Technical

This page will feature O-technique, skills and training techniques.


 Attack Points
Attack points are very important on any leg - they are the large feature you navigate to using rough technique before starting into fine orienteering. For example, you might use a large vegetation boundary, a path junction, or a hill top as your attack point before going on to find a knoll or a boulder.

On the leg above, 4-5, a possible route would be to come up to the path, follow it West until the vegetation boundary, which you use as your attack point. Then move into the forest and follow the boundary to the control site.

On this leg (North-South), use the hill as an attack point - aim for the hilltop, then once you are close you will see the ruined wall, which can be followed into the control, on a boulder.

Aiming for a clear attack point means that on every leg, you know exactly what you are doing - you don't just run blindly and hope, but you navigate to a certain point on your route. On a longer leg, multiple attack points are useful - you pick them up on your way along the leg, making sure you know where you are.

Aiming Off
Aiming off is an important skill in orienteering, especially when crossing blocks of forests. If you know a control is beside a wall, you know you need to run to the wall, then along it to reach the control. However, it is unlikely you will hit the right place exactly, so by aiming off to one side, say to the East, you know you will need to run West along the wall to reach the control.

In the leg above, the route following the pink line allows the runner to know exactly which way to go to get to the control, once he reaches the wall. Work out the best route for this leg:

Aim off to the North, then follow the path down to the control.

 

So try using aiming off next time you find a leg like this on a course. (it could be very useful at Somerset Forest for NICS 3 of 2014, which has lots of open, flat forest between long, straight paths.

Following a Handrail
As you progress up the courses, the amount of running on paths decreases steadily, so while a white or yellow course is only along paths, a good green,blue or brown course may not follow paths at all. To prepare you to start moving away from paths and tracks, you need to start looking at other line features.
Line features are those that follow an unbroken line, as opposed to point features, like rocks and knolls, and contour features, in the ground itself. They include paths, rides, walls, fences and earth banks.


Try planning your route for this short course below, remembering to use line features other than paths.

 The route drawn below shows how line features can lead you into the control. On the 2nd leg, you come off the path, knowing that you will hit the earth wall, and if you turn left you will reach the ruin where the control is. Likewise, on the 3rd leg, following the ruined wall will bring you to the control. 

White and Yellow course will always follow paths. Orange courses start to leave the paths and cross open forest, but there is always a line feature most of the way, like leg 3 above. Leg 2 might be found on a light green course, where you have to run across open forest before reaching the next line feature.

Distance Judgement and Scale
When Orienteering, it is very important to be able to judge how far you have run. For example, when if you are running along a path and there is a control somewhere in the forest to one side, there may not be a feature in the right place so you know when to leave the path. If you can judge the distance correctly, it is a lot easier to find the control. 
Firstly, we'll look at different map scales. 
In top international competition, the scale for long distance races is 1:15,000

Most of our NI series races here use 1:10,000 scale

Smaller club events can also use 1:10,000 scale, but in smaller areas we often use 1:7,500 or 1:5,000. 

For sprint and park events, such as the WEE series, or the Legenderry weekend coming up, a scale of 1:4,000 or even 1:3,000 is used.

As you can see, there is a clear difference between the scales on these maps. To judge distances, most compasses have a ruler along the side, which measures in cm or mm.
At 1:10,000, 1cm = 100m
     1:7,500,  1cm = 75m
     1:5,000,  1cm = 50m
     1:4,000,  1cm = 40m

On most maps, each of the north lines lie 250m apart, so these can be used to get an estimate of distance without having to measure.
So it is fairly easy to judge distance on the map, either by guessing a distance by eye, or by accurately measuring it and converting. The conversion is normally written next to the scale bar.

However, without knowing how far you have run, knowing how far you have to run is useless - this is where pacing comes in. 
Mark out 100m on a path somewhere. Run from one end to the other, and count every time your right foot touches the ground. For most adults, it takes about 40 'double paces' to cover 100m. For juniors, this will be less, maybe 50 or even 60 double paces, depending on how big your strides are.

Now, try measuring the distance between two points on a map by pacing it - count the double paces, then work out how far you have gone, remembering how many paces it takes to run 100m. Check you were right by measuring.

