1.
Course setting Ideas
A.
Courses should be Fun
a.
Avoid legs where the best route has lots of brush or is wet—challenging
courses mean interesting/challenging navigation, not nasty bushwacking
b.
Avoid placing controls that force unnecessary climb
c.
Try to find control placements and legs that are scenic and pleasant
d.
Avoid unnecessary river crossings
e.
Don’t make the courses too long: people rarely complain about courses
being too short
f. The first control should be
relatively straightforward and perhaps on the easy side of normal to get people
started without frustration and quickly out away from the start area
g. Avoid “bingo” controls—those are
controls that you have to be extraordinarily luck to find
e.
The purpose of the control flag is just to show orienteers
where the punch is hung—that is, do not make them hunt for the control
flag. The goal is to find the
feature. Once the orienteer has found
the feature, the control flag should be readily apparent.
f. Vary the lengths of legs
g. Avoid long finishing legs
h. Use the “largest” map scale
possible so features are legible. That
is, in order of decreasing preference: 1:7,500
1:10,000 1:15,000. 1:15,000 is especially difficult to read for
our older orienteers.
B.
Courses should be Safe
a.
Avoid areas where bear encounters are likely (i.e. near rivers when there
are fish)
b.
Avoid legs that require competitors to cross large roads
c.
Avoid dangerous terrain, particularly on beginner courses
d.
Avoid sending runners close to the edge of the map and try to bound the
areas used for beginner courses by major features (roads, streams, lakes, etc)
C.
Courses should be Interesting
a.
The difficulty of the legs should be appropriate to the course
b.
Strive to find interesting legs first, then figure out where you can
place controls at the endpoints
c.
Whenever possible, all legs should involve route choice—think about
alternative routes—and
navigation of the appropriate difficulty
d.
Avoid placing controls such that competitors approach and depart from
the same direction
i)
Try not to have the angle on the map between two legs be less than 90
degrees
ii)
Avoid situations where competitors will approach the control from a
handrail (i.e. trail) and then return to the same handrail for the next leg.
e.
Consider finishing legs on trails with many route choices
f.
For Red and Green – avoid catching features within 200m of a control
g. For
Orange – have attack point or
catching feature or handrail within 100 m.
D.
Avoid the potential for disputes
a.
Control placements should not tempt runners to punch controls out of
order
b.
Runners should not be tempted to run off the map or into areas “out of
bounds”
c.
If there is any question about the accuracy of the mapping at a control
location, put the control somewhere else or fix the map.
d.
Don’t place controls for different courses too close together
e.
Don’t hide controls: All controls should be visible when you are at the
mapped location (feature)
E.
Beginner Courses
a.
The above points about fun and safety are especially important
b.
Make sure the courses aren’t too difficult
c.
Start out with easy controls: consider making the first control visible
from the start
2.
Designing a Course
A.
Design Courses on the map first
a.
If the start/finish location has not already been specified, choose one
based on the availability of handrail features for the beginner courses
b.
Figure out legs with interesting navigation, then select
control locations
c. Consider
placing a common “GO” control near the finish so all finishers come in from the
same direction.
B.
Field check all control locations before setting the controls and
printing the maps
a.
When you actually visit the location you have chosen you will often find
that the map is confusing or the feature isn’t as distinct as you had pictured
it
b.
If there is any doubt about a control placement, move it to a location
where there is no doubt
c.
As you scout the control locations you may come up with more interesting
or appealing features in the same area
3.
Hanging Controls
A.
How to hang the controls
a.
Controls should be tied securely to a branch that won’t break off
b.
Controls for advanced courses may be hung as low as two feet from the
ground
c.
Controls for beginner courses should be hung higher so they are visible,
but must be low enough so that kids can reach the punch and see the control
codes
d.
If there are no trees to hang the controls from you may need to place a
stake, or, in exposed areas above treeline, fill the
control with rocks.
e.
Be sure that the control code matches the code that you have specified
on the clue sheet
f.
Punch a sample punchcard for each course so
that you can check the competitors punches if there is any dispute
B.
When to hang the controls
a.
Controls for Advanced courses can be hung up to a week before the event
b.
Controls visible from trails should be hung as close to the start of the
meet a possible to reduce the risk of having them removed
c.
If controls are hung early, you may need to check them before the meet
to make sure they are still there