IES Ribera de Castilla (Valladolid) Physical Education (3rd ESO) 3rd Term

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ORIENTEERING SPORT

Nature is a great place to do a lot of physical activities.

This kind of activities is getting more and more popularity. Maybe because as a human beings that live in big cities

where we work we feel the need to meet again with nature where we used to be free.

For this reason is so important do not forget you should always try to minimize the impact of your actions on

nature, to prevent degradation to the environment, and to do activities that promote the sustainability of the area that

surrounds you.

You should also remember that it’s an environment that can change suddenly, especially the weather. Also having some

knowledge of cartography and how to interpret and read maps correctly could be useful to choose the best

route, calculating the real length of the route, or determine if the route is flat o not… to estimate trip time (or if the

selected route is correct attending our physical condition).

The need to be oriented has always been an essential ability. The nomadic prehistoric human varied their

ecosystem with the weather to find better places for their subsistence. The first maps were founded in Siberia were

they were drawn on the turtle shells more than 35,000 years ago. The cartography or science of the elaboration of the

maps had referents among the ancient Egyptians or Ptolemy in the second century of our era who became to be

famous for the elaboration of a detailed cartography. The first worldwide Atlas was done by Mercator atlas in 1595.

Since then, the cartography has not stopped advance until today, in which the Internet and satellites era. We can obtain

almost instantly planes of the desired surface, and with a detail and precision until very recently unsuspected.

As a sport, the orientation was developed in the Scandinavian countries. The appearance of the first topographic

maps at the end of the 19th century, various military orientation competitions began to take place in the countries of

northern Europe, consisting of passing messages through frozen forests.

The sport of orientation has diversified counting today with a good number of modalities: day/night orientation races

(the participants run with headlights and the beacons are reflective), and they move from one to another in multiple

means of transport and through different environments (bikes, kayaks, by horses…), competing in teams, relays (each

reliever makes a different route) or individually (male, female and mixed categories). And of course with different

categories depending on gender, age and level (amateur, elite ...), which will determine the distance and difficulty of the

terrain.

Basic orientation techniques.

Orienteering means knowing how to interpret certain signs so you can get to where you want to go.

In addition to gadgets such as the compass, or modern GPS, there are in nature and popular wisdom not a few

elements that can help guide us. These have served man to orient themselves for centuries, and even indigenous

peoples continue to use them today.

For example, ancient

buildings. The Romanesque

temples tend to be oriented

towards the holy land, that is,

towards the southeast. Their

walls have also more humidity

on the north face; the moss that

surely appears on its walls is a

piece of information to

recognize this direction.

IES Ribera de Castilla (Valladolid) Physical Education (3rd ESO) 3rd Term

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On the other hand, the facades of the old buildings tend to be oriented towards the south to try to give them the sun as

long as possible. The weather vanes (veletas) point out the direction of the wind. But they have also a cross with the

cardinal points on their feet.

We must be focus on the environment signals also:

* .- The north face of the bark of the trees (cortezas de los árboles) are usually

covered by more moss and lichens as they are the wettest parts. In the same way

the felled trees (árboles talados) present their concentric circles decentered

towards the north.

- The anthills and nests of the birds are usually oriented to the south to

maximize the light and heat of the sun's rays.

- Sun. The sun rises in the east at 12, and at 12 it is in the south and at 6 in the

afternoon sets in the west. The shadows indicate the opposite cardinal points.

- Moon. When it is the full moon (luna llena) it points south at midnight. If it is

"crescent moon the horns to the east" as the Spanish proverb indicates (luna

creciente cuernos a oriente). And if it is waning moon (cuarto o luna menguante)

the horns point to the west.

Stars. In order to find where you are during the night, you

need to know how to locate the North Star (estrella polar).

This star is located in the tail of the constellation Little Dipper

(Osa Menor).

The North Star points obviously north. If you stand facing it

and look to the horizon, you can easily find North. South will

be behind you, the east on your right and the west on your

left.

IES Ribera de Castilla (Valladolid) Physical Education (3rd ESO) 3rd Term

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The map.

