Orienteering —-fun and skill
Orienteering, or “cunning running,” combines a yachtie’s navigation skills with a hunter’s “feel” for the bush and an ability to cross difficult terrain at a fast pace. One of the country’s youngest sports, it is an odd mixture of cross-coun-try running and map reading which can be enjoyed either as an individual pursuit, or as a family activity. Unlike many sports, taking it up doesn’t mean an expensive buying trip, to the nearest sports shop. You need a pair of suitable shoes — jogging ones with knobbly rubber soles are ideal, but an old pair of tennis shoes will do. Old clothes such as shorts and a T-shirt can be worn.
A compass, waterproof pen, whistle for emergencies, and a map for each event completes an orienteering kit. Clubs often hire these items at week-end events. The sport is ’in practice
quite simple. Competitors start' the course at threeminute intervals in a race against the clock. The task is to navigate a route between isolated control points — red and white discs hung on trees —which are set up within the area of competition. In most events the runnet must visit controls in the correct sequence and attached to each is a device for stamping an ideutifying mark to record a competitor’s visit. A thinking sport, the activity calls for chessboard decisions on the ne: move to make in finding the elusive discs. The runner must determine the quickest route between two points on the
map, making snap decisions on whether to follow winding bush tracks or plunge straight through the bush to take the fastest line between points “A” and “B.” Orienteering, which originated in the pine forests of Scandanavia, was first introduced to New Zealand in 1969 by an English runner, Gordon Pirie, a silver medallist in the 1956 Olympic Games 5000 metres. Since then the sport has grown rapidly. Therg are now 14 clubs scattered throughout the country, in all the main centres and in smaller towns and cities like Hastings, Palmerston North and Tokoroa. "The clubs have roughly
doubled their membership every year, says Colin Abbott, the Council for Recreation and Sport s outdoor recreation adviser, “At least 2000 people regularly compete in club events and many more join in week-end events on a casual basis. People are realising, he says, the huge potential in orienteering as a family recreation that mum, dad, and the kids can take part in. There are not many outdoor sports. That everyone can do. Assuming you can walk, age is no barrier, Courses cater for people of all ages and abilities, with runs graded /from “A” to “C”. and novice events as well.
A big advantage of the sport is that events are usually run; on Sundays so there is no clash with people’s Saturday sport or other leisure activities. In fact, Golin Abbott says orienteering complements most- sports by offering an enjoyable way to get fit in the company of family and friends. For those who are comp e t i t i o n-minded, , orienteering provides plenty of scope. The national championships, held in Auckland last Labour week-end’ near Waiuku State Forest attracted 240 entrants.: ' . :■ '' Clubs also?, have an “Orienteer , of ' the Year” award which goes to the
competitor who has scored the best’ times in a series of events as opposed to most competitions, where the winner is the person who turns in the fastest times on the day. . The next big event oh the orienteers’ competition calendar is the selection of a team to attend the trans-Tasman orienteering championships and the Pan-Pacific championships to be held in Austra'/i -next April. New Zealand has competed in world championships and done reasonably well, according to a former international Frank Smith. A men’s and women’s team competed in the last championships held in Finland in 1979. ;
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Press, 4 January 1980, Page 8
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639Orienteering—-fun and skill Press, 4 January 1980, Page 8
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