Orienteering jargon
Learn the lingo
The glossary below will help you to get to know the key terms which are associated with orienteering.
British Orienteering also have their own dictionary.
Mole Valley's is pretty good, containing explanations for club abbreviations
| Jargon | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Age class | Your age class is determined by your sex and year of birth |
| Aiming off | Technique where you deliberately aim not to hit the control straight on but instead to approach it from a certain direction, usually from either the left or the right |
| Attack point | When the route to a control is not along a line feature, an attack point is somewhere from where the competitor will head on a compass bearing to the control or a catching feature |
| Badge event | The old name for a Regional event |
| Bingo control | Not a good thing! A bingo control is a hidden control which is likely to be found by accident rather than by navigational expertise |
| BO | An incorrect abbreviation for British Orienteering, the national body which sets the rules and provides the framework for the sport. |
| BOF | British Orienteering Federation, now prefers to be known as British Orienteering, but BOF when abbreviated |
| Cairn | A stack of stones |
| Catching feature | A line feature which stops the competitor overshooting a control by too far |
| Clear station | A special box of electronics which clears previous data stored on your dibber |
| Collecting features | The act of taking note of mapped features while you navigate, especially when you are keeping in contact with the map |
| Compass Sport | An independent magazine dedicated to orienteering |
| Compass Sport Cup & Trophy | An annual inter-club competition. Each region holds a heat, the winners qualify to attend the national final |
| Contouring | A navigation technique involving staying at roughly the same height while navigating across a slope |
| Control | What the competitor is looking for! A course consists of visiting a sequence of controls each of which is marked by a circle on the map. At each control you will find an orange and white "kite" and a punch and possibly an electronic control box. |
| Control descriptions | A list of controls on the course with a set of symbols describing their positions |
| Controller | The person who ensures the competition is fair, appropriately challenging and conducted according to the rules. |
| Decision point | A place where the competitor needs to decide which way to go, e.g. a path junction |
| Dibber | When an electronic punching system is used each competitor is given an electronic card. This is a small device which docks with the controls to prove the time at which the control was visited. |
| Dogleg | A pair of legs forming a v-shape such that competitors running towards a control will see other competitors running away from that control but towards them |
| Download | The process of reading a dibber at the end of the event |
| EMIT | An electronic punching system by some orienteering clubs. An Emit "brick" is held in the hand which docks into the control to register the punch. As a backup a pattern of pins will mark a card attached to the brick. In some models the brick has a digital display. |
| EOD | Entry On The Day. Means it is not necessary to pre-enter |
| EPS | Electronic Punching System. A way of recording when competitors reach a control |
| Foot-O | Normal orienteering, i.e. running or walking between controls |
| Forest league | The local league which takes place every year. Six events take place between Autumn and Spring. There are trophies for the winners in each course. |
| Gaffled courses | A technique of making courses slightly different by shuffling some of the controls so they are not the same. Often done in large scale relay events. |
| Gaiters | Like a sleeve that fits to the lower leg. Often padded to provide protection against brashings |
| Galoppen | The regional league which takes place every year from the Autumn until the Spring. Each of the nine clubs in the South West puts on one event. Galoppen is the Swedish word for league |
| Handrailing | Navigating by following a line feature |
| Harris Relay | A relay event but in which all team members run simultaneously. Some controls must be visited by all in the team, the rest are to be visited by one of the team. The time for the team is when the last team member finishes. The technique is to divide up the controls equally within the team according to ability. |
| The JK | The JK is a national event that takes place over the Easter weekend each year. JK stands for Jan Kjellstrőm who helped establish orienteering in the UK |
| Joe Lee | A seminal electronic punching system in which a small green dibber makes electrical contact with the top of a control which then flashes. Once used by QO, for mountain marathons...and on doorways of US apartment blocks! |
| JOG | Junior Orienteering Group. Weekly low key events are held in term-time. These are suitable for juniors and seniors alike |
| Kite | The orange and white fabric triangle which marks a control |
| Knoll | A small earth mound, possibly only 1 metre high |
| Leg | The journey from one control to the next |
| Leg cover | Means wearing long trousers. Reduces scratches and the chance of catching ticks. Strongly advised in forests! Normally compulsory |
| Levy | Part of the entry fee that the club pays to BOF and SWOA |
| Line feature | A long narrow feature such as a track, path, river, earthbank |
| Linear course | The most common type of course. In a linear course all the controls on the map must be visited in the order shown. |
| Local event | Most events are local events. Most competitors will be club members and it will form part of a local competition. Colour coded courses will be available. |
| Long-O | A much longer distance event than normal. A course probably takes several hours. Not recommended for novices |
