Beginners & New Members

Useful documents, activities, hints and tips to improve your orienteering techniques and skills! Also, have a look at the ‘Improve your orienteering‘ courses we offer, for all abilities, which are tailored to you.

Beginners & new members

TitleDescriptionSizeDownload
Tips for beginners at eventsTen tips for those new to orienteering80.20 KB DownloadPreview
Guide to Age Classes and Courses.docxprovides a guide to age classes and courses for age classes40.03 KB DownloadPreview
A-Z JargonbusterCovers all the quirks of orienteering language, club abbreviations, and fixture acronyms 101.08 KB DownloadPreview
IOF control descriptions (Maprunner)A guide to all the control symbols and descriptions agreed by the International Orienteering Federation495.88 KB DownloadPreview
Explaining control descriptionsAn explanation of the information you find on control descriptions20.93 KB DownloadPreview
Control Descriptions ExamplesAn example showing how to understand a more advanced control description.97.98 KB DownloadPreview
Characteristics of colour-coded coursesHow courses differ in length, technical difficulty, who they're suitable for, and expected finish times16.90 KB DownloadPreview
Types of EventsHow to understand if someone uses "Level A, B, C, D" to describe events, rather than "national, regional, local, activity"24.74 KB DownloadPreview
What to do at an eventAn outline of how events work, helping you know what to expect at your first event364.19 KB DownloadPreview
Tips to improve your orienteeringFor those who orienteer a fair bit and want to improve their skills135.22 KB DownloadPreview
Step systemOutline of skills at each level of technical difficulty, useful for all participants and coaches146.49 KB DownloadPreview

Hints and tips videos

A series of short orienteering hints and tips videos, made by Glenmore Lodge with Scottish Orienteering.