How did you start Orienteering?

[Pete_Bog]

I wonder how many others were enthused by Geoff Peck's column all those years ago?

I remember learning about this new sport via these articles but not being able to find an event that our active group could get to.

Fortunately our school offered the Duke of Edinburgh award and there was an orienteering option, we managed to get a new club started along with some ramblers from the Post Office. Pleased to say that the club and some of the early members are still going strong. Never did complete the DoE award due to the new sport...

[Wendles]

I met future husband at College whilst I was doing a three legged pub crawl (very healthy!) and he was busy organising/planning the 'Wide Mouthed Toad" O-Event in Stang Forest (does anyone remembering running?) in 1978. If this relationship was to survive, I had to run round forests in the North East at weekends. I'm still doing it but I haven't managed to catch him yet!

[Neil M40]

Yep, should have done a "my parents made me do it" option.I just cut and paste from Steve's questionaire so hopefully the feedback will reach him.

In fairness to Steve, the original questionaire is aimed at finding what strategies might work to get newcomers into the sport now. Having "introduced by family" as an option would lead to the conclusion that the best strategy to get somebody into the sport would be to get their parents to do it. The best strategy for parents - get their children to do it.

Those of us who were introduced by our families are probably best left off the BOF questionaire altogether.

[HOCOLITE]

I started with 'orienteering' on an outward bounds course post O levels. However as this was in teams using an OS map without any real timing I discounted it. So our first event was as a family a CATI. Hubbie went by himself on yellow, I took youngest aged 5 and eldest went with sister in law, both on white couse. I remember panicking at start until rationality took over, I orientated my map using the big lakes. There was no 'help desk, buddy or even enquiries'. We all finished, hubby picked up details of local clubs, and surprisingly followed it up. Only three of us still participate, one had a lot of success as a youngster because he could read a map! Now the interest is still there but he can't keep up with the athletes.

[guessed]

Voted under the 'other' category: one event with Army Cadet Force whilst school age (circa 1968) then no contact with the sport until stumbled upon it in 1990 through chance conversation my teacher wife had with another teacher who 'O'ed. All school connections maybe, but not exactly 'School' as the active agent.

[awk]

In fairness to Steve, the original questionaire is aimed at finding what strategies might work to get newcomers into the sport now. Having "introduced by family" as an option would lead to the conclusion that the best strategy to get somebody into the sport would be to get their parents to do it. The best strategy for parents - get their children to do it. Those of us who were introduced by our families are probably best left off the BOF questionaire altogether.

Don't agree. This is because the 'family' bit is I believe an absolutely vital component which still appears to be missed out of BOF thinking (I may be wrong, but that's the impression). It's great setting up the institutional processes getting people into a sport - they are needed - but it's still word of mouth (family, other relatives, friends, colleagues etc.) that is amongst the most effective ways of getting people to try something out, and it's the family support that is most effective in getting people to events, particularly when one goes beyond the local scene, which one almost always needs to do if doing anything beyond the most basic/novice orienteering.

The biggest blockage to any of this family getting beyond just trying the sport out (all come in through different routes) would have been lack of family support.

Incidentally, I also agree with guessed: on the whole, it's not schools that get anybody doing orienteering, but a one off committed teacher/other adult. As soon as I my teacher left the school, the O-club died, and as far as I can see that is almost always the case.

[AndyO]

I started orienteering twice - once at school in the mid-60s squelching round soaking wet and (my memory says) thick forests around Jedburgh and Kelso. I "ran" in the Scottish Schools champs at Eildon Hills in 1965 or '66 in wellies

2nd time was 1999 when I went along to a Maroc event at Bogendreip and was amazed to get a sheet with hieroglyphics for control descriptions! I managed to finish before dark, and the rest, as they say, is mistory

[gowrie]

Scary - reading 'guessed' report - my first encounter with orienteering was to set a course for a CCF unit in about 1968 in Somerset! Then came across it again through a CATI based on the location of my running club in 1989 in Nottoingham

[Eeyore]

I think the only way to keep people in orienteering is to get the whole family involved. We started at a CATI that also included membership of a club til the end of the year. (We saw an advert in the local free newspaper.) We then went to another CATI nearby before being given details of a district event from the club and being encouraged to go, despite feeling we would be out of our depth. We duly went, completed the courses reasonably well, and got points in a league. This hooked us in to want more and now 6 years on are still active and I don't see that changing. Our background was hill walking so navigation was fine; the odd map colours and pictorial control descriptions were a little confusing for the first few events.

[SAL]

I first started in my 3rd year at university in the late 1970s, having been persuaded by friends. I could already read maps, so had good results for a beginner. However, my limited athletic ability plus too many late nights at student parties on Saturdays meant that I never did very well, and then I stopped orienteering when I left university, moved away and had many other commitments. I started again 25 years later, taking my family to a local event. After some initial reluctance, they all got hooked and now we are regular attenders at most Scottish events. What kept us coming was the friendly encouragement from the local club, who regularly supplied us with details of events to go to.

[Tatty]

When I met my husband my first introduction was "Oh, by the way, i've got to go out and plan a night event"!!. I then went with him to a local event at Westerham Chart where he towed me round the shortest course. I enjoyed this and the next weekend we went to a score event at Hainault Forest. I only copied down about half of the controls (for a score event,:imagine that now") and ran out of controls. I won the B score event and was hooked. I did come form a PE background having been at PE college and had a real love of maps

[EddieH]

That's just it. Most of us simply love maps. As long as wediscover the sport we are hooked. I suspect that the majority of the population don't have that relationship with a map.

[Legolost]

I voted under 'other' but my son and daughter got involved through school and I was of course roped in as taxi driver (as parents do!) and started to take part whilst waiting for them to finish. So maybe I should vote under school as well It was the enthusiasm of the school for the sport that sparked it all off. They took teams for the bigger competitions (JK / Welsh / Scottish 6 days). Having fun but competing was always the order of the day and building friendships have kept it going.

[Marco Polo]

School for me- the after school club in Thame meant a minibus to events probably at least once a month and a chance to discuss routes and do some training. It got me to a welsh weekend, a JK and badge events all over southern England. I don't think I'd ever have got my parents that involved!

However I went to a Uni without orienteering and almost completely stopped for 20 years- had the internet existed then, I think I might have carried on. Moved out of London in 2001 and then decided to go back to orienteering to get fit! Now hopefully, I'm trying to get fitter to improve the orienteering.

[geomorph]

SeanC

Got a lot of stats and some great stories.
Of interest: U out in front..... but of the U's how many started there in the last 10 years?

it appears that many respondents have been around a fair few years. how many youngsters

Where do they start?