HOW TO ENTER AN ORIENTEERING EVENT

Choosing a course

The most common colour coded courses are white, yellow, orange, red, light green, green, blue and brown.

Of these, the first four - white, yellow, orange and red - are of an easier navigational standard and are suitable for newcomers to orienteering.

The light green course is of an intermediate navigational standard, and is intended to be a sort of "stepping stone" between the easy courses and the hard courses.

The last three - green, blue and brown - are of a hard navigational standard and are suitable for experienced orienteers.

Please don't tackle a green, blue or brown course until you've had a few goes at the easier courses.  It takes a bit of practice to read the very detailed orienteering maps and to navigate effectively on the move.  If you jump in at the deep end then you'll spend too much time standing around trying to work out where you are and/or where the next control is.  This won't be much fun, and you'll get an unnecessarily negative view of what really can be a fantastic sport.   If you are a good runner and want a decent running challenge then look out for purple courses.  They're planned to be long enough give you a good run out, but with relatively straightforward navigation.

The white course is very short and has very easy navigation.   It is suitable for young children with no experience of orienteering and for adults who just want a 15 - 20 minute walk round tracks and paths.

The yellow course is short and navigationally easy.  It is suitable for young children with a basic understanding of how to use a map and compass.  Adults should be able to jog round a yellow course in about 15 - 20 minutes or walk round in about 30 - 40 minutes.

The orange course is a bit longer than a yellow.  Its navigation is slightly harder, but still basically straightforward.  It's suitable for children who have mastered yellow courses and for adult beginners who want a relatively short time out in the forest.   Adults with a basic understanding of how to use a map and compass should be able to jog round an orange course in 25 - 35 minutes or walk round in about an hour.

The red course is a bit longer than an orange, and of the same navigational difficulty.  It's suitable for adult newcomers who are happy to be out in the forest for between an hour and an hour and a half.  If you don't make too many navigational mistakes you should be able to run round a red course in about 45 - 60 minutes.   If you jog and walk round you'll probably take about an hour and a half.

When it is offered, the purple course is intended for good runners with basic navigation skills.  It is longer than a red course, but of the same navigational difficulty.  Someone who runs at 7-minute mile pace on roads and who avoids making any navigational errors might get round a purple course in 45 - 50 minutes.  In practice most runners will probably take between an hour and an hour and a half.

For a table summarising the colour coded courses click here.

Go back to the main About Orienteering page.