Orienteering maps are made specifically for the sport. The main thing as a beginner is to learn to understand the map

symbols.

1- Orienteering course: is marked in purple or red.

2- A triangle: indicates the start.

3- A double circle: indicates the finish.

4- Circles: show check points.

5- Arrows / Blue lines. They signal north direction.

6- Level Curves / Contour lines. They are marked

in brown. If they are very close they indicate a high

elevation on the terrains. Maybe you should go

around and no crossing this area.

7- Colors:

White: Open Land (no obstacles. Easy to run)

Green: thicker forest and undergrowth, darker

greens mean thicker vegetation/slower

running/lower visibility.

Yellow: fields, open areas.

Blue: water features: streams, marshes, ponds and

lakes.

Black: man-made features such as buildings,

How to face an orienteering race.

An orienteering race is not just a race to show your physical condition. It´s more than that. It´s a strategy challenge.

The competitor must have good map reading. It means to know how to orientate the map that you receive at the

beginning of the race, how to use the compass and the most important: analyze all the information of the

topographic map to choose the best trail to cover the distance as fast as possible passing for every check points.

Sometimes the shortest course should no run straight. The competitor has to think about:

+ .- The characteristics of the terrain through which to travel. As we know, on the map the colors white, light yellow ...

indicate clear or little leafy places where it would be ideal to travel running or at a good speed. On the other hand, dark

greens indicate places with great vegetation where it is difficult to travel. Also, if we are focus, we can see references

such as buildings or roads that give us an exact idea of where to find the check

+ .- Level curves/contour lines. It is a red/brown line that connect points of equal altitude. Generally the contour lines in

the orientation maps separate points whose altitude differs by 5 meters. If the curves are close together, the map

indicates a great difference in level, a question that must be taken into consideration by the competitor to decide if he

has to going in straight line or go around.

* .- Scale.- The scale is a key issue, since it gives us an exact reference of the distances to cover. A usual scale of 1:

10,000 tells us that, every centimeter on the map is, in reality, 10,000 cm (100 meters).

Traffic light technique (la técnica del semáforo): green, orange and red.

Pick a course, and draw your planned route in three colors: Green for the parts where you can run without much

attention to the map, orange for parts where you have to give some attention to the map but you are able to move slow

and red for the parts where you have be stopped putting a lot of attention to the orienteering.

Look to the map and decide the course. Calculate the distance and run without seeing the map. When you think you are

close to the checkpoint decrease your speed and try to get some references on the map to find the checkpoint on the

reality.

IES Ribera de Castilla (Valladolid) Physical Education (3rd ESO) 3rd Term

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The orienteering compass (la brújula de orientación):

A compass is an instrument used for navigation and orientation that shows

direction relative to the geographic "cardinal directions", or "points". Usually, a

diagram called a compass rose, shows the directions north, south, east, and

west as abbreviated initials marked on the compass. The magnetic compass

was first invented as a device in China. The use of a compass is recorded in

Western Europe and in Persia around the early 13th century.

1. Baseplate (Useful to measure distances)

2. Direction of travel arrow (Flecha de dirección)

3. Magnetic needle (red) indicates the north

4. Orienting lines

5. Orienting arrow

6. Mobile Compass housing with degree dial (form 0º to 360º)

How to use a Compass: EASY

1.- Orient the map (put the map as the reality is). How? EASY. The map is an

exactly representation of the reality decreased according to the scale. So use the

clues on the terrain (buildings, roads, fountains and every references that you

can see). But sometimes we are competing in countryside or across the forest.

And there is more difficult to identify references. In this case we must use the

compass.

Put the compass over the map and move the map till the blue lines of the map

which indicate north direction were in the same direction than red compass arrow

(magnetic arrow)

2.- Put the center of the compass above the starting point.

3.- Point the travel arrow looking to the check point where we

want to go

4.- Move the compass housing till magnetic arrow and

orienting arrow were in the same direction. After this we got

the course degrees.

VERY IMPORTANT.- Keep the map always oriented. A very

common mistake is to move the map and look to it again

searching information (with the map disoriented).