Orienteering in Castlebar

Orienteering is an exciting adventure sport that will get your kids running - and provides lots of great learning opportunities for homeschooling.

As well as learning to recognise some topographical map symbols, your children will learn to use a compass and to guage distances with more accuracy.

During camp we often introduce and teach kids about orienteering.

What is Orienteering?

Orienteering is a sport that involves a race marked out on a map. In following the course map, the runners have to find a number of checkpoints. The person who finds all the checkpoints, in the right order, in the shortest time, is the winner.

You might think that orienteering involves exhausting cross-country running that only the fittest, expert map readers can perform. (I did!). But nothing could be further from the truth. Orienteering is a great family sport suitable for all ages, even small children.

Maps and compasses can play a part in the sport - a great learning opportunity for your older children. But most events have several different courses that are graded by how easy they are. The easier courses (such as string courses) do not even require a map.

String courses are marked from beginning to end so you just have to follow the trail.

Children love the idea of finding the checkpoints along the way - turning it into a type of treasure hunt! Checkpoints are marked with a white and orange flag and are often hidden away, making them fun to find.

Introduce your students to orienteering by getting in touch.