Orienteering in the Peak District

As a competitive challenge event for your team or as part of a multi activity programme. A stimulating way to improve your navigational skills.

Orienteering is a family of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain. Participants are given a map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points.

http://www.acclimbatize.co.uk

Originally a training exercise in land navigation for military officers, orienteering has developed many variations. Among these, the oldest and the most popular is foot orienteering. For the purposes of this article, foot orienteering serves as a point of departure for discussion of all other variations, but basically any sport that involves racing against a clock and requires navigation using a map is a type of orienteering.

Orienteering is included in the programs of world sporting events including the World Games (see Orienteering at the World Games) and World Police and Fire Games.

Orienteering sports combine significant navigation with a specific method of travel. Because the method of travel determines the needed equipment and tactics, each sport requires specific rules for competition and guidelines for orienteering event logistics and course design.

The history of orienteering begins in the late 19th century in Sweden, the actual term "orienteering" was first used in 1886 and meant the crossing of unknown land with the aid of a map and a compass In Sweden, orienteering grew from military training in land navigation into a competitive sport for military officers, then for civilians. The first orienteering competition open to the public was held in Norway in 1897.

From the beginning, locations selected for orienteering have been chosen in part for their beauty, natural or man made. For the first public orienteering competition in Sweden, in 1901, control points included two historic churches, Spånga kyrka and Bromma kyrka (a round church). World Orienteering Championships 2007 in Kiev, Ukraine. Winners of middle-distance event: Simone Niggli-Luder, Switzerland, and Thierry Gueorgiou, France

With the invention of inexpensive yet reliable compasses, the sport gained popularity during the 1930s. By 1934, over a quarter million Swedes were participants, and orienteering had spread to Finland, Switzerland, the Soviet Union, and Hungary. Following World War II, orienteering spread throughout Europe and to Asia, North America and Oceania. In Sweden in 1959, an international orienteering conference was held. Representatives from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, East and West Germany, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia) participated In 1961, orienteering organizations representing 10 European nations founded the International Orienteering Federation (IOF). Since then, IOF has supported the founding of many national orienteering federations. By 2006, 67 national orienteering federations were member societies of the International Orienteering Federation. These federations enabled the development of national and world championships. World championships were held every two years until 2003, then every year.

Throughout this time, orienteering has remained most popular in Sweden. There, the two oldest recurring orienteering meets have been held since the 1940s, and the single largest orienteering meet has been held every year since 1965 and attracts around 15,000 competitors

For further information about our Group bookings and Corporate events please leave your enquiry below. We will contact you as soon as we receive your request.

Name   Telephone:   Email:   Verify email: Enquiry:

All your details are kept strictly private. They will only be used by us to contact you. We hope you like your stay at Darwin lake and we look forward to making your holiday one to remember.