Frequently Asked Questions about Orienteering

1. What do the Terms in the Fixture List mean ?
Age Class	Age Classes are used at many of the larger events to allow competitors to be scored against their peer group in accordance with their gender and age. Classes are split into age bands which are :- up to 10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18, 19-20, 21-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64. 65-69 & 70-75. 75-80, 80+. National and Regional events usually have a range of colour coded course available with a set of age class / course combinations recommended. Often only the long options are given in pre-event information but there is a table of both short and long suggested colours. However everyone is free to enter whichever colour course they wish. For example: experienced 57 year old men would run an M55 Blue course as the long option or the Green course as the short .
BOF	British Orienteering Federation, the UK parent body for the sport, (a Federation of national associations, including the English Orienteering Assoc.). Also known as British Orienteering.
CATI	Come and Try It Event. Also called TryO. See "What are CATI’s and CC Events ?" below.
CC	Colour Coded Event. See "What are CATI’s and CC Events ?" below.
CD	Closing Date for entries to a regional event.
EAOA	East Anglian Orienteering Association, a forum for organising orienteering in the region. For list of Clubs click here.
EA League	An East Anglian seasonal competition . It is based on the results of a series of events, one from each club. To see the EA League Calendar click here. To see the EA League results, click here.
ESSOL	Essex & Suffolk Schools Orienteering League. To see data and results click here
EOD	Entry on the day.
Maps - Master	Competitor supplied with blank map. Copies his own course from a master-map.
- Preprinted	Competitor supplied with map having his own course overprinted. These are now normally provided - but check if the paper is waterproof or if you need to take a bag to protect the map in the wet. An A4 plastic bag is usually sufficient.
NSL	Norfolk Schools League.
Registered	All orienteering events are registered with BOF. The BOF registration fee includes an insurance premium which covers competitors and event officials against liability claims directly resulting from Event activities.
SI	Sportident electronic punching equipment. See "What is Sportident or SI Electronic Punching ?" below
String Course	Courses for the very young, with a string handrail.
SWEll	South and West Essex Local League.
Local Event	Standard orienteering term for an event offering a range of colour coded courses, suitable for beginners, intermediate and experienced orienteers. The larger events may allocate specific colours to age based classes to allow competitions such as EA League fixtures ( which awards trophies to age classes) to be scored.
Regional Event	Standard orienteering term for a high quality event aimed primarily at experienced orienteers though other participants will be welcome to select a course to suit their experience. There may be more colour coded courses than for a Local event so that the courses on offer correspond to various age classes ~ many fixtures will provide pre-entry facilities and allocate specific start times to competitors. This format will probably used for most Championship and Cup competitions that are held in East Anglia and other regions.
National Event	A more stringently organised event aimed at national and international competition. Courses will be age based in line with BOF guidlines.
2. What are CATI’s and CC Events?
CATI’s (also called TryO’s) are Local events specifically arranged to introduce newcomers to the sport. Help is always available for beginners. They are usually held at the beginning of the season (Sept). CC (Colour Coded) Events are the bread and butter Sunday competitions within the sport. They also provide courses and support for newcomers. Both types of event have a similar format, offering a range of courses designed to common standards of physical and technical difficulty used throughout UK orienteering. Each course standard is identified by a Colour Code which define the technical difficulty of the course. These standards ensure that you can attend similar events in the fixtures calendar confident that you will be able to do your usual type of course. At both types of event, entries from the general public are accepted on site on the day usually between 10am and midday. Competitors usually start between 10.30 and 12.30. Courses normally close at 14.30. If you are new to the sport it is better to aim for an early start to allow yourself plenty of time to complete the course. Events may use pre-printed or master- maps according to club style. Event fees in the region are in the range - seniors £3.50 -£4.50 juniors and students £1.00. - £1.50. Slightly higher fees (say +£2.00) are now usually charged for senior non-club members and also where Sportident electronic punching is in use. Not all colour-coded events offer a full range of courses or a string course. Check the event description.
3. How difficult are the Colour Coded Courses.
Beginners and the young - White 1 - 1.9k Controls sited on paths - Yellow 2 - 2.9k Controls sited on paths and other line features, e.g. fences and walls - Orange 2.5 - 3.5k Controls sited near paths & line features. Route choice options may be selected to cut corners across open land or forest in order to reduce run time spent out on the course. More experienced orienteers - The optimum route avoids paths and other line features. - Light Green 3 - 4k Less complex courses aimed at intermediate skills. The natural progression for experienced Orange course competitors wishing to try a more technical course. - Green 3.5 - 5k ) - Blue 5.5 - 7.5k ) For experienced orienteers. - Brown 8 - 12k ) - Black 10 - 14k ) Some events may offer long and short variants of the colour coded courses. The short courses will be planned to the same technical standard as the longer course and are aimed at those competitors who wish to maintain their technical challenge whilst covering a shorter distance.
4. How do Regional Events differ from Local events ?
Regional events provide courses for orienteers of all level of experience. Regional events are however the more serious competitive events; the format being used for most Championship and inter-club Cup competitions. Events are likely to provide a greater choice of colour-coded courses to suit an individuals competitive experience. The colour coded courses conform to national standards which prescribe appropriate difficulty and distance to each course. Regional events are likely to use pre-printed maps and usually require pre‑entry, though entry on the day is often possible until spare pre-printed maps run out, and usually for an extra fee. Most events provide for on-line pre-entry using one of several companies but also allow for postal pre-entry, using the BOF standard entry form found by clicking here. Enclose a cheque made out as directed in the event details and include one s.a.e. for the return of start information. Include a further s.a.e. if you want a paper copy of the results. (It is speedier and less work for everyone if you take the results from the event web site. (Click here to find EA Club websites.). Most Regional events also include, on an EOD basis, courses suitable for Junior family members who are not ready for competitive courses.
5. What is Sportident or SI Electronic Punching ?
Where electronic punching is not in use, competitors carry a paper-based Control Card marked out with a small square for all the controls. on the course. They punch the appropriate square using a unique punch hanging on the Control. This enables event officials to verify that each control has been visited, but not that the controls were visited in the correct sequence. Electronic punching replaces the Control Card with a small 'dibber', containing electronic memory, which normally attaches to one of your fingers. When you insert this device into the electronic controls in the forest, the dibber records in time sequence the control number and the time of punching. At the finish you transfer this data to the results computer, after you pass through the finish funnel and are handed a print-out containing your overall time and all intermediate times for each control. All clubs in the region now use electronic punching equipment for their main-stream fixtures. Manual punching is often used at TryO's and CATI's which are often held in popular locations where the controls may be subject to vandalism and theft. Occasional orienteers can hire dibber’s at EAOA events for a small fee. Regular orienteers may wish to purchase them, from the usual specialist orienteering kit & equipment distributors. (Click here to find Sportident website.). Throughout the sport there are two brands of electronic control equipment in use, Sportident and Emit. The equipment is not interchangeable. Sportident is close to being a national standard and is by far the most common. It is used in EA and adjacent regions.