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.
A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, orienteering, swimming, cross-country skiing, biathlon, or ice skating. In the Olympic Games, there are several types of relay races that are part of track and field. Relay race, also called Relay, is a track-and-field sport consisting of a set number of stages (legs), usually four, each leg run by different members of a team. The runner finishing one leg is usually required to pass the next runner a stick-like object known as a "baton" while both are running in a marked exchange zone. In most relays, team members cover equal distances: Olympic events for both men and women are the 400-metre and 1,600-metre relays. Some non-Olympic relays are held at distances of 800 m, 3,200 m, and 6,000 m. In the less frequently run medley relays, however, the athletes cover different distances in a prescribed order—as in a sprint medley of 200, 200, 400, 800 metres or a distance medley of 1,200, 400, 800, 1,600 metres.
The O-Ringen is an orienteering competition that takes place annually in different areas of Sweden. Orienteers from all over the world come to the competition. For orienteers around the world a trip to the O'ringen 5-days is their Mecca. This race attracts significant media coverage in Sweden and winning O-Ringen is often considered second only to the World Championships in prestige. The competition takes place in July, and takes place over 5 days, where every active day is a competition stage. Competitors are assigned start times for the first four stages of the race, but on the fifth and final stage a "chasing start" is used. In a chasing start the overall leader in each class starts first and the remaining competitors start according to the total time they trail. This means that the first runner over the finish line on the final stage is the winner.
Kiril Nikolov, also known as the Disl, is a Bulgarian orienteer.
Karolina Arewång-Höjsgaard is a Swedish orienteering competitor. She won the 2004 Long distance World Orienteering Championships, and has silver medals from 2003 and 2004 (Sprint). She is Relay World Champion from 2004, and has silver medals from 2003 and 2006, and a bronze medal from 2005, as member of the Swedish team.
Anders Morelius is a Swedish orienteering competitor. He is Relay World Champion from 1966, as a member of the Swedish winning team in the very first World Orienteering Championships, held i Fiskars, Finland. He also earned a bronze medal in the 1966 Individual World Orienteering Championship. Han also won 10-mila representing OK Malmia in 1965.
Štěpán Kodeda was a Czech orienteering competitor, and twice junior world champion.
Pargas Idrottsförening, or PIF for short, is a sports club based in the city of Pargas, Finland. The club has over 1,500 members and is known, especially for handball, football, and orienteering. It also makes provision for cross-country skiing, floorball, gymnastics, and athletics. The club was founded in 1914 as Pargas Malms Idrottsförening but changed its name to its current title in 1916.
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.
IFK Mora is a sports club in Mora, Sweden. The club was founded on 22 August 1909, and became an alliance club on 1 January 1992, following a 1991 decision. IFK Mora is known for its successes in orienteering and cross-country skiing but is also active in athletics, gymnastics, and football. IFK Mora and Sälens IF own and arrange Vasaloppet together every year.
Tove Alexandersson is a Swedish orienteer, ski orienteer, skyrunner and ski mountaineer. She has won a total of 17 gold medals at the World Orienteering Championships and 10 gold medals at the World Ski Orienteering Championships. In 2018, she won the Sky Marathon event at the Skyrunning World Championships, in her second skyrunning race ever. In 2021, she won the combined discipline at the World Championships of Ski Mountaineering. She competes for Stora Tuna OK in orienteering and Alfta-Ösa OK in ski orienteering. Alexandersson holds the record for the number of gold medals in a row at the World Orienteering Championships, winning 11 in a row between 2018 and 2022.
Nydalens Skiklub is a Norwegian sports club from Nydalen, Oslo. It was founded in 1886, and has sections for orienteering, Nordic skiing and ski orienteering. The club organized national ski jumping competitions regularly from 1891 to 1953, and had its own ski jumping venue at Korsvoll. In orienteering, the club won national championships in relay in 1954 (men), 1968 (women), 1996, 1997 and 1999 (men), and 2000 and 2005 (women). The club organized the national orienteering championships in relay in 1953, the individual Norwegian championships in orienteering in 1961. and the national championships in 1999. Among the successful orienteers from the club are Bjørnar Valstad, Astrid Hansen, Elisabeth Ingvaldsen, Marianne Andersen and Carl Henrik Bjørseth. The club won the women's relay competition in Tiomila in 2006.
Karolin Ohlsson is a Swedish orienteering competitor who competes internationally. She became world champion in the sprint relay in 2018.
Stora Tuna OK is a Swedish orienteering club in Borlänge. It was the orienteering section of Stora Tuna IK until 2009.
Lynx is a Finnish orienteering club from Kirkkonummi founded in 1971.
Västerbergslagens OL is a Swedish orienteering club in and around Ludvika. It was formed in 1993 by the clubs Grangärde OK, Ludvika OK, OK Malmia, Smedjebackens OK and Ulriksbergs IK.
Helsingin Suunnistajat is a Finnish orienteering club in Helsinki, Finland. It was founded in 1943.
Nyköpings OK is a Swedish orienteering club in Nyköping. It was founded in 1958 when the orienteering section of Nyköpings SK became an independent association.
Södertälje-Nykvarn orientering is a Swedish orienteering club in Södertälje. Its activities are based in Tveta by the lake Måsnaren, just west to the town.
