Information for anyone planning an Orienteering Event
According to the BOF website the "Role of the Planner" is as follows
Planners are able to plan orienteering courses designed to meet the needs of the orienteers who will participate in an event.
The planner’s responsibilities include:
- Planning courses in accordance with the guidelines
- Choosing control sites
- Determining the shape and length of the courses
- Ensuring the course will challenge the participants and differentiate between them
- Preparing draft control descriptions
- Placing controls
This guide covers general and club specific information for planners.
General Information
The British Orienteering website contains a lot of useful information for planners. Log into the BOF website, then 'Member Zone' menu and 'Resource Library for Planners and Organisers' then scorll down to planners links.
https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/organiser_library. Note when referencing the rules, use the direct rules link (https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/rules). Other links such as those from the resource library may be out of date.
There is a lot to read here but as a new planner
- Get familiar with the rules (https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/rules). There is a lot to cover here but Appendix B covers planning in detail and the main rules cover a lot related to planning particularly section 17 onwards.
- Barry Elkingtons 'Advice on planning .. courses' guides to planning forest events give good examples that demonstrate the rules and good practice.
- Hilary Quicks 'Orienteering Course Planning - practical guidance' is a longer read but covers a lot of useful detail in planning an event. See https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/images/uploaded/downloads/officia...
- I strongly recommend taking taking the British Orienteering Planners course early on in your planning 'career'. This is an interactive and hands on course and also covers the material listed above. It also allows you to work with an experienced planner and hopefully avoid bad habits!