| Map contact | As in, 'keeping in contact with the map', or knowing where you are at all times |
| Map memory | An advanced form of the sport in which competitors are not allowed to carry a map. Maps are hung at controls and the competitor has to memorise sufficient detail to find the next control. A real challenge for experienced adults only. |
| MBO | Mountain Bike Orienteering. Competitors must stay on tracks and paths but otherwise quite similar to normal orienteering. SWEMBOis the South West's club. |
| Mispunch (mp) | Not completing a linear course correctly, either by missing one or more control out or by taking controls out of order. Unfortunately means disqualification |
| National event | A rare and very large scale event which will attract competitors from all over the country and even from overseas. National events include the British Championships and the JK. Courses will be arranged by age class |
| Night event | Normal orienteering, but in the dark. Orienteers usually use powerful headtorches. |
| Nopesport | An online community of orienteers, including people who take the sport and their own performances very seriously |
| Novelty | A less serious event often with an unusual format |
| Organiser | The person who organises all aspects of the event except that directly affecting the courses being ran |
| Overshooting | Going past a control or attack point either i) accidentally - usually by running too fast and not concentrating or ii) deliberately, to hit an attack point beyond the control |
| Pace counting | Working out the distance between two points by counting number of paces. Distance calculated with reference to the number of footsteps it takes to reach a certain distance e.g. 125 paces to 100m |
| Permissions | The role of getting permission to use a piece of land for orienteering |
| Pin punch | When no electronic punching system is used, each control has a clip attached which acts like a stapler to punch a pattern of holes in your control card |
| Planner | The person who plans the courses at an event |
| Platform | A flat area, usually a couple of metres across, surrounded by sloping ground |
| POC | A Permanent Orienteering Course - there are over 350 in the UK. Local permanent courses are at Vivary Park and at Ham Hill |
| Pre-entry | When competitors have to send in an entry in advance of the day of the event. Usually can be done on-line. Fabian 4 and sometimes SI Entries are used. |
| Punch | The act of registering your presence at a control. What you depends on the punching system being used - see pin punching, SportIdent, EMIT or, going back a few years, Joe Lee |
| QO | Surely you know who we are by now! |
| QOFL | Our Forest League |
| Re-entrant | An indent within a slope, like a small valley |
| Regional event | Occasional large scale events that will attract competitors from across the region. Competitors can score points for the national ranking scheme. Colour coded courses will be available. |
| Rough bearing | As in 'running on a rough bearing'; running in the general direction of the needle rather than taking an exact reading |
| Route choice | Making a decision about which route to take between controls. It might be whether to up and down or around a big hill! |
| Routegadget | A web-based system in which competitors can record their route after the event, in order to compare their speed and route choices with others |
| Score event | As an alternative to a linear course, as many controls as possible are visited in any order within a time period |
| Setting the map | Also known as orientating the map, to hold the map so that it reflects the direction in which you are running |
| Shadowing | When a junior is followed by an adult as a safety measure, but the adult does not help with the navigation |
| SI | Short for SportIdent, see below |
| Ski-O | Orienteering on cross country skis. Popular in Scandinavia |
| Spanish Score | A variant of a score event in which all the controls are visited in any order but in the shortest time possible |
| Spike | Nice when it happens! When you navigate straight to a control, as in "I spiked that control" |
| SportIdent | An electronic punching system widely used by orienteering clubs. A dibber attached to one finger is docked into a hole in the control which bleeps and flashes |
| Sprint event | A short distance event, possibly only taking around 20 minutes. Almost always in urban areas |
| Spur | When a piece of land projects out from a slope |
| Stake | The pole that the control flag and unit is attached to |
| Start control | Where the start triangle is shown on the map, a control flag is placed. In some events with electronic punching, you will punch the start control. |
| String course | For the very young. A long string is laid on the ground. Follow the string to find the controls. |
| SWOA | South West Orienteering Association. Our regional organisation. |
| Technical difficulty | One of five levels 1= White, 2= Yellow, 3= Orange, 4= Light Green, 5= Green and above |
| Thumb compass | Compass held to the thumb with a elasticated band |
| Thumbing | Technique involving placing a thumb on the map at the point of current location, and moving the thumb as progress is made |
| Tick | A small 8 legged creature found in forests in summer that will attach itself to bare skin and suck blood. In extreme cases this can lead to Lyme disease. |
| Track run | A route choice option, usually referred to in comparison with a direct but more difficult route |
| Trail-O | A variant of orienteering in which the competitor stays on tracks and has to identify control positions from a distance. Can be done by anyone but is particularly popular among disabled |
| Vegetation boundary | When areas of different vegetation meet, e.g. a boundary between evergreen trees and deciduous trees |
| Yvette Baker | An annual inter-club competition for juniors. Each region holds a heat, the winners qualify to attend the national final |