Next time you see a leg like this on a course, use pacing so you can leave the path at the right time, and hit the control perfectly.;

Compulsory Crossing Points
Quite often on a course, especially one that goes through farmland or has high barbed wire fences, it will be compulsory to cross at a certain place, rather than being able to go wherever you like. If you cross elsewhere, officially you can be disqualified.
Your control descriptions tell you if you have a compulsory crossing point as shown below. (It's the one between the start and control 1)

Here's an example on a map - as you can see, the pink line between controls will bend to go through the crossing point sometimes; however this is not always the case.

 In the example above, taken from last Saturday's race at Downhill, the Green, Blue and Brown courses all had this compulsory exit from the start control. If, for example, you did this:

route 1

 you could be disqualified. Instead, once you had looked at your map, even if you had already reached the uncrossable wall, you should have gone this way:

route 2

The best route to take, however, would be this one:

route 3

 This gets you out of the start much faster than the other routes, and is actually legal, where route 1 is not.
The reason I am posting this now, for those who are interested, is that I stupidly took route 2 on Saturday, because I didn't look at the map soon enough properly. The control descriptions did tell me, but they were folded to fit in my description holder so I didn't see the compulsory crossing point symbol.

Paul Pruzina 14/6/2013
Control Descriptions
Every course above yellow standard will have pictorial control descriptions to give more information about the control. Some of these are really easy to work out, but there are some more awkward looking ones. For example, most people will be able to guess this one:
 




On the other hand, how many people will guess this one?

 



Reading control descriptions is essential to help your orienteering get better - if you don't read them, you can end up on the wrong side of a building or a wall very easily, just because you forgot to look, and it can take a lot of time to get round again. (By the way, the first one above is a distinctive tree, the harder one is an anthill)
Before a big event, I always make sure to go over all the control descriptions, because there are some that come up so rarely I wouldn't recognise them. Click the link here and print it out, and learn the descriptions well - it helps a lot if you know them.

At national events like the JIRCs, JHIs and JK, you will be given your sheet of control descriptions only a couple of minutes before the start, so there isn't any time to discuss them with a friend - make sure you recognise them all.

Paul Pruzina 15/4/2013

Taking a Bearing
Being able to take an accurate bearing is a very useful skill - it allows you to navigate well in fog, or in fairly featureless areas. A control will often be sited in a depression or a pit so that you have to actually be looking into the pit before you see it, so being accurate with your bearings is vital.
For example, going from control 6 - 7 on the M16 course at the NI champs in 2012, I used a bearings to help me accurately reach the point. There were lots of eye level branches in the forest, so it was difficult to see any features.

 
To take a bearing, align the compass along the line between two controls, as shown below. Then orientate the map (see previous article)

Depending on your compass, you then need to do different things. If your compass has a rotating housing, rotate it so that the needle is between the two red lines. If not, remember the colour or number that the needle is pointing to. To run on your bearing, keep the compass needle between the lines, or at the same number or colour, then raise it to eye level. Look along the direction the compass is pointing and pick a recognisable point eg a tree, rock, hilltop, crag etc. Run towards your chosen point, but keep checking your bearing to make sure you are running the right way. When you reach the point you picked, pick another and continue, or continuously pick points so you never need to stop.

Paul Pruzina 3/3/2013
Orientating the Map
This skill is very important in orienteering - you need to know how to hold your map so they it is aligned correctly with the ground. This means if you are running south, the map must be held with the south side facing away from you. Try using your compass first - see which direction North is in, and then rotate the map so that North on the map is facing North.

As the North Arrow on the compass is pointing to in the left and down, the map must be aligned the same way.

This can be quite slow, however, so once you've mastered orientating the map with the compass, try it without the compass - look at the direction a path, or a stream, or a line of trees is going, and try to align the map with it

This time the map has been orientated so that the big path on the map lines up with the path in the picture.

  Knowing how to orientate the map without a compass is very useful, as it means you can constantly be making sure that the map is correct, and you can note any features that you pass (Collecting Features) much more easily. It also helps control flow - getting into the control and knowing where to go next - the map is already facing the right direction, so you just look at the pink line and run that way.
Next time you are orienteering, try these two techniques - the first one will probably be easier, but once you can do it without  a compass, after a while it becomes natural and you don't have to think about it at all - the map is just orientated all the time.


Paul Pruzina 10/2/2013

Thierry Geourgiou - Full Speed, No Mistake Method 

Using this method, Thierry has become the most successful male orienteer ever, winning 10 gold medals overall at the World Champs, including 7 in the middle distance race.

