New Videos Teach Orienteering Using Permanent Courses

Manchester and District Orienteering Club (MDOC) has launched 'Get Out & Go', a series of four new films targeted at novices and newcomers, thanks to a grant from Sport England.  Filmed in urban parks during Summer 2020, the short videos show beginners all the basics of orienteering, from the special way maps and courses are drawn, though a range of useful skills and techniques, to simple route choice, planning ahead and reading the map on the run.

With Covid 19 restricting many sports, activities and travel, this is an ideal time to promote orienteering in local parks and urban spaces.  Permanent Orienteering Courses (POCs) already provide a great resource and with these self-help coaching films, they can be used more fully, not only to introduce new audiences to orienteering but also to help them make progress by learning new skills and practising techniques.  By following this series and making use of POCs, beginners will develop both the confidence and experience to try tackling a course at a club event.

The four films are titled Getting Started, Getting Going, Getting Confident and Getting Faster.

• Getting Started gives information on orienteering maps, useful symbols to note, how courses are drawn, and what to look for at checkpoints or controls.  It also shows how to line up the map with features nearby, a key skill to help the novice orienteer set off in the right direction.
• Getting Going covers more detail on the map, shows how to use a compass, simple route choices, how to use features other than paths as handrails, and when to cut corners.
• Getting Confident gives tips on techniques that help build more confidence in navigational decisions. These include learning to take a sure route into a checkpoint, finding a safety net if you overshoot and using control descriptions to visualise the checkpoint.
• Getting Faster demonstrates where to plan ahead, where to speed up and slow down and gives some tips on reading the map on the run.

You can watch these films by clicking here.

MDOC hopes that clubs around the UK will find these new films useful during Covid and beyond.  The films are ideal to complement coaching sessions with beginners or groups such as schools and scouts.  The series can also be promoted alongside any information on Permanent Orienteering Courses as both a safe and easy way to introduce newcomers to our sport, build on that first adventure and create a stepping stone to coming to regular events.

The ‘Get Out & Go’ films were made in Queen's Park (Bolton), Woodbank Park (Stockport) and Bramhall Park (Stockport).

Greater Manchester Orienteering Activities (GMOA) is a volunteer organisation run jointly by MDOC and South East Lancashire Orienteering Club (SELOC), that creates and maintains Permanent Orienteering Courses in and around Greater Manchester. The courses are located in over 60 parks and green spaces across all ten metropolitan boroughs as well as neighbouring areas.  For details, visit: www.gmoa.org.uk

To find out more about Manchester and District Orienteering Club visit their website here. 

To find out more about South East Lancs. Orienteering Club visit their website here.