Course Lengths and Difficulty
Courses at orienteering events combine physical activity with navigational challenge. To cater for all ages and abilities can be quite difficult or confusing. Guidance is therefore provided to try and give consistency, enabling competitors to identify the most suitable course when entering.
The most common way is to use the nationally defined ‘colour-coded’ courses which provide a range of different lengths (for different fitness levels) and different ‘technical difficulty’ (for skill levels). The general criteria are shown below but you will find some variations including such courses as ‘Short Blue’ or ‘Short Brown’ at events with a large number of courses or where the area is restricted.
Examples of how ‘technical difficulty’ is determined is shown below. It is not always easy to meet all the criteria.
The table below gives an idea of the relative difficulty of the colours. Precise guidelines can be found in British Orienteering Rules. Although the age of children has been used as a guide for some of the easier courses, even the adult beginners would benefit from going round an easier course first just to get the idea of map scale, symbols etc.
The table below describes the courses used in forest orienteering. Urban Orienteering has a different difficulty structure that is based more on the length of a course.
| Colour | Technical difficulty | Physical difficulty | Remarks |
| White | 1 | 1 | All on paths, direction of next control always indicated by flag. Suitable for young children of 7 to 8 who should be accompanied. |
| Yellow | 2 | 2 | Routes along obvious line features e.g. earth banks, fences as well as paths. Decision points introduced |
| Orange | 3 | 3 | Controls on features a little way off paths or on line features. Route choice introduced. Suitable for adult beginners, who shouldn't attempt any higher technical difficulty. |
| Long Orange/ Red | 3 | 4/5 | As for Orange, but a longer course designed for adult beginners who would like a longer run. |
| Light Green | 4 | 3 | Transitional course for improving skills. Navigation skills required, interpretation of contours |
| Green | 5 | 3 | For those with good navigational skills but with limited energy or running speed |
| Blue | 5 | 4 | Longer than Green and shorter than Brown! |
| Brown/ Black | 5 | 5 | For very fit and competent navigators who are usually 16 plus. |
Score Events
Instead of following a preset colour coded route, you visit as many controls as you can, in any order, within the time limit. You are given a map showing a large number of controls and each control will have a score associated with it. The idea is to score as many points as possible but returning within the allotted time. For every minute you are late, penalty points will be deducted from your score.
The Physical and Technical difficulty will vary depending on the terrain the event takes place in and your route choice.