised in various formats:

Cross Country: The most common form of competition where competitors make their way from control to control in a set order, but selecting their own route as they go. The various ways in which courses are graded are detailed below.

Score: A points value is allocated to each control site. Within a given time (typically 60 minutes) a competitor tries to accumulate as many points as possible by visiting controls in any order. Late return to the finish incurs penalty points deducted from the score.

Relay: Teams (of typically 3 or sometimes 4 runners) compete against each other for fastest team time. The first runner of a team will complete a course and return to the finish/start to release the second runner to do a course and so on.

CROSS COUNTRY COURSES:

Colour Coded:

The following table shows the guidelines to which course planners work.

Colour Length Difficulty Expected range of finish times
White 1.0 - 1.9 km.
1
 15 - 35 mins.
Yellow 1.5 - 2.9 km.
2
 25 - 45 mins.
Orange 2.5 - 3.5 km.
3
 35 - 60 mins.
Long Orange 5.0 - 7.0 km.
3
 #
Light Green 3.0 - 4.0 km.
4
 35 - 60 mins.
Short Green 3.0 - 4.0 km.
5
 #
Green 3.5 - 5.0 km.
5
 45 - 75 mins.
Short Blue 4.5 - 6.5 km.
5
 #
Blue 5.5 - 7.5 km.
5
 55 - 90 mins.
Short Brown 7.0 - 10.0 km.
5
 #
Brown 8.0 - 12.0 km.
5
 65 - 105 mins.
Black 10.0 - 14.0 km.
5
 75 - 120 mins.

# Newly designated course. Guideline Times awaited.

The following table is an edited version of the technical difficulty guidelines for the information of intending competitors.

Planners should consult the full table in the current edition of Rules and Guidelines.

Difficulty
Routes, Extent of Choice and Location of Control Sites
1
  • Route along tracks/paths. No choice.
  • Control placed at every decision point.
  • Controls on paths, tracks - junctions, crossings & bends or features on paths (bridges, gates etc.)
2
  • Route along obvious line features,without route choice.
  • Controls fairly close together on a line feature being followed.or on obvious other features close to the line feature with the kite visible therefrom.
  • No more than two decision points between each control..
3
  • Control can be on any line feature.
  • Controls can also be on prominent point or contour features easily found from an attack point on a line feature, and with a collecting feature close behind.
  • Simple route choices.
4
  • Controls on any feature not requiring map reading through complex contour detail and with a collecting feature behind.
  • Significant route choices.
5
  • Controls on any feature, particularly needing careful map reading to locate. Kite must not be hidden and relocating features should be relatively near.
  • Significant route choices and varied distances between controls.
  • Require regular changes in technique.

 

Regional Event Courses:

For details of current events click here or ring NEOA answer phone 01670-736242
during the week before the event.



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