Orienteering

Orienteering, an adventure sport involving a timed race of cross-country running , exists in a number of forms and variations and tests the stamina of the participants. The race usually has a staggered start and the participants are equipped with maps, larger in size than the topographic maps and also more helpful than those. The courses of the journey are sometimes marked differently for participants of various ages with the younger ones facing a more difficult way than the older ones. The main types of Orienteering are Foot Orienteering, Ski Orienteering, Mountain Bike Orienteering and Trail Orienteering .

The origin of Orienteering dates back to the late 19 th century when it was a military exercise in Scandinavia. It was near Oslo, the capital of Norway in the Scandinavia that the competitive form of this sport was first given shape. The tournament span through a 19.5 km long rugged terrain and was won by Peder Fossum . The sport was organized on a large scale in 1918 by Major Ernst Killander , who is still known as the Father of Orienteering in the Scandinavians.

With time, the sport of Orientation gained ground worldwide. In a meeting of eleven countries in Sweden in 1949, an attempt was made to bind the sport in more consistent laws and the standard of mapping the courses were demanded to be improved. Then the sport moved forward even a few steps more and after the establishment of the International Orienteering Federation or the IOF in 1961, the first world champions became a reality in 1966. Though Orienteering is already a part of the World Games and Deaflympics , it is yet to be included in the Olympic Games. Orienteering is becoming extremely popular with every passing day and is sure to take the form of a global sport in near future.