Types of orienteering

The original format for orienteering events.. Navigating through woodland on a 1:7,500 - 1:15,000 orienteering map. Courses are graded by colour yellow (easy, for newcomers and children) through to black (long and technical). If you are unsure what course to enter just ask someone in the club. Published course distances are usually 'straight-line' so expect to run further is you have to navigate around obstructions - often 10-25% further.

Orienteering in town and city centres with lots of route choice. Very detailed maps showing alley-ways, underpasses, steps and multilevel sections. The maps are usually 1:4,000 or 1:5,000 scale. These are a great way to explore towns and cities around the UK and beyond. Courses are usually graded by Age Class. Published course distances are usually the optimum distance which would usualy be 33-50% longer than the straight line shown on the map. Final instructions for course would say whether the distances are optimum of straight-line.

Street-O is another format of Urban events.
Street-O events use simplified maps usually from Open Orienteering Map at a scale of 1:10,000. They are a good introduction to running whilst reading a map and a great way to socialise with other members of the club. There are some small Street-O leagues that you can participate in with the events usually taking place in winter and requiring the use of a head torch to aid navigation.

Open parks, school grounds and gardens. Friendly terrain for beginners and a popular setting for local races and junior events. Good areas to use for informal training sessions for both experienced orienteers and those new to the sport.

Open hill and fell. Big route choices, contour-reading is everything, and the weather is part of the challenge. Areas can vary from very fast runnable grassland through to rough, deeply contoured former mine and quarry workings.. Published course distances are usually 'straight-line' so expect to run further is you have to navigate around obstructions - often 10-15% further.

Ride between controls on tracks and bridleways. The map shows track width and surface quality instead of off-track detail — route choice and pacing matter as much as map reading.

Mountain marathon orienteering events are usually in moorland / forest environments with two or more days of challenging orienteering often with a remote overnight camp. The first mountain marathon was the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon(KIMM) which is now the Original Mountain Marathon(OMM) which takes place at the end of October each year. PFO have been involved as part of the organising team since the event was inaugurated in 1968.

A colour coded course – where you must complete your course in set number order. There are different courses available which will vary in difficulty and distance, to suit all ages, fitness levels and experience. The shortest course for juniors/family we usually have is a ‘Yellow’, beginner adults (with checkpoints just off paths and prominent features) ‘Orange - short’ or ‘Red’ – long. Colours such as ‘Green’, ‘Blue’ and ‘Brown’ take you further off the beaten track to find the checkpoints and/or are longer distance.

these events have a time-limit, for example one hour, and you must find as many checkpoints (controls ) as you can in that time. These may vary in points and, it may be that you will not be able to get around them all in the time limit. It’s a game of tactics to which ones you will realistically be able to visit. If you’re late back, you lose points!

Two PFO specific variants on score courses for very small parks with a customised version of SITiming to produce instant results. Through June, we hold our Snook O series. The format for these events is 'Snook O'. Based on the game of Snooker - you get a map with checkpoints that are either a 'Red' or a 'Colour'. Just like you would do in the game of snooker - 'visit' a red checkpoint to score 1 point, then visit any of the colour checkpoints to bag those - i.e. Pink will get you 6 points. You have 45 minutes to build up as big a break as you can in the time limit. Ratchet score events have controls in different bands and you can't go back down a 'level' once you have visited a higher value one. A very good way to make you run round a small park 3 times !

Contact the Secretary if your club would like more information about the Snook-O or Ratchet-score software.

we hold a range of Urban Score events throughout the year. These are mass start events (everybody starts at the same time), with full SI timing, using a detailed urban map (showing buildings and minute street detail). There are 20 checkpoints to try and visit in the 45 minute time-limit

These are usually held from a social base and use a simplified open orienteering map. You can choose between 60 or 75 minutes, and the checkpoints are located on street furniture. In addition to the map, you have an answer sheet which you use to note down the correct answer when you get to the checkpoint, i.e. #12 – LP _ This would mean that the #12 checkpoint was a lamppost, and you need to write down the number it has on it, ‘7’. For every correct checkpoint you would receive the points on offer. Points vary from 10 points to 60 points depending on the distance or difficulty in visiting the checkpoint.

Short, fast urban or parkland racing at 1:4,000 scale. Designed to be flat-out. There are often heats followed by a final. Controls often close together with lots of changes in direction to add to the excitement.

Orienteering after dark. A head torch is essential. The course tend to be slightly easier than a daytime event, but still remain very challenging. There are a number of well established night leagues that people can take part in.