Orienteering

Foot orienteering is an endurance sport which involves a huge mental element. There is no marked route – the orienteer must navigate with map and compass while running.

The map gives detailed information on the terrain such as hills, ground surface, obstacles etc. To be successful in foot orienteering, the athlete needs excellent map reading skills, absolute concentration and the ability to make quick decisions on the best route while running at high speed.

Orienteers run over rough ground, completely unprepared forest terrain or rough open hills – cross country in the true sense of the word. Therefore, considerable body strength and agility is needed. Fitness similar to that of a 3000m steeplechase or marathon runner is required.

There is a wide variety of orienteering events: individual competitions and relays, ultra-short park races and mountain marathon events. Night orienteering with the aid of a head lamp is also a popular form of orienteering.

Every year, the best foot orienteers in the world fight for the World Champion titles and the World Cup victory.

Foot orienteering became a recognised Olympic sport in 1977.

Equipment:

RACING SUIT: A lightweight, stretchy suit protects from undergrowth whilst allowing maximum freedom of movement even if it gets soaking wet.

SHOES: Light, strong shoes with non-slip soles allow sure grip on all types of ground – including mud and bare rock.

MAP: The map provided by the organiser shows the course with the control points which must be visited. The map is designed to give detailed information on the terrain – hills, ground surface, and features such as boulders or cliffs.

COMPASS: There is a wide variety of sophisticated compasses to choose from. Basically they can be divided into two main categories: base plate and thumb compasses.

CONTROL CARD: To prove that they have visited all control points in the right order, the orienteers have to punch their control card at each control using an electronic device.

IOF TV gathers all 10Mila viewers

When the prestigious 10Mila club relays are run on the weekend of May 3-4, everyone can follow the intense competitions on IOF TV. This year, all three commentary languages: English, Swedish and Finnish are gathered in o...

WMOC 2025 Forest Long Final – change of venue

A few weeks ago, disagreements arose between the organisers of WMOC 2025 and some of the owners of the “Rupit” area, which was to be used as the venue for the Forest Long distance Final race on the last day of WMOC 2025....

Future hosts for WTOC, SAOC and NAOC appointed

At its latest meeting, the IOF Council appointed a number of hosts for upcoming international and regional championships. USA was appointed to host the World Trail Orienteering Championships 2027 with the preliminary dat...