Orienteering @ Lower Hutt

The local orienteering clubs around Wellington regularly run public events, they're completely chill and beginner friendly so if you'd like to try some orienteering or you already know how much fun it is and want to come along then sign up below!

What is Orienteering?

Orienteering is a sport/activity where you are challenged to follow around a pre-built course in unfamiliar terrain navigating only by map and compass. Your map will have a number of 'controls' and the objective is to essentially visit all of these controls in the correct order and reach the finish in the fastest time possible. See below an example of a basic orienteering course:

Controls in the wild look like bright orange and white flags with an electronic box on top, in order to keep track of where you've been orienteers carry a small device on their finger called a 'sport ident' which can store information. Registering you've visited a control is as easy as inserting it into the slot until it beeps, this is called 'punching' a control.

Once you get round your course and punch the finish control your time stops and you can find out how well you did!

There are a range of course difficulties and lengths and it is done across a wide variety of terrains: from forests and farmland to urban areas like campuses, high schools and parks. It's completely up to you if you want to run or walk, go round individually or together.

The event on Sunday

This event is going to be around Percy's Reserve in Lower Hutt.

We'll train out (or drive if someone has a car) and start at 11am so I can make it back in time for the working bee in the afternoon!

More details about the event to come: event page is here https://www.orienteering.org.nz/events/csw-public-event-3/