SUIT YOURSELF MAGAZINE ONLINE

Orienteering

Boxing Day is traditionally a day of great sport. There’s lots of footy on the telly and fed up with entertaining grandma all day yesterday, any excuse to get out of the house is leapt upon. In the Whittle household, every Boxing Day we go orienteering.

In its simplest form, orienteering is the use of navigational skills to collect points against the clock. Held in unfamiliar terrain, be it rural or urban, the individual is given a map of the area which indicates where various control points, which have been planted at random spots across the map, can be found. Basically, the more control points (indicated by their white and orange triangle logo) you navigate your way to and collect stamps from, the more points you get. It’s all against the clock too, so the faster you can collect stamps the better. It’s near impossible visit every control point on the map without incurring a severe time penalty and so the real skill and fun involved is determining which ones you think you can find and visit in the given time.

Competitors may use whatever route across the map they interpret as best for them.
Orienteering requires both intelligence and stamina to cover the course in the most efficient manner and although it can get very competitive at the higher levels, many orienteers consider the satisfactory completion of a course to be a sufficient challenge.

Orienteering originated as a training exercise in land navigation for military officers in Sweden in the mid-19th century but has developed into a popular sport around the world with many variations, of which the most popular remains ‘foot’ orienteering. Every year a world championship is held and to date, there are over 70 national orienteering federations. Orienteering remains most popular in Sweden though where the two oldest recurring orienteering meets regularly attract around 15,000 competitors!

Bristol Orienteering Klub (BOK) is one of the largest and most successful orienteering clubs in the UK, drawing members from Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North Somerset. They organise local orienteering events and new members are always welcome but if you don’t fancy jumping head-first into a competitive event, why not sample one of the permanent local courses at Ashton Court, Blaise Castle and Bradley Stoke?

The sport is fantastic fun and a great way to burn off that third portion of Christmas stuffing. Christmas time meets always have a festive feel too with cookies, mulled wine and extra, novelty points available like collecting balloons as you go around the course. BOK’s 2008 Christmas Novelty Event is being held at Three Brooks, Bradley Stoke on the 21st December. Can’t wait!