Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points. Originally a training exercise in land navigation for military officers, orienteering has developed many variations. Among these, the oldest and the most popular is foot orienteering. For the purposes of this article, foot orienteering serves as a point of departure for discussion of all other variations, but almost any sport that involves racing against a clock and requires navigation with a map is a type of orienteering.
Simone Niggli-Luder is a Swiss orienteering athlete who has twice won all four women's competitions at the world championships. She is widely seen as one of the greatest orienteers of all time.
Jamie Stevenson is a British orienteering champion. In 2003 he won the gold medal in the sprint distance at the World Orienteering Championships. He was the first and, to-date, the only British male orienteering world champion.
The World Orienteering Championships is an annual orienteering event organized by the International Orienteering Federation. The first World Championships was held in Fiskars, Finland in 1966. They were held biennially up to 2003. Since 2003, competitions have been held annually. Participating nations have to be members of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).
Yvette Baker is Britain's most successful orienteer. At the 1999 World Orienteering Championships in Inverness she won the short distance event.
The Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) are an annual orienteering competition. They were first held in 1990. Entry is open to national teams aged 20 and below as of 31 December in the year of competition. Representative countries must be members of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).
Jenny Johansson is a Swedish orienteering competitor. She is Relay World Champion as a member of the Swedish winning team in 2004, as well as having silver medals from 2001, 2003 and 2006, and bronze medal from 2005. She obtained silver in the Short distance World Championship in 2001 and Middle distance in 2005, and bronze in the Sprint distance in 2003.
Daniel Hubmann is a Swiss orienteering competitor, world champion in all three individual disciplines and multiple winner of the overall Orienteering World Cup. He is the brother of Martin Hubmann.
Edinburgh University Boat Club (EUBC) is one of the oldest sports clubs within the University of Edinburgh, in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Emma Klingenberg is a Danish orienteering competitor, and junior World champion.
Beata Falk is a Swedish orienteering competitor, and junior world champion.
Graham Gristwood is a British orienteering competitor and world champion.
Mountain bike orienteering is an orienteering endurance racing sport on a mountain bike where navigation is done along trails and tracks. Compared with foot orienteering, competitors usually are not permitted to leave the trail and track network. Navigation tactics are similar to ski-orienteering, where the major focus is route choice while navigating. The main difference compared to ski-orienteering is that navigation is done at a higher pace, because the bike can reach higher speeds. As the biker reaches higher speeds, map reading becomes more challenging.
The World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships is the official event for awarding World Champion titles in mountain bike orienteering. The World Championships, also known as WMTBOC, were first held in 2002, and since 2004 they have been organized annually – except in 2020. The programme includes Long distance, Middle distance, Sprint, Mass Start, and a Relay for both men and women.
Ida Bobach is a Danish orienteering competitor who was Junior World Champion in 2009, and became triple Junior World Champion from 2010, when she won the sprint, long distance and the relay. She represents the club OK Pan Århus, and since 2007, has received training from Danish national coach Lars Lindstrøm. In 2015 she won gold medals at the World Championships in the long and Relay.
Emily Benham is a British mountain bike orienteering athlete. She is considered the world's best female MTBO athlete. Benham has won four individual World Championship gold medals, two in 2016 and two in 2017, has won the World Cup overall for four consecutive years, and is the European Champion. She holds more World Cup wins than any other MTBO athlete, male or female.
Kristian Jones or Kris Jones is a competitor in Orienteering and Athletics, competing for Great Britain. He also competes for Lillomarka OK in Norway, Forth Valley orienteers and Wales.
Edinburgh University Orienteering Club is the most successful University Orienteering Club in the United Kingdom, winning the JK or British relays 15 times in total. It's also recognised by the abbreviation EUOC. Students from Edinburgh University, Heriot Watt University and Edinburgh Napier University are all allowed to join the club. After graduation, old members are allowed to join AROS, a club for past students.
Karolin Ohlsson is a Swedish orienteering competitor who competes internationally. She became world champion in the sprint relay in 2018.
