Beginners Guide

The Scottish Orienteering Association offer some helpful guides to get you started.

• What is orienteering 
  This includes a guide describing the level of courses on offer, such as yellow (easy).
• Where and when to orienteer
  Calendar of events which are coloured to help you identify particular types of events, such as local (shown in green).

Types of event

• Local Events Low-key events, with plenty of club members around to help you. They might be called “Come and Try It” events (CATIs).

  Several courses will be available, named by a standard set of colours to help you choose one that’s right for you (as described in the ‘What is orienteering’ section above). The colours vary in the technical difficulty and length of course offered: from 1 (easy, white course) to 5 (hard).

• District Events  Use the colour coded system.  Some of these may be part of a local league, such as the South of Scotland League (SoSOL) for which stars or points are gained and certificates awarded. Along with local events, these can be used to gain colour coded badges. 

• Regional Events Use the colour coded system.  Some of these may be part of the Scottish Orienteering League (SOL), for which points are gained and trophies and certificates awarded. Anybody can run any colour of course, of the appropriate technical difficulty.

  For the SOL, points are awarded for participants in defined colour course/age class combinations as described in the rules on the SOL web page. Age is determined on 31st December each year e.g. a girl who is 14 or under would compete as a W14. From 16 upwards, it is possible to choose the equivalent of a Short (S) or Long (L) course. The open age group is M or W21 (normally ages 21-34).  For adults, from age 35, age groups go in 5 year bands, and there is one each for men (M) and women (W). Thus a man aged 50-54 would normally run as M50, and a woman aged 35-39 would normally run as W35.

• Multi - Day Events There are several multi day events which are in the British Orienteering Calendar. Each have their own set of courses (often age groups, but may be long, medium, short). Some form leagues, whereas others are individual events. Examples are: the Scottish 6-Day event (5 forest events, with a sprint offered mid week), the Lakes 5 Days, the Welsh 5 Days and Coasts and Islands (Scottish based low key event).

  All make wonderful sociable orienteering holidays for all the family. Most tend to attract orienteers from all over the world!

• National or Championship Events Juniors compete in their age classes. For example, an M12 is a boy who will be 12 or under on 31st December. The youngest age group is M10. Juniors may compete in an A or B class (where B will be shorter and easier than the A class). Adults use age classes as described above.

  Championship events can also be used to gain championship, gold, silver or bronze standards and ultimately badges, if the required standard is reached in three events in the same class within the two years. (See the National Badge Scheme)

• Relay Events In most Relay events, normally 3 or 4 (occasionally more) people compete together as a team, with one handing over to the next. The start is normally a mass start (all teams start together). There are different rules for specific Relay events and normally separate classes for junior teams.

• Score Events In a Score event, each control is worth a number of points. You decide which controls to visit in a set time, say 40 minutes or 1 hour. There is normally a penalty of 10 points per minute if you are out for longer than the set time.

• Night Events Orienteering in the dark – for the more adventurous! You’ll need a good head-torch! This form of orienteering is considered one of the most technically challenging. There may be a minimum age, unless accompanied by an adult.

• Sprint Events Very short events – sometimes round a park, planned to have very short winning times. Street versions may be subject to an age restriction (over 16).

• Urban Events Fast events with lots of route choice, often taking advantage of areas with lots of alleyways. Some courses may have an age restriction (over 16).

• Jamie Stevenson Trophy Named after one of Scotland’s top international orienteers, this annual Scottish Junior Inter-Club competition is for Juniors of all ages and standards. This is an opportunity to represent your club.  

• CompassSport Cup/Trophy This competition, sponsored by the CompassSport magazine, is for all club members of all ages to compete for the club. The ‘Cup’ is for bigger clubs. Interlopers compete for the ‘Trophy’, for smaller clubs. There is a ‘Scottish heat’ where the Scottish clubs compete for the opportunity to go to the ‘Final’. The ‘Final’ moves around the country. Participants compete in a set coloured courses to gain points. The top 13 scores count with 1 or 2 points coming from each coloured course (as defined in a set of rules). Interlopers have won this competition 6 times (the latest in 2025), and have come second on a further 6 occasions.