Orienteering Courses

Most orienteering courses are of the point-to-point variety, with a start, a series of controls to be visited in a designated order, and a finish. Usually the orienteer does not see the map and the course until after starting. However, at small local events the map may be familiar and orienteers may be allowed to copy their courses from a master map before starting. There are usually several courses available at an event, ranging from yellow (a short beginner's course) through orange, red, green, and blue to brown (a long, technically and physically difficult course).

This is an example of a beginner's course. It has five controls which must be visited in the order in which they are connected and numbered - though the orienteer is not constrained to following the lines (it's easier to go out of your way a bit and use a track etc.). With the course comes a description sheet, describing the exact location of the control flag within the circle drawn on the map.

The description sheet for this course is:

YELLOW 3.5km 75m climb
Start		Corner of field
1	DV	Path Junction
2	AE	Stream Junction
3	LK	SW Corner of Veg. Change
4	TJ	SW Side of knoll
5	OP	Reentrant
Navigate 350m to Finish

The description sheet defines:

The number of the controls (as shown on the map)
The control code (usually two letters or numbers) that will be attached to the flag that is at the correct location
A description of the control feature, including (where appropriate) the part of the feature where the flag is hung

Since verbal descriptions can be somewhat variable as well as specific to the language of the event organisers, experienced orienteers tend to use a system of symbols to define the descriptions. These description symbols are related to the map symbols and the symbol system is well worth learning once an orienteer progresses beyond the beginner stage, as they are commonly used at national events.

These pages were last modified Jul '99 by Conor Creedon.
Comments and suggestions to c.creedon@student.ucc.ie