 This is mainly taken from a talk that given by Geourgiou at Tollymore National Outdoor Centre, as part of a visit to Ireland, on 20th October 2012.

How to become a World Champion:

 

the dream

At the 1991 World Championships in Czechoslovakia, he won his age category in the Spectator races. This started the dream in Thieryy's head that he someday might become world champion. Over the next number of years, he played over the scenario of himself winning the World Championships many, many times, so that he had actually won it already in his head.

'The human brain makes no difference between reality and a mental picture. You have to feel that you are running in your garden. You have to feel that you have already run the World Orienteering Champs a hundred times'

This way, when he did win in real life, he felt like he had already done it:

'When I ran into the finish as a World Champion in Trin in 2003, I was very happy – but not extremely happy. The reason: I had already seen this in my inner mind so many times before. It was “just once more becoming World Champion”.'

the training

Thierry's father's philosophy was 'no training without a map', and with this in mind, Thierry trains more with a map than any other elite orienteer. Most of the Norwegian elite he trains with are happy with 20-25% training with a map, but for Thierry, the figure has been 40-50% since 1997.

WOC 2001

At the World Championships in Finland in 2001, Thierry finished in a disappointing 18th place. He had to, for the first time, admit to himself that his dream might not come true. After this, he took his biggest ever break from orienteering, for several months.
When he returned, he realised that, even though he was an excellent navigator, the method he used was not good enough to win. He 'won' the 2003 world championships over and over again in his mind, using his new method - full speed, no mistake.

old method too slow 

Thierry realised that his old method was too slow to win a gold medal:

•  he was an excellent map reader, so could read all map details quickly and correctly.
• even if you run fast and orienteer fast, reading all the details takes extra time.
• with maps getting ever more and more detailed, he could not afford to read every little detail and hope to improve his speed.

the map section below shows an imaginary control, using the old method - picking up every feature.

 

    While this method does get you from point 1 to point 2, it takes time to read the map in detail and pick up every feature on the ground.
Thierry's new technique focuses on reading the map much more quickly, and using visible and distinctive features to find your way.

VISIBILITY 

•  Use the most visible and distinct features in your orienteering
• Form a 'visibility map' in your head, so you know where you will be able to see the control or another feature from
• on the map below, we can see the control from anywhere within the shaded area. 

• On the larger example below, the control is at A. We can see A from anywhere inside the Blue Area.

• BUT, we can see A from B, and we can see B from anywhere inside the much larger Red Area.
• Thus, it is better technique to use B as your attack-point - go to B and you will find A.

• This 'visibility map' is the sort of thing that Thierry will form  in his head, and he will use this to find the control at full pace, without making any mistakes.

DISTINCT FEATURES

• it is important to look for the most distinct features in the terrain, which will always vary depending on where you are. Geourgiou: 'You must identify the remarkable features. The features which are both isolated and visible!'
• If you are in an area covered with crags, with a few distinctive trees, base your navigation around the trees. Likewise, in a forest with a few crags in it, base your navigation around the rock features.
• essentially, don't use rocks as a basis for navigation in an area covered with rocks

  

Distinct and visible features

• What is the common feature between every single orienteering map in the world?
• CONTOURS
• contours are visible and distinct everywhere, so a good orienteer uses them to his advantage, and uses them to navigate.
• Geourgiou: 'Contour details like hills and depressions are visible and distinct in many terrain types - they are usually very good to use for this technique.'
• When using visible and distinct features as the basis for your navigation, you mustn't get bogged down with every little detail - if you are heading for a hill that you can see, you do not need to count every rock. It slows you down.
• However, do not narrow the technique too much - you still need to know where you are to orienteer well - find a happy medium.

Using this technique, the first leg in this article is solved below:

Route A

• every feature is picked up - runner A knows exactly where he is.

Route B

• navigating using visible and distinctive features, runner B knows where he must go and where he will be.
• Route B maintains good visibility of the next feature at all times, so runner B can run at full speed. Runner A must slow down to count off features and check them with the map.
• Visibility on Route A is consistently lower than on Route B - there are always hills in the way, or other crags that may distract the orienteer.

 To employ this technique, a visibility map must be created in the runner's head.




This 'Full Speed, No Mistake' method has made Thierry Geougiou the most successful male orienteer ever - try using it at the next event you go to. Try one control this way, and the next using the method you are used to and see which is faster - if you are comfortable with this method, use it - it could make you a much better orienteer.

Paul Pruzina 6/1/2013